Gasoline weighs 6.1 lbs/gallon, so a 16 gallon tank weighs 98 lbs when full – but zero when empty. A gasoline-powered car gets lighter as you drive. An electric car battery weighs about 1200 lbs when charged, but weighs the same when completely discharged. Question: How can dragging around useless weight be efficient?

Say the average electric car on the road has a battery that is half charged. It is dragging around about 600 lbs of useless weight, and more as it drives and discharges its battery. This seems to me like the opposite of efficiency. But then, I am not a politician or a corporate executive with something to sell. I am not a stooge for China, which produces much of the raw materials for car batteries. I am not a fanatic, who seeks to save the planet but ignores the environmental damage of mining the raw materials for batteries. You’ll have to excuse my ignorance.