Something to keep in mind, and the source of much misunderstanding in alternative fuel discussions... there are really three different systems involved! Energy

Something to keep in mind, and the source of much misunderstanding in alternative fuel discussions... there are really three different systems involved! Energy capture, energy storage, and energy conversion (converting stored energy to work). Energy capture: Fossil fuel has the unpleasant problem that the energy was captured long ago, over very time-consuming (millions of years) natural processes. So it carries two flaws: burning it destabilizes the atmosphere, and it's a fixed resource that will eventually run out. In the long game (>100 years, when humans could be around for millions more), nuclear fission has the same problem. So the only really stable, long-term sources of energy are solar (including indirect solar like wind) and geothermal (including indirect gravitational energy like tidal). Energy storage: This is where liquid and gas fuels have a huge win and battery storage has a huge lose. It's probably impossible for batteries to achieve the density and convenience of gasoline and other liquids. They're safe, easy to handle, etc. Even though electric motors are several times more efficient than combustion motors, liquid fuel storage efficiency more than makes up for it. Plus it requires no change to existing infrastructure. Energy conversion: This is more about how it's used. We want vehicles, right? So we have to consider the operational goals and constraints of vehicles.