[Wonder Warthog]

"Isn’t it more efficient to take a refined petroleum energy, such as gasoline, and burn it directly in a gasoline engine to produce power as opposed to taking a petroleum based energy, burn it in a electrical generating plant, then transfer it to a battery, then use it to run an electric motor?"

In a word, no. Conversion efficiency in a central power station is on the order of 45%. Conversion efficiency of a gasoline engine is on the order of 20%. Yes, there are losses down the electricity conversion train, but they are nowhere near the direct losses in IC.

[Wonder Warthog]

Not sure why I am getting double posts. I think my trackball is going flaky.