this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2026
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[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 4 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

And of that incredible energy density, most it get wasted by a significantly less efficient drivetrain.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 4 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Also, EVs have the potential to basically be "100% efficient" if they happen to be charged by solar. With combustion engines you're never going to get any sort of improvement, it's just always what it is.

[–] innermachine@lemmy.world -1 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Not necessarily true, things like direct injection, VVT and VVL and variable compression engines and variable vane turbos and 8 + speed transmissions have increased the efficiency of gas cars. The gas engines are still wasting a lot as heat, if you have any interest in that u should look into smokey yunick and his hot vapor engines. There are improvements to be made in ice but it will still never be 100% efficient. We have far from mastered internal combustion, and I suspect we never will as hopefully EV eventually replace most combustion vehicles.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 8 hours ago

Of new gas cars though. But by changing how you charge a battery you change its effective efficiency. A gas engine can't run on anything but gasoline. (E.g., gas and diesel engines aren't compatible with the opposite liquid.)

[–] Jiral@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Combustion engine efficiency is limited by hard physics and modern day combustion engines have gotten impressively close to that theoretical limit. So no, the remaining potential of ICE is not that great anymore.

Actual efficiency of BEVs is way better than even the theoretical limit of ICE.

[–] innermachine@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Right. But what I'm getting at is when we can have 1/3rd of the battery weight with the same capacity, the vehicle range will be even greater cuz it won't have to lug the batteries around too. Once we get past the weight of the batteries and are able to produce LIGHT evs, the ICE will become even less appealing. Weight has always been a struggle with electric vehicles, and to me is the obvious next big step in tech to improve them.

[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago

Battery weight isn’t as much a deal as you think it is. It can actually be beneficial. For example, instead of the weight being in the front of the car, you can have a lighter motor and have all that weight in between all four wheels. It really does wonders for winter traction.