That is true, or close to it (1054 lbs and 330 miles for the 2wd are the accurate numbers). And if energy density was all that mattered cars would still all be powered by gasoline (or better yet plutonium decay batteries at ~2.1 mWh per kg).

However look at the complete power-pack weight for a nominal 500 hp car and a very different picture emerges:

• 16 gallons of gas in a fuel tank with pump, filler, etc weights roughly 120 lbs- starting from a net negative of 1054 lb battery weight the gasoline car remains 934 lbs ahead.
• A higher end Porsche engine, dressed, makes roughly 1 hp per pound, so 500 lbs of engine is needed for a 500 hp car. A higher end electric motor is roughly 5 hp per pound, or 100 lbs for the same power- a 400 lb advantage for the EV. The gasoline car is now 534 lbs ahead.
• A 7 speed PDK gearbox is roughly .45 lbs per hp, while a far simpler single speed EV gearbox is roughly half that. You're now down to a 420 lb advantage to the gasoline car.
• The gasoline car will likely have three radiators, possibly a couple inter-coolers, oil and perhaps 80 lbs of coolant in order to reject waste heat. With the associated cooling ducts, etc this likely totals to roughly .4 lbs per hp or 200 lbs. Net the gas advantage is now down to 220 lbs.

There are many other small puts and takes (larger 12V lead acid battery for the ICE, power electronics and wiring for the EV, smaller brakes on the EV due to regen, etc) but ballpark 200 lbs is a more realistic penalty for a the Model 3 vs a similar gasoline car. This is in line with what the BMW 3 series comparison shows, though that car doesn't have nearly 500 hp where the dual motor model 3 comes close, so this might be conservative.

Now consider the placement of that weight. Radiators, engines and gearboxes tend to be at the ends of the car, leading to high polar moment. The battery pack meanwhile is in the best possible location: central and low, right where you'd add ballast on a race car. Dynamically I'd take the low CG and polar moment over a 5% weight advantage.

Finally let's consider what happens when you take the next logical step and evaluate a 1000 hp car: given the way engine and gearbox weight scale with HP suddenly the EV has a 500 lb advantage using the same numbers despite the 1100 lb boat anchor of a battery.

This is obviously rough math, though all derived from real numbers. If you can follow hopefully you can see why energy density, while nice, is far from the most important number to focus on. It also illustrates why high performance EVs will pose such a threat to the existence of gasoline powered sports cars. Perhaps that's why there's so much negativity towards them, and if so that's quite legitimate. As I've said I'm firmly on the side of wanting to be able to buy gasoline powered (preferably normally aspirated and manual) sports cars in the future.

+1, so true. i3 driver here.

Wow, dude, you’re off the rails. We get it’s you don’t like EV’s. Doesn’t mean his facts are wrong. Facts are facts and not debatable. It’s very common knowledge what a gallon of gas weighs. Any scientist can tell you that, the man doesn’t have to go out and measure it in order to know what it weighs.

No no one is invalidating your experiences. You’d rather have the freedom that an ICE engine and the refueling network represents. That’s fine. I didn’t see anyone debating that it does give you way more flexibility. Doesn’t mean that it’s way less efficient than an EV. Sorry, that’s a fact and it’s not debatable. The math is there.

I have three vehicles. One is my work vehicle, the other my wife’s daily driver, and the 911 is for the weekend. I now have a pretty long commute...90-100 miles per day. But despite owning the vehicle for almost 2 years, and living in a VERY car-centric city, I’ve never ONCE driven my car more than 150 miles in one day. Not once. That’s half the range of a Tesla. I would be much better off with an EV for that commute.

My wife’s vehicle is the opposite. It can go 700 miles on a tank of gas. A fact that we’ve actually done more than once. I’ve driven that car 1,200 miles in less than 48 hours. I couldn’t do that even in the best Tesla because my route lacks superchargers. And even if I did, I’d be unwilling to spend the extra time charging (yes, I am aware that many times you can charge while eating, but we eat while driving at times. We truly ironbutt). Any EV, even a Tesla would be terrible for this.

Both of these scenarios are true. Neither of them invalidate each other. But just because my Cayenne Diesel can get 700 miles on 25 gallons of fuel doesn’t Change the fact that I’m turning 60% of the energy available in the diesel into heat (or whatever it is, it’s a lot). Your argument about energy density doesn’t change the fact that an EV is more energy efficient.

And per your point, my work car sees little weekend duty. I either drive my wife’s car for practical reasons (more person or cargo room needed, more comfort desired, etc.), or the 911(way more fun). I spend enough time in that car as it is. I enjoy the joy the 911 gives me. But the 911is horrible for my commute. Too loud, rides rough, it’s low so it’s hard to see around the bro-dozers, gets bad gas mileage, has crappy cupholders, etc. My daily driver is much more comfortable, gets better mileage and requires fewer fill ups, etc. Doesn’t make the 911 less fun to drive.

Horses for courses.

Think of it another way. I have a cooler that can hold one meal. You have a cooler that can hold 8 meals. My cooler has a special lock that means that once opened and closed, it can’t be opened again for an hour. Yours has no such lock. However, your cooler has one condition...it’s not very good at keeping food cold. So out of those 8 meals, 6 of them spoil before you can eat them. Whereas my cooler stays cold for many hours. And that one meal is good to go every time.

In a a given period of time, you can eat way more than me. When your cooler gets empty, you can put mor food in it as soon as it’s done. Plus you can hold enough food to eat two meals at a time. Whereas I must wait an hour and can only eat one meal each hour. So by the measure of being able to eat more food in a day, your cooler is better.

By the measure of saving food, your cooler is terrible. For every 4 meals you put in it, three have to be thrown away. My cooler is very efficient. Every meal I put in it is ok to eat when I need it. That’s the point Dave is making.

Of of course it’s not that simple. But just because an ICE vehicle is better for your use doesn’t make it more energy efficient.

EV’s are slower than gas cars if you want to iron butt - and gas cars have more flexibility on route choice - fact!

take a gas car if you must minimized time and distance.

however for the 1 or 2 family road trips a year and EV can be just as effective with only minor changes in style and a little bit of planning (see related post road tripping a Model X where I did 1820 mile this past summer with very little impact because of charging) - and over time this is going to get better not worse...but yeah iron butting is the one area in which ICE’s shine - and the recharge times make all EV owners jealous due to the extraordinarily high energy density of gasoline and the virtually unlimited transfer rate.

focusing on that aspect however optimizes for the less than 1% use case vs the 98% use case of driving less than 50 miles/day in 12 mph traffic where that glorious energy density is turned into heat and pollution for a terrible conversion rate to 12 mph motion in commute traffic or around town driving.

we don’t have to go 100% EV - a perfect mix is a full EV for daily driving needs and the occasional longer 1 fast-charger trip along with a plug in hybrid like the cayenne with 50 miles EV range and a gas motor for the iron butt road trip or the 5 days a year you drive more than 50 miles - the reduction in gas consumption would be close to 90% less gasoline over the course of a year and no compromises approach in terms of the occasional longer distance trip...best of both worlds, no compromises dramatic reduction in emissions and great energy efficiency - an no more pollution while idling and fewer trips to the gas station (charge at home hybrid).