Which battery has more stored energy, lithium-ion batteries or gasoline?

Question

Please explain the energy storage capacity of lithium ion batteries when compared to gasoline.

Answer 1

Lithium ion batteries possess an energy density of approximately 2.5 mega joules for every kilogram which is about 20 times less than that of one kilogram of gasoline.

Comments

The problem with batteries is that lithium is almost as limited as oil, if the entire world used it we’d run out within 100 years

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I'm a big fan of compressed air energy storage, though estimates are apparently about 1/10 the MJ/Kg as the Li Ion batteries mentioned in the content. Still, the creation of the battery will have a larger footprint than the creation of a similarly weighted tank.

But I think the real solution (or at least, the best stop-gap while we wait for solar to sufficiently advance), is nuclear. There's a lot of fear of nuclear power, but it's really safe, especially when you compare it to fossil fuel energy production.

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Very nice content! Thanks!

Can anybody tell me which battery can store 2.5 MJ/kg? From my research, I found that the best lithium-ion batteries today can store only about 1.1 MJ/kg.

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Love this! Isn't a decent alternative to liquid fuels converting to a renewable liquid fuel source? Such as algae based biofuels? This product has seen potential even used as jet fuel.

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Keep in mind though that EVs use around 90% of the energy while combustion engines lose most of the energy in the fuel through heat etc. having well below 50% efficiency.