By Jim Brock
If I told you it takes 6 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy — enough to drive an electric vehicle up to 25 miles — just to refine a single gallon of gasoline, would you still believe the myth that EVs are the energy hogs?
Let’s talk about something that rarely makes the news: the hidden energy cost of the fossil fuel supply chain. Most Americans picture oil as something you pump, ship, refine and use. But what’s left out is that every stage of that process consumes enormous amounts of energy — energy that is wasted long before your car engine ever starts.
Refining a gallon of gasoline uses enough electricity to power an EV
According to a 2016 report from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, refining one gallon of gasoline requires roughly 6 kWh of energy on average — sometimes more, depending on the source and grade of crude oil being processed.
Let that sink in.
That’s enough electricity to drive a Tesla Model 3 or Hyundai Ioniq 5 about 20–25 miles, depending on driving conditions. And that is just from the drilling, refining and delivery processes. And sometimes, it is more because of refining inefficiencies and the distances necessary to move the crude oil.
So next time someone argues that EVs shift emissions to power plants, ask them how many miles they could’ve driven on the energy (electricity equivalent) used just to make their gallon of gas — never mind what it took to burn it. Adding that carbon to the carbon footprint of an internal combustion engine car is the equivalent of adding a whole EV to the internal combustion engine life cycle. That is a pretty powerful picture, wouldn’t you say?
And that’s not counting the extraction, transport and storage
Refining is only one slice of the pie.
Let’s go further upstream. Drilling rigs, oil pumps, compressors and separators all require diesel, natural gas and electricity to function. Pipelines and tanker trucks rely on pumping stations — which are electrically powered. Trains transporting crude or finished gasoline rely on diesel engines, which also emit CO₂.
A 2018 study published in Energy Policy estimates that the entire upstream energy cost of gasoline (extraction, refining and delivery) accounts for 20–30% of the total energy content of the fuel itself.
In other words, nearly one-third of the energy in a gallon of gas is lost before it even gets to your tank. Or 1 gallon to deliver 2 gallons.
And that doesn’t even include the inefficiency of the internal combustion engine itself, which wastes another 70–80% of the energy as heat before it even gets to the wheels to make your car move.
We’re using energy … to make more fuel … to waste even more energy
Let’s put this in perspective:
- We burn coal and natural gas to generate electricity. Coal currently accounts for about 16% of the grid in the U.S. Natural gas accounts for about 43% of the grid.
- We use that electricity to refine gasoline.
- We use that gasoline in engines that waste most of it as heat.
- And then … we call EVs the “inefficient” automobile?
It’s the energy equivalent of boiling water to melt snow – so you can use that water to fill a leaking bucket.
Let’s talk dollars: How much is that hidden electricity cost worth?
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as of early 2024, the average residential cost of electricity in the U.S. is about 17.3 cents per kWh.
So, let’s do a little bit of basic math for those who like to see the dollars and cents:
- 6 kWh × $0.173 = $1.04 in electricity — just to refine a gallon of gasoline.
That’s $1.04 of energy cost baked into every gallon, before it even leaves the refinery. Add that to the price at the pump? You start to see how backward the system is.
Now imagine you drive a gasoline car that gets 25 miles per gallon. That means you’re spending $1.04 in electricity (plus extraction, plus delivery), just to travel those 25 miles. Meanwhile, a Tesla Model 3 or Hyundai Ioniq 5 could drive those same 25 miles using that same $1.04 worth of electricity — without the detour through a refinery, a pipeline, a tanker truck, or a tailpipe.
Not to mention, the price paid for the internal combustion engine car to go that same 25 miles on a gallon is more than three times as much at over $3.45 per gallon (national average). You are paying for the privilege to pollute more! That is the reality of the oil refining process.
EVs cut out the middleman — and the waste
Electric vehicles are not perfect. But they are orders of magnitude more efficient. Instead of using energy to make fuel to waste energy, they draw electricity directly into the battery and convert up to 90% of it into motion.
You know where your electricity comes from. You can clean it up at the source — whether that’s wind, solar, hydro, nuclear or even natural gas and coal.
But with gasoline, the system is already built on waste. And worse: It’s invisible waste, conveniently hidden behind pipelines, refineries and retail fuel stations.
The fossil fuel companies do not want you to think about what it costs (in terms of energy consumption) to make a gallon of gas or diesel. After all, these processes have been baked into every gallon of fuel for over a century and we are all none the wiser.
And these same companies dare not talk about the tons of cobalt (yes, the rare earth mineral they condemn in EVs) that are consumed every year in the refining process. But that is another story for another time, I suppose! But for inquiring minds, it is about 94.5 metric tons per year!
Oh, and one more thing. Someone will likely spout off something about the energy used to make the EV — yes, it is more for the EV than the internal combustion engine. But by the time these cars have traveled 20-25,000 miles, the energy consumption has evened out and the internal combustion engine can never catch up.
As battery manufacturing processes green up and lean out, there will soon be manufacturing equilibrium between the internal combustion engine and EV. Better yet, the EV might take less energy to make — take a look at how Tesla uses castings in their Model 3 and Model Y. When that happens, the “more energy to manufacture” argument will end.
So, now you know. And now you can ask the question they fear most: If we can drive 25 miles on the energy it takes just to refine 1 gallon of gas, why are we still choosing to burn both?
James Brock retired from the Air Force and lives in DeBary. You can find him driving a 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV. Banner photo: Smoke rises from a Gulf Coast oil refinery (iStock image).
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