Photo Credit: iStockClaims that EV adoption will overburden the power grid often focus only on charging demand without looking at the energy already required in the gasoline production system.That was the point of a recent post on Reddit's r/electricvehicles, in which the original poster argued that the comparison becomes more stark once the power consumed to produce gasoline is included.What's happening?In their widely discussed analysis, the submitter tackled one particular argument levied against electric vehicles.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe user said an oft-cited "grid-strain" argument treats EV charging as visible electricity use while overlooking the energy involved in getting gasoline out of the ground and into drivers' tanks.According to figures cited in the thread and backed up by data from World Metrics and the U.S. Energy Information Administration, petroleum refining represents nearly 3% of total energy use in the United States, or about 2.5 quadrillion BTUs out of 94.5, according to more recent data than the post used. Though much of that energy is from burning fuel rather than pulling from the grid, it's still an energy usage that has its own opportunity cost and is typically ignored.The same post estimated that each gallon of gasoline carries a well-to-wheel energy cost of 6-8 kilowatt-hours, including roughly 2.35-4.5 kWh of energy tied to extraction and refining — however, holding that up to fact-checking suggests that the more conservative estimate of repurposing that energy to refine oil toward the grid instead would be more like 0.8 to 2.1 kWh per gallon, as laid out by Spitfire Research in evaluating a similar claim once made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Therefore, a 10-gallon fill-up would require about 8 to 21 kWh of energy that could have otherwise — in this thought experiment — gone toward the grid rather than refining the oil into gasoline. AdvertisementAdvertisementA typical EV can go 3.5 miles per kWh, more or less depending on the model, so the 8 to 20 kWh of electricity behind 10 gallons could theoretically be repurposed into the grid and then be used by an EV to go 28 miles on the most conservative estimate or 73.5 miles on the 2.1 kWh-per-gallon estimate, again just purely off the energy used for the refining process of the oil into gasoline.The point here, either way, is that oil refineries do require power for every gallon of gas, and that power could be reallocated into the grid — or at least the resources behind it could be reallocated. On top of that, then the refined gasoline must be transported, requiring more burned fuel that could have been used in other ways. Electricity can travel through the grid nearly instantly with minimal additional cost to get from Point A to Point B, beyond general infrastructure maintenance."We can't count the usage for charging batteries while IGNORING the usage to make gasoline. They both use electricity," the poster maintained.It's a lot of hypotheticals, but it's clear if the world took even another 20% of its gas-powered cars and made them EVs and then reduced its oil operations by an equivalent measure, the personnel hours and resources could be redirected into generating more electricity instead to accommodate, even if gasoline and diesel are generally too inefficient to be used for the electrical grid itself.AdvertisementAdvertisementFurther, EVs generally charge overnight, when people are asleep and their cars are parked at home, and that is when the grid is not under a high demand, so much so that utilities often charge less for energy used overnight. Each new EV is not adding a major strain to keep up with demand, particularly as many EV drivers also have solar panels and battery systems. Why does it matter?Commenters participating in the discussion broadened the point beyond refineries.Users talked about how the oil system also depends on pipelines, pumping equipment, tanker transport, and fuel storage — all of which consume energy and add pollution, including vehicle exhaust and leaking tanks."EV's do add to the residential grid load. But it could be easily offset by requiring solar to be installed on new construction, and a bonus for having batteries," a user remarked.AdvertisementAdvertisement"Well to wheel is a lot more than the refiner proper and few of those, if any are completely standalone. They are all grid connected buying and selling power as is convenient to them not the grid," another said in part.EVs can increase electricity use in certain places and at certain times, even as they reduce waste and pollution overall compared to gasoline.In response to a commenter's claim that the original poster downplayed EV energy demand, a third user pointed to countries like Norway, where a population of 5.5 million people and a million electric vehicles co-exist without the grid faltering."How does the grid in Norway not completely collapse then?" they challenged. In fact, EVs made up 95.9% of the country's new vehicle sales in 2025. What's being done about it?A major part of the solution is smarter charging.AdvertisementAdvertisementParticipants in the thread also highlighted solar and batteries as ways to manage added load, especially on new construction and in commercial buildings. One commenter said that "V2G + EV + Solar and wind is a very close runner up" to an ideal clean-energy system, referring to vehicle-to-grid technology that could let parked EVs support the grid instead of simply drawing from it.As for gas-powered vehicles, commenters pointed out other energy-intensive aspects absent from the original poster's analysis."Another thing OP didn't even mention is the energy to transport oil and fuel to the final destination of consumption," a user began. AdvertisementAdvertisement"Much of that is fossil fuel-based, but it's still a lot of energy consumption people don't consider. Gas is so heavily subsidized and no one really sees the true cost.""EVs will change the grid for the better everywhere … let's also remember the distributed pollution that goes with all of that transport of fuel to every mom & pop gas station, the diesel exhaust from idling trucks, the leaking tanks into our drinking water," said another."There is a reason we have a grid and not a generator at every single house on the block."Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.