Breaking the Chains: Internal Combustion Engine Inefficiencies and the Rise of Electric Vehicles
Chris Langathianos • February 14, 2024
Did you know that only 25% of the fuel that goes into your gas tank is used to propel your car? Only 25%! Imagine going to the grocery store, purchasing a dozen eggs, only to open the carton and reveal that 9 of these eggs are cracked. Would you be satisfied with this carton of eggs? No, I’m sure that most of us would be upset; upset enough to return to the grocery store and ask for a refund. Yet, every time you fill up your tank at the pump, this is exactly what is happening to you, only you are paying about ten times as much money to fill up your tank as you would pay for a dozen eggs. 

Oil/Gas rake in record profits year after year. Do you feel taken advantage of? I certainly did when I learned about the inefficiency of the “modern” internal combustion engine (I.C.E.). And I am not just referring to your car. This applies to your boat, truck, snow blower, generator; anything that uses combustible fuel such as gasoline or diesel. So why the inefficiency? Why are we getting duped out of our hard-earned money? It all goes back to science and the potential energy of the liquid fuel. The amount of energy that moves your car or is transferred from that of liquid fuel to physical movement is just a small fraction of the potential energy of the fuel. The rest of your expensive gasoline is lost to friction of the engine, transmission, gearbox, differential, etc. 

This has been the reality of ICE since its existence.  In 1886, when Carl Benz patented the first automobile, life was different. It was the norm for people to wake up before dawn, do chores, tend to their livestock, and work the fields. It was backbreaking labor that relied heavily on livestock. With the invention of the automobile, much of the burden of heavy physical labor was removed from the backs of men, women, and horses. It was a leap forward from the inefficiency of using livestock to travel or plow fields. Fuel, known as “motor spirit” or “lightning oil” was just in its dawn at the time, but modernization brought us more equipment and more fuel.  The 1908 Model T got up to 21 miles per gallon.


As the oil demand increased, oil fields began to spring up, and oil companies moved to take advantage of this moneymaker. 

The car production industry did its part to produce the “gas guzzlers,” with fuel efficiency dwindling to 14 mpg in the 1930s. We were moving backward! With the 1973 oil embargo, we saw a national shortage of petrol with rationing and price gouging. It had been seven decades since the Model T, and our society had sent astronauts to the moon and invented nuclear weapons, and still, the average US car only drove 12 miles to the gallon. Don’t forget the 100 years that the oil/ gas and auto industry were knowingly poisoning the planet with leaded gasoline.


So let’s get our foot off the metaphorical brake of common sense.  Let’s move away from the inefficient, obsolete internal combustion engine. The electric vehicle is a large part of the solution.  In 2022, the efficiency of the EV engine was over ~90%. Ninety percent of the electricity you buy to charge your EV engine is used to propel your vehicle, as opposed to ~23% for gasoline and ~29% for diesel fuel.  That is an astounding leap in technology. The EV will allow us to move away from our dependence on oil companies and foreign governments. 


Can you imagine your tax dollars not going to oil companies to the tune of billions of dollars every year?  Can you imagine an energy source for our vehicles that is not polluting our air and water? With solar-powered EV charging, this can be our future. 

In August of 2022, Fed Chair, Jerome Powell said that American households and businesses can expect to experience “pain” due to inflation.  When pulling up to the gas pump, I feel the pain; especially knowing how little I am getting for my money. You can be a die-hard ICE self-described realist who doesn’t want to hear an argument about pollution, global warming, our dependence on foreign countries for oil, etc. So let’s get down to the indisputable facts. We are all spending more money at the gas station now than we did three years ago. Perhaps we should focus our attention away from ICE and move in the direction of renewable, more efficient, and cheaper energy.

Sunnoo Launches Friends & Family Fundraising Campaign on Netcapital!

By Chris Langathianos • November 14, 2024
At Sunnoo, we’re on a mission to make electric vehicle charging accessible, sustainable, and truly independent of the grid. After several years of prototyping, testing, and investing over $400,000 in founder and advisor capital, we’re thrilled to announce that our grid-independent, solar-powered EV charging solution is ready for its next big leap! To make this leap, we’re launching a Friends & Family Fundraising Campaign on Netcapital, an equity crowdfunding platform designed for startups and small businesses to raise capital by offering securities to a wide base of investors. Until November 18th, early supporters can purchase shares at a special friends & family, early bird discount of $0.60 per share. After November 18th, shares will be available at the market rate of $1.00 per share. Sunnoo’s founder and Chief Technology Officer, Marty Gero, said: “It has been a long road for our product & software development, testing of componentry and iterating our solution, so we are thrilled to finally be at the point where we are ready to begin scaling the company. With the finishing touches being put on our pilot unit, we are just days away from launching our initial solution into the world. We have had many friends, family and EV drivers ask us how we could get involved, and we are now ready to extend this opportunity to help us take this to the next level. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of our own money and thousands of hours to get here, so this is a pivotal point in Sunnoo’s history!” Sunnoo’s pilot unit is just a couple of weeks away from completion at our New Mexico facility, and with the support of the communit, Sunnoo will soon be scaling production. Funds raised will support crucial areas like product development, skilled labor, 3rd party testing, certification, and go-to-market strategy execution. If you’re excited about pioneering a cleaner, more flexible charging future, join us by investing in Sunnoo! Visit our offering page on Netcapital for full details about our solution, the market opportunity, and how your investment will help drive Sunnoo forward. Thank you to our friends, family, and early supporters who have been with us on this journey. Together, let’s power a sustainable future for EV charging! Offering Page Direct Link: https://netcapital.com/companies/sunnoo

Sunnoo Featured on Reality TV's "The Blox"

By Chris Langathianos • October 17, 2024
Members of the Sunnoo team spent a portion of the Summer in Tulsa, Oklahoma filming season 17 of The Blox. The Blox is a reality TV show focused on entrepreneurship, created by Weston Bergmann, who is well-known from MTV's "The Real World" and "The Challenge." The show featured 96 startups that were immersed in a competitive environment, referred to as "the bubble," where entrepreneurs face challenges and tasks that test their business skills in areas like marketing, fundraising, and growth hacking. Each task helps contestants accumulate points, and the startup with the most points at the end is crowned the winner. The show combines real-world entrepreneurial education with the excitement of reality TV, providing participants with mentorship and the opportunity to grow their businesses under the guidance of successful entrepreneurs. It has aired on platforms like Prime Video and the BetaBlox app. The concept for "The Blox" was developed in the lead-up to the COVID-19 pandemic and involved strict safety measures during filming. Its creator, Wes Bergmann, was inspired by his years in reality TV and designed the show to provide both entertainment and valuable entrepreneurial lessons. It was an incredible, education experience for the Sunnoo team. Check back for updates on when Season 17 will air – likely during the Winter of 2025!!
Share by: