re: Alternative fuels
Some useful numbers:-
4.5 barrels of oil is about 3/4 of a tonne, so you can compare consumption of a pure carbon fuel (coal) at ~ 1 tonne for an electric car with a hydrocarbon. Of course, If you had a coal-burning car (either a steam engine or a carbon monoxide generator) you would be more efficient.
Note that transforming energy is a major cost.
In Australia, we have lots of cars run on LPG - pressurised rich gas with methane, ethane, butane, and propane in the mix. It works a treat and most servo's have it, so even long journeys are possible. (But most vehicles also have a petrol tank as well, just in case). It's cheaper intrinsically than petrol but there are a lot of artificial price factors in the real world...