For the questions, maybe I should show supporting sources when the user gave a wrong answer because that's where the learning happens!

For the specific question: if you start with a liter of petrol then yes, burning that to drive the car strikes me as more efficient, like you said (would need to do the maths). You will only be able to use about 30% of the energy as motion, the rest is released as waste heat.

You don't have to start with petrol though, if you start with energy from hydro/nuclear, the same amount of energy will drive an EV further, this is going back to kJ in fuel and kWh in batteries. Maybe I this is a whole new video.

If I can bounce some ideas off you going forward maybe sign up or email me, thank you for taking the time to help.