Imagine you are driving a car up Pike’s Peak in Colorado. To raise a car weighing 1000 kilograms a

Question

distance of 100 meters would require about a million joules. You could raise a car 12.5 kilometers
with the energy in a gallon of gas (if all stored chemical energy was converted to gravitational PE).
Driving up Pike's Peak (a mere 3000-meter climb) should consume a little less than a quart of gas.
But other considerations have to be taken into account. Explain, in terms of efficiency, what factors
may keep you from realizing your ideal energy use on this trip.

Answer 1

for starters:

gasoline engine burning generates heat, which radiates off into space from the surface of the engine and in the exhaust gasses.
That is part of the efficiency of the thermodynamic cycle in the piston cylinders

friction in bearings, gearing, crankshaft/bearings etc

air drag