"Lets use hydrocarbons to make electricity, send it down the line step down the voltage, convert it to DC, store it in a battery and think they were gaining energy."
Both empty containers potentially storing energy. Useless until charged from an external source.
A five gallon Jeep type empty gas can costs about $50, the new Volt/Leaf/Fiskar battery costs $10k and up. Any body can use a hand calculator to figure out the return on investment. Only those poor deluded souls that have "Emotional feel good" factor keys will find the electrics the better deal.