It makes a difference in aviation, but the petrol -> mechanical energy conversion of an ICE is so lossy that it makes barely any difference in a car.

My car's fuel efficiency barely changes when I go from just me in the car to 5 people in the car, but a EV's range will change substantially (I presume).

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fragmede 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Why would you presume that? if a gasoline car doesn't get appreciable difference when there's the extra weight of 4 additional people in it, why would an EV, which is the same four wheels and aerodynamics, just with a different motor in it going to be any different?

	▲	digitalPhonix 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Because the battery -> mechanical energy process is basically lossless while the petrol -> mechanical energy process is lossy in a way that is largely insensitive to the power output. ie. an EV that needs to produce 1kW might use 1.1kW from the battery and when it needs to produce 2kW it might draw 2.2kW (~2x) from the battery. So 10% increase in weight might result in a 10% reduction in range. An ICE that needs 1kW mechanical energy will probably burn 10kW worth of petrol; when it needs 2kW of mechanical energy it’ll burn 11kW (<2x) of petrol. So a 10% increase in weight would result in a <10% reduction in range.