We first need to shed the paradigm of individual vehicles. There will be a place for them in the future, but as many have most likely noticed, you can never have enough lanes on a highway.
Gasoline is a highly concentrated energy storage medium. An energy source's value ought to be directly related to its energy content per unit of mass. I have not done the necessary research, but I'll bet someone on here has. At present, I believe that gasoline, diesel, kerosene (jet fuel) are still probably the most cost effective energy sources. But, as with all human endeavors we often fail to include other costs because they are far more difficult to quantify. How much has been expended on waging war that was, in part, due to where we source our energy? What will be the ultimate cost to us due to pollution of air, water, and land in the quest for this resource? If global warming caused by human activity exists, how much of it will be caused by our use of this energy source?
There is almost too much to ponder here. Humans tend to follow the path of least resistance, no matter where it leads them. Regardless of your beliefs about the origins of mankind our activity on this planet is an experiment that could easily result in failure as numerous mass extinctions in the Earth's history can attest.
