My own conspiracy theory is that the only reason this story got traction is because it carefully sends the message "EVs are not sustainable, and might never be".

There's enough people being paid to tell clear lies that I don't feel I'm paranoid to suggest that writing such an article (which seems very careful to not be particularly positive about current EVs) might get you money from fossil fuel interests and/or they'd hype it for visibility.

There's this car that runs on WATER, man!

It adds to the humor that the two numbers you quoted might actually be achievable.

Oh. No, Volkswagen and Mercedes sold cars like this 20-40 Years ago. I.e. the VW T4 or the Mercedes 200 D. That was the time where german cars were still good.

Aren't most anti aircraft missiles heat seeking? Could also be a reason why 60% of the engine energy need to go into creating heat. Otherwise cheap gas engine drones that can't be intercepted and can fly thousand of miles could be really dangerous.