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Is there a significant efficiency hit for accelerating quickly to your desired speed vs accelerating slowly? (in an EV)
Your physics instinct is right in a vacuum.
Same speed should be the same kinetic energy.
But the real world adds losses, and those punish hard acceleration:
Electrical losses scale roughly with current², so flooring it wastes more as heat
Motor/inverter efficiency drops at very high power
Tires waste more energy under high torque (slip)
Drag starts biting earlier if you hit high speeds sooner (ever ride a bicycle?)
Moderate, steady acceleration is most efficient. Not crawling, not flooring it. Use ~30–60% pedal (middle way). Smooth, continuous push.
You can still have quick launches occasionally without wrecking your efficiency. Just don’t make it your default mode.