I would prefer that we look at things from the perspective of game balance, rather than trying to justify it with silly pseudoscience. Besides, the only way to increase the rate of fire of an energy weapon would be amping up the COOLING systems. 'Autoloaders' have nothing to do with it, a real pulse laser can keep going faster than any ballistic weapon-- until it overheats.
Again, do energy weapons need MORE range? Do they need to do MORE damage? I seriously don't think so. Ballistics are already hamstrung enough by ammo and short range, the current system works FINE.