Power down

How old is your Mac exactly? From what you are writing, it seems that your battery has aged and cannot provide peak performance anymore. Here are more information about battery perfomance over time:

iPhone Battery and Performance - Apple Support

You can look up your battery health in settings to get info about how aged your battery actually is.

Maximum battery capacity measures the device battery capacity relative to when it was new. A battery will have lower capacity as the battery chemically ages which may result in fewer hours of usage between charges. Depending upon the length of time between when the iPhone was made and when it is activated, your battery capacity may show as slightly less than 100%.

A normal battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles when operating under normal conditions. The one-year warranty includes service coverage for a defective battery. If it is out of warranty, Apple offers battery service for a charge. Learn more about charge cycles.

To view your battery’s condition, choose Apple menu  > System Settings, then click Battery  in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)

Read more here: Check the condition of your Mac laptop’s battery - Apple Support

it sounds like my old car that would run out of gas when the gauge said 1/4 tank.

Your battery may be worn out AND may be very bad at estimating how low it is getting until it is too late.

I bet that this is a MacBook Pro 2017 A1708.

The most problematic laptop in terms of battery that I know.