On 28/04/2015 18:41, GB wrote:
On 28/04/2015 17:31, Tim w wrote:

I don't know if it's mentioned in that article but elsewhere it is
stated as 70%

Production is not underway, it's an experimental process producing only
on a small scale so you won't get an answer to that.

Even if it's 100% efficient, it only makes sense in certain specific
ways. The process takes electrical energy, that can be used direct for
traction and turns it into chemical energy that needs to be burnt to
extract the energy again. That burning is far from efficient, as even
the most efficient engine will produce much waste heat. (It needs to, so
as to obey the laws of thermodynamics.)

The specific reasons it may make sense a
It may use electrical energy that would otherwise go to waste.
We have an enormous infrastructure to use the oil produced, so it may be
better to use that, rather than go over to an electric car infrastructure.
The oil is easy to transport and store.


If you use the electricity from variable and unreliable sources, like
wind farms, the fuel is, effectively, a way to store that energy for
later use. Perhaps not the most efficient way to do it, but possibly the
most useful.

--
Colin Bignell