The main reason why this process isn’t “something for nothing” is that it takes twice as much electrical energy to produce energy in the form of gasoline. As Aircela told The Autopian:
Aircela is targeting >50% end to end power efficiency. Since there is about 37kWh of energy in a gallon of gasoline we will require about 75kWh to make it. When we power our machines with standalone, off-grid, photovoltaic panels this will correspond to less than $1.50/gallon in energy cost.
Doesn’t it sort of defeat the purpose of gasoline being used because it’s so energy dense? Like, this seems to suggest little more than the benefits of electrification in transport.
Solar to gas, not grid to gas. Gasoline is easier to store and transport than batteries. There are places that batteries don’t make sense but still have lots of sun. I think this could be useful, and if it’s using CO2 from the atmosphere and solar power then it’s not contributing to global warming.
Sure, but if you’ve got 20 grand to spend on this contraption and already have solar, why not get a shitton of 48V server batteries?
Battery performance quickly degrades in cold conditions. In the Arctic circle, you could have lots of sun during the summer but it still wouldn’t make sense to deploy batteries. The people who live there are already dependent on gasoline.