Struck me as a well-balanced article - perhaps light on science, but then it's in a daily newspaper.
I can see that as the volume of synthetic fuel rises, its cost will fall. You'd think that production would be relatively local to consumption, so the distribution footprint would be lower than that of petrol - there's no need to move unrefined oil around the planet on highly polluting ships. And if the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process is less than the process to produce petrol, then it's an all-round win. (Even if the main source of pollution from cars are already the tyres & brakes.)
An aside, on battery life. The owner of an i8 had his battery capacity tested as it came up to 8 years old, at the end of the manufacturer's warranty. The car's been used per BMW's guidance, and plugged in when not in use. He found negligible deterioration in the capacity, which is very encouraging. The eight year warranty is apparently a consequence of international legislation and has nothing to do with the inherent physical properties of the battery. Which indicates that the battery likely has a longer life in the car than might have been expected. That's a good thing.
Will
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