Not to belittle the internal combustion engine but that's just the theoretical efficiency of chemical combustion. It's a local maximum. That's tiny compared to

Not to belittle the internal combustion engine but that's just the theoretical efficiency of chemical combustion. It's a local maximum. That's tiny compared to the global maximum energy available from the same amount of fuel. As a trite comparison, it's a similar to arguing the theoretical maximum speed that a person can run. Interesting, but doesn't tell you anything about the maximum speed that a person can move. The speed of light in a vacuum, though, is qualitatively different. It's not a local maximum, it's the global maximum. Anyway, I reserve the right to be impressed. I spend enough of my life being jaded and cynical. Sometimes I see things like this and it makes me think about stuff that I take for granted.