> Ethanol is not a good solution. It's extremely inefficient to take solar radiation and turn it into corn, turn the corn into ethanol and then burn the ethanol

> Ethanol is not a good solution. It's extremely inefficient to take solar radiation and turn it into corn, turn the corn into ethanol and then burn the ethanol for mechanical power. Brazil uses sugar cane, which has better energy yield than corn for ethanol, due to it's higher caloric content. But yes, it is less efficient than direct solar to batteries. > Just turn the solar radiation into electricity and turn that into power. Solar and EVs are here now. Yes, but large battery vehicles are still to expensive in developing and middle income countries - they are just now getting affordable to the masses in developed countries. A smaller battery could easily offset 50-80% of ethanol fueled miles because most daily drives are short, so a smaller affordable PHEV with a 20kWh battery could offset a lot of liquid fuel usage.