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When Pop was ferrying planes to Paris, after the Allies had liberated the city, He landed a P47 at le Bourget. There were literally thousands of Kubelwagens parked there with coal gas generators. The were all booby trapped and the French warned him to not mess with them. He was 23 and much more interested in wine and French women.
Since the German oil industry had basically been wiped out, they had been forced to produce fuel that utilized their significant coal reserves.
Maybe at some point with crude prices we will work out how to do the same, but with the current attitudes about coal and pollution, I doubt it will go far any time soon.
I don't think the technology is a dead end. I do think that if it offered a realistic, cost effective alternative, there would have been more work done. It wasn't worth it in the immediate post war oil boom when a gallon of refined gasoline sold for 13 cents at the pump.
regards
Mech
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