I think we’re in the unfortunate gap between desperately needing to reduce/eliminate our fossil fuel usage, and having scaleable battery tech that is acceptably close to a straight swap in terms of energy density. In the interim, closed-cycle hydrocarbon fuel seems like the obvious solution, as we have the infrastructure and engines already (and this covers ships, trains, etc.), rather than having to reengineer everything to hydrogen use then again to electricity.
I wouldn’t get too hung up the seeming difficulty of extracting carbon from the environment and making it into fuel; pretty much every living thing does this with ease and with a virtually unlimited energy supply for the processes (sunlight), efficiency is not as important as it might appear. The important bit is to stop digging stuff out of the ground and burning it. Bioengineering, nanotech, enzymes, catalysts, etc. have come a long way and have further to go, and are just waiting for the signal to get on with it. Once a clear signal has been sent that this is what’s going to happen, and at a vast scale, then expect rapid advances, especially if it becomes competitive.