Yes, hydrocarbons have major advantages as a form of seasonal energy storage, and possibly you can burn them in cheaper, less efficient power plants. Round-trip efficiency is inevitably going to be pretty low with electrically generated fuels, but they still ought to be able to outcompete fossil fuels economically once production scales up.
Gas has the advantage that gas turbines are less inefficient than conventional steam, though ultra-supercritical steam (mentioned in the EIA paper) could conceivably take that away, and of course it's easier to ship around over short distances.
Gas has the advantage that gas turbines are less inefficient than conventional steam, though ultra-supercritical steam (mentioned in the EIA paper) could conceivably take that away, and of course it's easier to ship around over short distances.