Petrol Powered Boats - the End of the Road?

[[2068]]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/end-of-the-diesel-and-petrol-car-955rwfhzs

Let's ignore the implications for car users for a minute, and keep focused on boats.

There are maybe six petrol refineries in the UK at the moment. If all cars beyond 2040 are electric, then it's reasonable to assume that the number of petrol cars on the road will dwindle beyond that point, if not before, and the demand for petrol will fall. As the cars die off, the demand for petrol will become small - a few legacy cars, lawmowers, and errm, boats.
But the demand from boats is tiny - not enough to keep even one refinery ticking over at 5%, so it's likely that all petrol refineries in the UK will close in a staged fashion beyond 2040.

The diesel infrastructure might continue in some form with enough demand from commercial vehicles / agricultural vehicles / heating etc. such that diesel boats could syphon off a few thousand litres to keep them going for a few years longer.

But you could conclude that the "petrol" infrastructure will disappear entirely, and that petrol boat owners will be reduced to turning up at classic (petrol) car rallies trying to cadge a few litres off a black market supplier that knows someone who runs an off-grid refinery in Bulgaria.

 

[dpb]

You dont think the fossil fuel engines in boats will be replaced by the electric car engine tech also?
I was also wondering if say an electric range rover would ever tow 3.5 t to the med in a practical fashion.

 

[[2068]]

You dont think the fossil fuel engines in boats will be replaced by the electric car engine tech also?
I was also wondering if say an electric range rover would ever tow 3.5 t to the med in a practical fashion.

Eventually, I would guess "yes", but the point is that owners of diesel boats will still be able to fill up.
Petrol powered boat owners are at some point going to find it very hard to get hold of any more petrol.

I have mentally got myself aligned to thinking that when the current tender engine expires (Merc 5hp two stroke - 12 years old!), I might be better off with a Torqeedo. Hopefully by then they will have a compact 5hp model that is powerful enough to make the tender plane.

But where are the compact electrical systems that can produce 400kW for ten hours? Not sure where we are with that one.
.

 

[julians]

Itll be many years after the 2040 date that all petrol cars are off the roads, and as others say, electric motors will start to make in roads into the boat market,so i dont think its even worth spending time worrying about it today.

 

[rafiki_]

Let's not ignore renewable bio fuels that can replace petrol or diesel today. Brazil ran happily on ethanol for years before discovering oil fields off shore.

 

[prv]

UK governments don't even keep their own word on a scale of months these days - let alone their successors after decades.

We might or might not be buying petrol and diesel cars in 2040, but it will have nothing to do with this gesture of a press release.

Pete

 

[BruceK]

UK governments don't even keep their own word on a scale of months these days - let alone their successors after decades.

We might or might not be buying petrol and diesel cars in 2040, but it will have nothing to do with this gesture of a press release.

Pete

Amen. Aint that the truth!

 

[omega2]

The breweries will be making it, and if the government get hold of them we are doomed, "they could not run a piss up in one"

 

[Boat2016]

All to make air quality better, what about all the additional power generation? Are they clean, not to mention the extra demand on our already stretched national grid, problem a then becomes problem b and we start all over again.

 

[Bouba]

2040 is a long way off but there must also be a more immediate issue with the sale value of everybody's boat. I also agree that infrastructure will wind down long before the cut off date, maintenance and other investments that take years to repay will make refineries close down and petrol stations will have all been sold to developers. Charging points will only reprieve a few. Add that to the Greenline exploding in Germany then it's all doom and gloom. Enjoy this boating season

 

[simonfraser]

All to make air quality better, what about all the additional power generation? Are they clean, not to mention the extra demand on our already stretched national grid, problem a then becomes problem b and we start all over again.

not neccesarily, local solar and local storage is getting cheaper by the year.
this may well allow for local distribution and take the strain off the national grid.

 

[Boat2016]

not neccesarily, local solar and local storage is getting cheaper by the year.
this may well allow for local distribution and take the strain off the national grid.

I know what you mean but we keep being told all these wind farms a solar panels are necessary to provide for the thousands of new homes being built as existing power stations are working to capacity, a lot will happen between now and 2040 so don't think we should worry too much at this stage

 

[dpb]

With the pace of change in the last 20 years it is easy to believe that in the next 20 we will have displacement boats at least that run off solar panels all day long?

 

[CLB]

Stories like this make me kind of happy that I will be in my twilight years in 2040, if I make it that far. I'm glad that I am at an age that meant I grew up during the tail end of motorings golden era. Long live the V8

 

[volvopaul]

23 years away , replacing everything with electric is a mere politicians dream , we cannot produce enough electricity to power the uk now without importing it , we can't possibly power the transport infrastructure as well .
Only this week it was announced no plans to electrify certain rail tracks which wil have to remain on diesel .
Must be the most stupid statement yet .

 

[Bouba]

23 years away , replacing everything with electric is a mere politicians dream , we cannot produce enough electricity to power the uk now without importing it , we can't possibly power the transport infrastructure as well .
Only this week it was announced no plans to electrify certain rail tracks which wil have to remain on diesel .
Must be the most stupid statement yet .

It can become self fulfilling, the very idea of a cut off date starts the wind down. Cars sales went down because people weren't sure what diesel restrictions were in the pipeline.
Perhaps a rosier future is when every neighborhood has its own fracking and refining center

 

[Machaseo]

Complete tosh!
Typical political posturing, making commitments without any clear strategy that someone else will have to deliver on.
Electric motors have been around in ships for years, guess what generates the power for them?
Hydrocarbon powered engines!
Where do you think the minerals and metals to make the batteries come from?
Out the ground maybe, does that not make them a natural resource with a finite presence on this planet?
I work in the oil industry and have recently consulted on subsea mining to keep,up,with the demand for precious metals specifically for hybrid / battery applications.
Does anyone else see the irony???
Robbing Peter to pay Paul because it looks greener.

 

[Bouba]

Complete tosh!
Typical political posturing, making commitments without any clear strategy that someone else will have to deliver on.
Electric motors have been around in ships for years, guess what generates the power for them?
Hydrocarbon powered engines!
Where do you think the minerals and metals to make the batteries come from?
Out the ground maybe, does that not make them a natural resource with a finite presence on this planet?
I work in the oil industry and have recently consulted on subsea mining to keep,up,with the demand for precious metals specifically for hybrid / battery applications.
Does anyone else see the irony???
Robbing Peter to pay Paul because it looks greener.

It takes more energy to make the ethanol they put in fuel than you get out of it. It takes more energy to make a wind farm than you get out of it. Reducing parking places in a city doesn't cut down on traffic and pollution, it increases it as people drive round and round looking for parking. Whenever there is pressure from the environmentalists on energy and recycling it is always bad for the planet. But it doesn't stop it happening, and unless there is a backlash against environmentalism like there is against political correctness then petro/diesel cars are soon to be history and it's only a matter of which goes first cars or boats

 

[TheOrs]

but the point is that owners of diesel boats will still be able to fill up.

Why do you think there will still be diesel available but no petrol?

 

[rafiki_]

Because the announcement did not mention heavy duty vehicles, which are all diesel powered.