Boating New Zealand - July 2018

70 Boating New Zealand

nyone monitoring the health of the international automotive sector

over the last 18 months will be forgiven for thinking that diesel-

powered vehicles face immediate extinction.

Consider this selection of media headlines:

• ‘Historic end’ for combustion: Volvo says all of its cars will
  use electric after 2019


• India to see only electric cars by 2030


• France wants to ditch gas, diesel-powered cars by 2040


• Britain bans gasoline and diesel cars starting in 2040


• China says it will stop selling internal combustion engine cars


• Toyota will electrify entire vehicle lineup by 2025
  Everyone’s familiar with the emissions/climate change drivers at play here, and even
  if you’re sceptical about the science, it does raise an intriguing question: what does a
  growing anti-diesel brigade mean for the recreational marine sector?
  In New Zealand – as in many countries – the vast majority of 10m-plus boats are
  powered by diesel donks. Are these engines – many of them admittedly a little long in
  the tooth – to be legislated out of existence? Are even the latest-generation engines to be
  banned from new builds?
  Well, as always, it depends on who you ask.
  A somewhat more upbeat perspective on the diesel engine’s future came earlier this

A

A bit like Mark Twain who famously declared that media reports of his death were

exaggerated, so too reports of the demise of the diesel engine might be a little premature.

RIP DIESEL?

feature

Diesel engines

WORDS BY

LAWRENCE SCHÄFFLER

PHOTOGRAPHY

SUPPLIED