StephenA

Everyone is going on about EVs - that's all well and good but if electric is going to be the way forward for canal boating then either we need a huge investment in infrastructure for charging or we need a radical evolution in the technology so its possible to move a 20+ tonne canal boat at 2-3 mph for more than a couple of hours. That technology might come from the EV market or it might not if the EV market decides the easy fix is a lot more charging points rather than a major increase in distance per charge. The boating market is a small market, it will always have a tiny market share when it comes to electrical propulsion so there is no incentive for any manufacturer to spend money developing a solution because the ROI is just too small (or the product would be too expensive)

Apparently Hemp is much better than trees https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalieparletta/2019/06/28/could-hemp-be-the-next-big-thing-in-sustainable-cotton-fuel-wood-and-plastic/#6162329721c2

and how much did the batteries cost? How long did it take to install?

You can always use side by side maps https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16&lat=53.5534&lon=-2.5957&layers=171&right=BingHyb

Yes maybe I could - if I could afford it. The thing is a significant number of people can't do it. I'd love the idea of a drop in replacement for my old BMC. I can drop in a third party engine for a few K. I can't drop in a complete electric replacement for a few K Yes - but are the heat pumps that you get in cars (and would need in a boat to heat the water) high end efficient? We have heat pumps at work from a major a/c brand and they struggle in the middle of winter. I'm not sure what the significance of the bolding is

But where will the incentive to make this EV technology available to canal boaters? Take this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48956000 The cost of installing a ex Tesla drive train into a classic car is £20,000 or more That's the whole thing that bothers me about all of this - yes the technology is available or will be available soon, but the implementation costs and the infrastructure costs are prohibitive - the market isn't exactly large after all so economies of scale just wont apply. How well does a heat pump work when the outside air temperature is several degrees below zero?

So you didn't move on Saturday, did about 4 miles on Sunday and that took your batteries to 55%?

Could duckweed be used as biomass for power production? I wonder if you could scale it up to an industrial level and use it as part of a semi closed cycle?

The profit lies in systems for vehicle charging - some of the problems with the Gov Consultancy are that it looks like they are going after boats as an easy target to reduce pollution - a market that doesn't have the size, or the profit margins, that make it attractive to technical investment.

No but my car does nearly 700 miles on a single tank

This is something I've asked several times - but don't get an answer. Solar isn't the solution for more than a couple of hours per day, so plugin overnight charging seems to be the only obvious solution - but the cost is just insane.

Which is fine unless you are in the situation that you might have to leave your house at any time during the night and drive a couple of hundred miles - which is a situation I was in moderately recently.

Net Zero yes, well close to.

True - though a friend did run his Ford diesel car on home produced bio fuel for several years : it just needed to start on diesel and you purged it through with diesel before stopping.

Thanks for posting that - so that suggests more a move to 100% biofuels as one of the various options.