The current, as in right now, automotive zeitgeist suggests that the future of transportation is going to be a mix. While we still believe in the inEVitability of the electric car becoming the dominant, close to singular mode of personal transportation, that day is (probably) later than sooner. Full Electric, EREV, PHEV, and plain old (emphasis on old) ICE will all be options. But what about hydrogen? For passenger cars we’re just not feeling it, despite the best efforts of Hyundai and Toyota. Big rigs? Yeah, hydrogen Class 8 vehicles seem to make sense. And according to our latest guest on the InEVitable, Joe Pratt, the CEO of Zero Emissions Industries (ZEI), hydrogen also makes perfect sense for boats. Big and small.
One of the dirtiest secrets in global trade is the widespread usage of bunker fuel, also known as heavy fuel oil, or HFO. Long story short, when you look at pictures of an oil spill, the thick stuff coating all the seabirds is bunker fuel. It’s the stuff that’s too crude (pun intended) to be refined into gasoline or LEGO bricks. But you can use it to power massive maritime diesel engines. As you’ve maybe guessed, no other type of fuel has higher carbon emissions than bunker fuel. Three percent of the world’s CO2 emissions come from container ships and oil tankers, and most of that is from burning bunker fuel. ZEI seeks to address and change that.
We enjoyed speaking to a man with a PhD in hydrogen airplanes about hydrogen boats. Want to listen? Or better yet, watch!? Why not both? You can watch the vodcast right here or on our YouTube channel. If audio is your thing, download the podcast here or wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you like it, please tell your friends, share us on social media, like the video, and don’t forget to give us a five-star review. Better yet, ask us a question, and if we use it on an episode, we’ll send you some MotorTrend/The InEVitable swag. We hope you enjoyed learning about what comes next for boats, and remember that we’ll be back next week with another new episode of The InEVitable!
