Sweden floats two-stroke outboard engine ban
The Swedish government asks two-stroke owners to update their outboard engines or face having them declared illegalSweden has announced it plans to ban all two-stroke outboard engines in the country, a move that could affect up to a third of all the outboard-engined boats in the country.
The Swedish Transport Agency’s “A Cleaner Wake” plan was announced in the middle of last week’s Gothenburg-based boat show, with owners urged to replace two-stroke outboard engines voluntarily before an outright ban was considered.
Related stories:
“It's not about wanting to ban things, but we want boat owners to think more about the fact that they also have a certain environmental impact,” STA representative Lina Petersson told Swedish media website SVT.
According to the agency, Sweden has around 750,000 recreational watercraft plying its coastlines and waterways. Of those, one in three outboard engines are more than 25 years old, showing how well the technology stands up to wear and tear over time.
The agency claims that up to 30 per cent of the fuel that these engines use remains unburned and ends up in the water.
Car bans
Sweden is cracking down on the emissions from its 10 million-strong population, calling for a ban on the sale of petrol- and diesel-engined cars from 2030 in an effort to remove sources of pollution from its cities.
The country’s capital, Stockholm, has even proposed the idea that the city becomes car-free at some point.
In Australia, older-style carburettor-ported two-stroke engines will be banned from sale from July 1, 2020 as Australia moves to clean up its act. The Federal Government had planned to introduce the ban last year, but prolonged drought in eastern Australia meant many companies were not able to sell stocks of two-stroke gardening equipment before the ban came in.
The industry, which includes two-stroke outboard engines for boats, was granted a 12-month extension.
Canadian outboard engine brand Evinrude will be the only engine manufacturer certified to sell two-stroke motors beyond the ban. The company uses direct injection technology to spray a precise amount of fuel and oil into the cylinder to be burnt, significantly minimising the emissions that the outboard engines produce.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
