Doubts on the Future of
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Oilers in Germany
How the Question of Fuel Imports and the Development of Gas Producers May Affect the Oil-engined Vehicle
LA" year the motor vehicles in Germany consumed 1,900,000 tons of fuel, of which 1,450,000 tons were petrol and the remainder oil fuel. Onethird of the total requirements (650,000 tons) was covered by German sources.
The brown-coal mines have, at the request of the Government, formed a pool and established a concern which is to produce petrol from brown coal on a large scale. It is expected that this new concern will soon be able to supply annually 400.000 tons of light motor spirit and that the hydrogenation plant at the Telma works, which has been in operation for several years, will increase its output to 350,000 tons a year.
By the low-temperature-carbonization process it is expected that a further 150,000 tons of motor spirit can be obtained, together with what petrol can be distilled from the products of the German oilfields in the Hanoverian district. From these, the Vacuum Oil Co. derives the Gargoyle oil sold in Germany. As all petrol in the country has to be mixed, to the extent of 10 per cent. of its volume, with alcohol (potato spirit), it is hoped that, within two or three years, Germany will be capable of supplying from home sources the entire demand for light motor spirit.
. The situation with regard to fuel for oil engines is not so satisfactory from the German point of view. Of the 450,000 tons consumed last year, only 70,000 tons were supplied from home sources, and there appears to be no possibility of increasing the output in any considerable measure. The Hanoverian oilfields are expected to yield, this year, 300,000 tons of crude oil, from which it, will probably be possible to derive 60,000 tons of Diesel oil.
There is a possibility that by the large-scale extension of the low-temperature-carbonization process, suitable fuel for oil engines may ultimately be supplied. At most, it is estimated, 200,000 tons annually will he reached. It is for these reasons that public opinion, under the influence of an active propaganda campaign on the part of interested concerns, is gradually turning against the oil engine in favour of wood or charcoal-gas generating plants. At present, this propaganda is not affecting oil-engine sales, which have reached record heights.
It is estimated that, last year, more than 7,000 new oilers were registered, in addition to a large number of older petrol-engined vehicles converted to the use of oil. It is believed that 30,000 oil-engined lorries of all sizes are running in Germany.
As Germany's exports, under the in-, fluence of the world boycott, have dwindled to a remarkable extent, there are troubled times ahead for the oil engine. Already all important raw materials, which have to be imported, are under Government control and it is exceedingly difficult to obtain foreign money for the purchase abroad of anything but the most-needed supplies. It is, therefore, quite possible that the German Government will one day call a halt to the sale of further oil engines, unless the foreign trade difficulties are removed.
The German industries, especially the chemical trade, are working with success on the discovery and development of suitable substitutes for material hitherto imported, and as much effort is being expended in perfecting gas producers, they may quickly spring into favour.
There is also considerable talk respecting the employment of coal gas as fuel and the organization of a net of distribution points all over the country for the ready replacement of empty high-pressure containers. In view of the energy with which all reformation plans have hitherto been, pursued in Hitler's Germany, these are possibilities that can materialize at any time.