2026 Fuel Prices & Security of Supply

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › 2026 Fuel Prices & Security of Supply

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#3479251 8-Apr-2026 15:33

pdh:

As geeks, we are not supposed to be math-challenged...

The guy who said 3000 L of Diesel weighed 2.5 T was correct.
He didn't need 'correcting' to a wrong-by-a-factor-of-ten 25 T !

I think the 25T refers to the weight of the boat, not just the fuel

BlakJak

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#3479299 8-Apr-2026 17:53

tstone:

BlakJak:

https://www.fuelclock.nz/ is interesting.

I couldn't close this page quick enough after seeing it was produced by the Taxpayers Union...

My reaction too! But the data is well sourced.

No signature to see here, move along...

pdh

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#3479300 8-Apr-2026 17:55

>The boat weight 25T... fuel 2.5T

My apologies - I should learn to read ;-(

fastbike

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#3479341 8-Apr-2026 19:57

pdh:

>The boat weight 25T... fuel 2.5T

My apologies - I should learn to read ;-(

I mis read it too, you took one for the team .

Otautahi Christchurch

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#3479348 8-Apr-2026 20:27

mattwnz:

I think this has shown what a huge risk a nuclear power would be to NZ. If a world leader wanted to take a country out and threaten them, they could just target that. A nuclear disaster would kill the country. Hopefully this’s crazy LNG generation plan is also now not going to happen and instead the government can build renewable to create that buffer the broken electricity sector needs. Selling off power companies and privatisation has had a major cost for NZers down the track.

Fission sure, but viable fusion is likely to happen in our lifetimes (given the 60 years of work, >10 billion being invested and recent progress) and will be amazing

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#3479362 8-Apr-2026 22:37

Ragnor:

mattwnz:

I think this has shown what a huge risk a nuclear power would be to NZ. If a world leader wanted to take a country out and threaten them, they could just target that. A nuclear disaster would kill the country. Hopefully this’s crazy LNG generation plan is also now not going to happen and instead the government can build renewable to create that buffer the broken electricity sector needs. Selling off power companies and privatisation has had a major cost for NZers down the track.

Fission sure, but viable fusion is likely to happen in our lifetimes (given the 60 years of work, >10 billion being invested and recent progress) and will be amazing

When I was a lad 45 years ago I was told it was twenty years away. I checked in with a mate who is up with the science - he says it is still 20 years away.

It has certainly sucked up a lot of science funding in that 45 years.

Otautahi Christchurch

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pdh

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#3479366 9-Apr-2026 00:16

Yes - fusion has been the engineering joke forever.
I'm not holding my breath.
It has always got wonderful press though - everybody loves the meme.

I'm more excited by progress on SMR (small modular reactor) designs - that's the future.
Small sealed units with a service life of 15-20 years - regionally distributed.

If Elon doesn't corner the market with LEO solar-array AI farms, then AI centres may drive investment in small reactors.
Russia & China are already using them - the west faces educating the green fringe.
So they may get built in less demanding regulatory areas...
Tonga - are you listening ?

They'd work well for NZ - running base load - with hydro picking up the peaks.
Local, reliable power - what a concept !

We'll see - well, I may not, but hopefully someone will be around to see...

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#3479367 9-Apr-2026 06:13

SMRs aren’t quite fusion level fantasy but it’s close. They have been a complete flop to date. The economics don’t really stack up, and probably won’t for a very very one time.

Even the two that are built don’t really do much.

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#3479384 9-Apr-2026 08:35

pdh:

If Elon doesn't corner the market with LEO solar-array AI farms, then AI centres may drive investment in small reactors.

Or we could just not spend massive amounts of money and precious natural resources on slop farms.

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#3479404 9-Apr-2026 09:27

SaltyNZ:

pdh:

If Elon doesn't corner the market with LEO solar-array AI farms, then AI centres may drive investment in small reactors.

Or we could just not spend massive amounts of money and precious natural resources on slop farms.

By "we" I hope that common garden variety Kiwi citizens such as us are not spending a cent on these slop farms (I like that term!). I expect that examples such as the Tiwai point slop farm are built and paid for by some big-tech offshore outfit and that we are selling them the excess power from Manapouri as we are 51% shareholders through the government in Meridian. That would be a nice green export earner

SaltyNZ

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#3479419 9-Apr-2026 10:56

johno1234:

By "we" I hope that common garden variety Kiwi citizens such as us are not spending a cent on these slop farms (I like that term!). I expect that examples such as the Tiwai point slop farm are built and paid for by some big-tech offshore outfit and that we are selling them the excess power from Manapouri as we are 51% shareholders through the government in Meridian. That would be a nice green export earner

Well ... I guess. But even if it was an export earner (so it wastes someone else's money) we're still spending precious natural resources on slop rather than actually fixing the world's problems. And I know that arguably any "fun" use of natural resources is in some way a frivolous waste but generating endless spam, scams, ad farms, and fake pictures of seven fingered women with a leg on backwards is just orders of magnitude worse than anything else.

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johno1234

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#3479432 9-Apr-2026 12:05

SaltyNZ:

johno1234:

By "we" I hope that common garden variety Kiwi citizens such as us are not spending a cent on these slop farms (I like that term!). I expect that examples such as the Tiwai point slop farm are built and paid for by some big-tech offshore outfit and that we are selling them the excess power from Manapouri as we are 51% shareholders through the government in Meridian. That would be a nice green export earner

Well ... I guess. But even if it was an export earner (so it wastes someone else's money) we're still spending precious natural resources on slop rather than actually fixing the world's problems. And I know that arguably any "fun" use of natural resources is in some way a frivolous waste but generating endless spam, scams, ad farms, and fake pictures of seven fingered women with a leg on backwards is just orders of magnitude worse than anything else.

Haha, yep. The problem with Manapouri though, is it's too far away from large energy users apart from Tiwai Pt and now the local slop farm... so the precious natural resource (water) just flows down the Waiau River to Foveaux Strait if it's not generating power. I thought they might have used it to make green hydrogen but that use case doesn't seem economic yet.

fastbike

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#3479455 9-Apr-2026 12:54

johno1234:

By "we" I hope that common garden variety Kiwi citizens such as us are not spending a cent on these slop farms (I like that term!). I expect that examples such as the Tiwai point slop farm are built and paid for by some big-tech offshore outfit and that we are selling them the excess power from Manapouri as we are 51% shareholders through the government in Meridian. That would be a nice green export earner

That's not what the analysts say. Transfer pricing means we are getting a ridiculously small uplift in GDP given the amount of power this thing will use. Just another nail in the coffin of an industrial base here in NZ. Will the last one out please turn off the data centre.

Otautahi Christchurch

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#3479556 9-Apr-2026 17:36

richms:

Lightbulb:

If capacity to store is a real issue - rather than supply - then maybe the government should encourage us to fill up our tanks and 20L cans.

They cant be seen to encourage people to violate hazmat laws tho. There is very little that you can legally store in a house, and leaving them in the car is probably not something that most people want to do.

I have a 10L petrol can in my car boot, but I don't use it much because the smell is overpowering, no matther how tight the cap is.

"I regret to say that we of the F.B.I. are powerless to act in cases of oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way obstructed interstate commerce." — J. Edgar Hoover

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#3479557 9-Apr-2026 17:37

I hope you're not fuming yourself too hard while driving

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