Mazda to offer rotary in MX-30?
Thursday, 9 April 2020
Mazda could imbue its upcoming MX-30 electric crossover with a rotary engine. Not that sort of rotary though, it'll be a tiny version designed to charge the on-board battery.
Such a range-extender has been under development for a few years now, with a prototype Mazda2 EV using a version back in 2015. The rotary engine in that prototype displaced just 0.3-litres, produced 28kW, sipped fuel from an 8.7-litre tank and weighed 100kg. Estimates at the time suggested it could double the range of a 20kWh battery pack.
Apparently, it was almost undetectable when in use thanks to the tiny rotary design, which is important for an electric car.
Mazda itself revealed a similar system could find its way onto the Mazda MX-30 in a recent rotary-related release.
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This would help alleviate some worries around the MX-30, which comes standard with a relatively small 35.5kWh battery offering roughly 209km of range. Slotting an unobtrusive rotary range extender could improve that figure while negating the need for a larger battery.
Late last year, Mazda's director and deputy general manager of the company's European R&D centre, Christian Schultze, told Automotive News that the MX-30 is comparable to a diesel-powered Mazda3 hatchback based on a life-cycle assessment of total CO2 emissions, thanks to the smaller battery.
Schultz added that even if you have to replace the battery after approximately 100,000 miles (160,000 kilometres), the vehicle's total CO2 emissions will remain similar to a diesel Mazda3.
This is in contrast to what other carmakers are doing with their electric vehicles, which is to cram the biggest battery into the platform as possible. This has drawn criticism from those concerned about the flow-on environmental effects of building and disposing lithium-ion batteries, as well as various human rights issues. It looks like Mazda is trying to avoid that battle by using a smaller battery and offering a petrol-powered range-extender to those that need the extra kays.
And hey, maybe one day Mazda will use knowledge gained from the range-extender, enlarge the rotary, pair it with a hybrid powertrain and finally give us that RX-9?