Mazda Rotary Assisted EVs Still Being Considered
Mazda announced plans to continue developing Wankel rotary engines for use as generators on upcoming electric vehicles last month and says it plans to stay the course. The automaker, which used high-revving rotary engines in its performance vehicles through 2008, remained committed to repurposing them as battery chargers. However, the last model it tried that on turned out to be a bit of a dud in terms of sales.
The MX-30 was an abject failure for the brand. Its relatively small battery pack struggled to even reach 100 miles between charges and it was fairly slow for an all-electric vehicle in its respective segment. Its only real advantages were the fact that it looked decent, played host to a nice interior, and was priced lower than a few of its competitors. But these weren’t enough to save it on our market. Sales were horrendous and it was promptly discontinued.
While we never got to see it here, other regions were given the MX-30 R-EV — which nearly halved the size of the already small battery to make room for a Wankel rotary generator and fuel tank. Still technically an EV, the generator meant that you could continue driving the MX-30 R-EV after the battery pack was depleted for charge. The resulting product doesn’t sound like it was much better than the MX-30 that failed to sell here. But the R-EV variant did serve as a proof-of-concept that on-board generators can indeed be used to help eliminate range anxiety.
Unfortunately, Nissan had already proven that with its e-POWER system and the rotary generator on the MX-30’s rotary reportedly drones unpleasantly once you’ve gone past its roughly 50 miles of all-electric range.
Regardless, Mazda is sticking with the premise. It’s not only planning to build more EVs, it likewise wants to field a new all-electric SUV by 2027 with at least one variant playing host to a Wankel rotary generator. The automaker believes it could make a decent alternative to plug-in hybrids which haven’t sold as well as the industry hoped.
It’s certainly not a sure thing, especially considering public acceptance of EVs seems to have plateaued for the time being. But Mazda’s rotary engine development team was reinstated at the start of 2024, with the manufacturer stating that their primary mission would be to focus on designing generators.
Mazda is likewise on track to deliver another electrified crossover for Europe before 2027 in partnership with China’s state-owned Changan Automobile. While we haven’t seen any vehicles stemming from that collaboration, previous entries have indeed been electric models utilizing gasoline-powered range extenders.
[Images: Mazda]
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Consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulations. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, he has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed about the automotive sector by national broadcasts, participated in a few amateur rallying events, and driven more rental cars than anyone ever should. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and learned to drive by twelve. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer and motorcycles.
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Mazda sold over 114,000 CX-5 SUVs in 2024. I travel a bit for work and I see these vehicles everywhere - but not often at the rental counter.
October 2024 sales highlights include:
Mazda is clearly doing some things well - but their strengths seem to be reasonably priced traditional ICE SUVs - people seem to like them.
I suspect buyers like the idea of a plug-in hybrid in the short run. In the long run, it has yet to be determined that buyers will like the added complexity of these drivetrains when the warranties run out.
Take the CX70/90 inline six. Remove the Turbo. Give the internals the sports car treatment they gave the 2.0 for the Miata and the corosponding redline. Put in a RWD sporty coupe and sedan. Let the Miata team tune the chassis. They would sell dozens I'm sure, but it would be cool.