Yet another rumour regarding the Mazda rotary engine has surfaced. This time, it’s suggested that the iconic engine configuration will be revived with hydrogen combustion technology.
As Best Car Web reports, the Mazda rotary will be returning under the guise of a range extender for the upcoming hybrid and plug-in hybrid MX-30 which will be introduced to the Japanese market in the first half of next year. New comments suggest that the Mazda rotary plans to extend into a sportscar that employs hydrogen combustion.
“By accumulating the technology so far, it is ready to be used” says Senior Managing Executive Officer of the brand, Ichiro Hirose. It’s understood that this technology will be an extension of the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE that broke cover in 2007. It’s further stated that the momentum to review the possibility of hydrogen rotary is increasing within Mazda.
“Although it is a small scale, development has progressed. As the world has suddenly turned to decarbonisation, the view that a hydrogen rotary is an important technology is rapidly expanding,” said a Mazda official. It’s suggested that many Mazda employees want a true revival of the rotary engine used as the drive engine.
“If [we] decide to do it, [we] think the prototype will be completed within three years. The most likely system is [one] that combines an electric turbo,”
One of the technical issues with hydrogen fuel technology is that it ignites early and unintentionally explodes at the heat spot inside the cylinder. However, due to the structure of the rotary engine, heat spots are not a cause for concern, so it is compatible with hydrogen fuel.
Based on this, it’s believed that a Mazda rotary-powered model would likely be an expensive model with a limited production run.
Even after RX-8 production was discontinued in 2012, the rotary engine was being developed by a small number of people within the company. Its scale has since expanded due to the firm finding a somewhat commercially viable use for it.