Zoomi Life

Mazda is famous for two things: fun cars and Wankel Rotary Engines. The company has two cars in its lineup right now it’s testing as hydrogen models: the Premacy and the RX-8.  The Premacy is a mini-van and the RX-8 is a sport coupe and both use rotary engines.

Mazda has been working on the hydrogen concept for some time, but with a different outlook than Honda or the others. Rather than using the hydrogen in a fuel-cell, Mazda is burning it directly in a combustion engine to provide power.

The Premacy is an electric hybrid(a PHEV), so it uses hydrogen (or gasoline) to fuel the engine which boosts the system as a traditional hybrid vehicle would work.  The hydrogen engine is a rotary engine capable of running on either hydrogen or gasoline as a dual-fuel combustion engine.

In hydrogen-only fuel mode, the vehicle is capable of going 200km on one tank, powering the batteries and the motor as a hybrid.  Once the hydrogen runs low, the engine can switch immediately to gasoline to continue operation, extending its range to 400km.

At low speeds and during start-stop operations in-city, the Premacy uses electric-only power and is capable of this for 20-25km of operation before needing a recharge. The vehicle has regenerative braking, idle control so it doesn’t idle for long, etc.  The generator also acts as the rotary engine’s starter, allowing for less wear.

Many believe that hydrogen is the future of most transportation technology, but the majority of those people also believe that it will be used as an electrical storage medium (via fuel-cells) rather than as a direct-drive fuel.  Mazda is unique in that regard and seems to be coming up with some innovative ways to do it.

Source: Mazda.com