Zoomi Life

This was the first hydrogen rotary engine vehicle that Mazda made.  It’s a sport coupe and is a dual-fuel  vehicle without electric components.  The vehicle was first tested on Japanese roads in 2004 and has since become Mazda’s premier eco-vehicle, with 30 of them on their way to Norway for government road testing there.  They’ll be available for lease in Norway soon.

The drive-train and components are nearly identical to the Premacy mini-van that Mazda also produces, sans the electric motors and batteries.  While the Norwegian models are manual transmissions, the intended production models of the RX-8 Hydrogen RE is with an automatic transmission.

The dual-fuel cars are capable of running on either compressed hydrogen or gasoline and the Wankel Rotary Engine that Mazda is so fond of is the power plant for the battery charging and high-speed acceleration in these vehicles.  The switch is automatic if hydrogen runs low, but can be manually triggered on the fly as well.

The RX-8 is capable of 100km on hydrogen only and about five times that with gasoline added. The car seats four as a sport coupe.

Mazda is putting their alt-fuel eggs into the hydrogen basket, but is testing both hydrogen-driven vehicles as well as hydrogen-range-assist electrics.  Great stuff from this relatively quiet little car maker.

Source: Mazda.com