Mazda has not abandoned the rotary piston engine, which had its heyday in 1991 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the victory of its 787B prototype.
The Japanese manufacturer has just resuscitated it, after a twelve-year eclipse.
In line with the ecological transition that is reshaping the automotive industry, this engine now plays the role of a range extender as part of a rechargeable hybrid powertrain.
For the Japanese engineers, this technology represented the best choice in terms of compactness and lightness, knowing that at the same time they claim to have solved the main problems inherent in the technology of the Wankel rotary piston, in particular high oil consumption.
Mazda
Placed under the front bonnet, in the same casing as the generator and the electric motor, the rotating block, an 850 cm3 single rotor has a power of 74 horsepower at 4,7000 rpm and a torque of 116 Nm. only 71 kg.
As for the electric motor, it delivers a power of 125 kW (170 hp) and a torque of 260 Nm. According to the diagram adopted by the Mazda engineers, the rotary simply turns the generator.
The wheels are driven by the electric motor.
Mazda
By switching from an electric to a plug-in hybrid model, the original MX-30 sees the size of its lithium-ion battery reduced to 17.8 kWh (188 kilos), instead of 35.5 kWh.
In parallel, the Mazda coupe accommodates a 50-litre petrol tank.
The manufacturer announces an electric range of 85 km, more than enough for daily journeys, and a total autonomy of more than 600 km.
CO2 emissions are 21 g/km.
If the normalized consumption is announced at 1 liter per 100 km, the consumption on the highway discharged battery has not been disclosed but the accumulators can be recharged in 1 hour 30 minutes on a 7.2 kW socket, 50 minutes on three-phase 11 kW and 25 minutes at 36 kW on a fast terminal.
Mazda
The R-EV plug-in hybrid version of the MX-30 coupé will be launched next summer at a price equivalent to the electric version, starting at €38,250.
The launch of this model will be accompanied by a top-of-the-range Edition R version billed at €45,450.