Mazda MX-30 Mazda's first electric test (photo: manufacturer's website)
Mazda has finally introduced its small crossover the MX-30 also in a plug-in version that uses a gasoline engine to charge the batteries, so far a not really new concept that other manufacturers are using.
But here comes the twist in the plot - she does it with the rotary engine - the engine configuration very much associated with Mazdas of yesteryear.
The MX-30 introduced in 2019 was Mazda's first electric vehicle.
In its external dimensions, it is between the CX3 and CX5 and more or less parallel to the CX-30.
Already upon its release to the market, it was a vehicle with unimpressive specifications, and that's to say the least.
145 electric horses and a 35.5 kWh battery that was enough for 200 km ridiculous even for its time.
Already then, Mazda hinted that a version with a rotary range extender was in the works, but the launch kept getting delayed.
Unusual door arrangement similar to the RX-8 sports car (photo: manufacturer's website)
Now it is here: a rotary engine with a volume of 830 cc sits at the front of the model and is used as a generator to charge the batteries to supply power to the electric motor.
In this version, the power has also been improved and it now stands at 170 hp (remember, 145 hp in the original version). The car will be able to move with the power of the battery (which was reduced to 17.8 kWh) as long as it is charged and when it gets close to empty after about 85 km declared, the rotary engine will come into action in order to charge it.
A 50 liter fuel tank should provide it with a very good range, although No official range or fuel consumption figure has been given.Unlike the pure electric version, this time the car will also support faster charging than the electric car's 50 kilowatts.
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The rotary engine will be used as a range extender (photo: manufacturer's website)
The rotary engine, or Wankel engine after the engineer who developed it, uses a piston that, instead of moving up and down like in normal engines, moves in a rotary fashion inside a triangle-like combustion cavity.
During the rotation of the piston around the axis, the combustion cavities are formed in the corners of the triangle.
Its great advantage is the high power relative to the volume.
After several attempts by European manufacturers, the best known of which was the German NSU with the RO80 in the 1960s, the engine was abandoned due to its complexity and unreliable reliability due to sealing problems, although it has had a comeback in recent decades in the unmanned aircraft industry, including in the UAVs of Elbit sold to the IDF.
Among the car manufacturers, Mazda was the only one that insisted on continuing to use it and since the 1960s has incorporated it several times in its model line, mainly in the sports cars of the RX series.
The last of which the RX-8 rolled off the production line for the last time in 2012.
According to information received by Walla!Car, the MX-30 in this version will officially arrive in Israel, and will be the first car with a Wankel engine to arrive in Israel in more than 50 years.
This is after the RO80 was also marketed here in the late 1960s with the revolutionary engine, although due to its low reliability it was soon replaced in all the cars sold here, usually with a Ford engine.
For Mazda Israel this will be a landmark, after other models of the manufacturer with the rotary engine did not arrive in Israel.
The MX-30 has also not been regularly imported so far, and a small amount of cars in the electric version have been parallel imported.
An exact arrival date has not yet been determined.
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