Many petrol brothers and Mazda enthusiasts shed a tear or two when Mazda phased out the last rotary engine with the Mazda RX-8. Since then, fans (and motor journalists) have never tired of pushing for a new version of the rotary engine at every opportunity. Now, finally, a corresponding series model has been presented!
The Mazda MX-30 R EV is at the auto show in Brussels. That’s cool on the one hand, but also a disappointment for Petrol Heads on the other. Because it is neither a 2 + 2-seater sports car nor a new drive for the Mazda MX-5, but a compact plug-in hybrid, or rather the electric car MX-30 with range extender. This combustion engine is a single-rotor Wankel engine that can charge the small battery while driving. The front wheels are driven exclusively by the 125 kW/170 hp electric motor. However, the energy supply is not taken over by the 32 kWh battery of the purely electric MX-30, which has been available since 2020, but by a 17.8 kWh storage unit, which should be good for a range of 85 kilometers according to WLTP. In addition to the supply via cable and recuperation the battery can also be charged via a generator that is turned by the Wankel engine. It generates 75 hp from a displacement of 0.83 liters and shares the space in the engine compartment with the electric motor. With fuel from the 50-liter tank, a good 500 kilometers should then go out. Compared to the 200 km range of the Stromer, around 600 total kilometers are of course an immense gain. But an average consumption of ten liters per 100 kilometers is anything but contemporary for a compact car.Slow chargingIn terms of charging technology, the new drive variant is only partially based on its sister model. The AC wall box charges with up to 11 kW, direct current flows into the battery with a maximum of 36 kW. The larger battery of the pure Stromer can handle 50 kW. Mazda specifies 25 minutes (20 to 80 percent) as the charging time on the fast charger, and on the wallbox the topic is over in the best case after 1 hour and 40 minutes. The market launch should be in the first half of 2023. As with the purely electric version, the base price should be just over 37,000 euros. And as far as a Mazda MX-5 with Wankel engine is concerned – as we all know, hope dies last!
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