Mazda to use a Wankel Engine as Range Extender for Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Mazda officially confirmed that their Hybrid MX-30 🚘⚡️ for the US market 🇺🇸 will offer a Rotary Engine as a Range Extender

The 38hp Wankel Engine will not be use to directly power the vehicle but only to recharge the Battery 🔋 when necessary

The Engine’s rotor housing is very compact (about 75mm deep) and the Engine uses a single spark plug 💥 It is started by the generator to reduce cold start issues

First test shows that this solution doubled the mileage to up to 250 miles Range for only a 33.5 kWh Battery 🔋 (Panasonic cells) but he associated fuel consumption ⛽️ is unknown

Mazda recent patent shows a New Powertrain made up of a front mounted Engine and an Electric eMotor ⚡️ at the rear wheels while other rumours (and images) suggested that the engine and the motor could share the same front location

Running prototypes should be on the road in a few days and the ReX MX-30 will go on Sale in 2022

Please note that the Range Extender solution has been already explored by other OEM such as BMW. The BMW i3 ReX was abandoned mainly because the small Motorbike engine selected by BMW was not suitable to efficiently support the EV 🚘⚡️PowerTrain