Mazda has announced its plan to bring its first electric vehicle to the market in 2020. The battery-powered vehicle can be fitted with the optional range extender.
Cross-section of the rotor housing in the Mazda RX-8's Renesis rotary engine.
Mazda
Mazda hopes to bring two versions of an electric vehicle to the market in 2020. Alongside a purely battery-powered version, there is the option of fitting the EV with a range extender. Mazda's small, lighter and quieter rotary engine will extend the range by recharging the vehicle battery when needed. The rotary engine can be fuelled with petrol as well as LPG (liquid petroleum gas).
Mazda is able to refer back to its experience of building Wankel rotary engines in the 1960s. The last vehicle available in Germany with this type of engine was the 2011 Mazda RX-8. The Japanese carmaker envisions its Wankel engine and range extender concept as "the power source of the future". Mazda expects fully battery-powered vehicles to account for only five percent of electric vehicles by 2030, meaning that the remaining 95 percent will consist of hybrid vehicles.