HIROSHIMA: Mazda has started production of the MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV for the European market at its plant here.
The MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV is Mazda’s first mass production vehicle with a rotary engine in 11 years since the RX-8 was discontinued in June 2012. Mazda has cumulatively produced over 1.99 million rotary engine vehicles.
The MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV is a unique plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) that gives a new purpose to Mazda’s unique rotary engine.
This compact, lightweight internal combustion engine drives a generator that either charges the battery or provides additional power if needed. The vehicle is always driven by the electric motor.
While the MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV’s 17.8KWh battery and 85km battery electric driving range is sufficient for most daily driving needs, the rotary engine extends the driving range if needed.
Mazda said the MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV is ideal for customers who would like to drive electrically most of the time and travel longer distances occasionally without range anxiety.
The MX-30 embodies Mazda’s multi-solution approach to move towards carbon neutrality.
Natural products like cork and fabrics made from recycled material were adopted in the design process.
The MX-30’s multitone paint is applied with a high-precision spray gun that spreads the individual colours precisely onto the surface where they are needed and significantly reduces paint loss.
Moreover, the newly developed paints harden at an unusually low temperature of 80°C. Together, these steps reduce CO2 emissions of the multi-tone painting process by 34% – 37%.
A 1.1 MW solar power system that went operational at Mazda’s Hiroshima plant in July 2021 supplies electricity to charge the newly produced MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV vehicles before shipping them.
As a series plug-in hybrid, the MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV has no mechanical connection between the engine and the wheels. The rotary unit simply acts as a generator, ensuring the MX-30 R-EV always drives via the electric motor.
With more than half a century of expertise in the development of rotary engines, Mazda selected the rotary powerplant for this application due to its unique ability to produce the required output from a small, light and easily packaged unit.
The rotary engine is placed neatly alongside the generator and high-output motor in the engine bay. The combination of the 17.8kw battery and 50-litre fuel tank create a unique series plug-in hybrid with a flexible total range of over 600km, while a WLTP CO2 output of just 21g/km ensures class-leading environmental performance.
Compatibility with both AC charging and rapid DC charging is another benefit, meaning 3-phase AC charging takes around 50mins, while for maximum customer flexibility, DC rapid charging can be completed in around 25 minutes.
The MX-30 R-EV has three drive-modes to suit different driving situations: Normal, EV and Charge, and thanks to a 125kw/170ps output, it delivers slightly better acceleration performance than the 145ps fully electric MX-30.
