Mazda Rolls Out Hydrogen Hybrid

Anthony Fontanelle
October 3, 2007

Mazda Motor Corp. rolled out a distinct hybrid Tuesday. The one-of-a-kind vehicle runs on hydrogen fuel powering an electric motor. The Japanese automaker said it will be available for leasing in Japan by 2008.

The Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid, flaunted to auto journalists ahead of its introduction at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month, is powered by a rotary engine. The said engine is famed for being quiet because it does not have pistons like conventional engines.

The hybrid is powered by energy produced when hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air to emit nothing more than water vapor. A conventional rotary engine runs on gasoline, but the one integrated to the vehicle runs on hydrogen stored in a tank. But the driver can shift from hydrogen to gas when the former runs out.

Like other auto giants, Mazda, an affiliate of Dearborn-based Ford Motor Co., has been concentrating on hydrogen product lines as shoppers grow more interested in vehicles that don't rely heavily on fossil fuels.

According to Mazda officials the latest hydrogen hybrid is an improvement over its previous hydrogen vehicle, leased since 2006, extending its run on a full tank of hydrogen from 62 miles to 124 miles.

Mazda’s new hybrid is also equipped with a lithium-ion battery that drives the motor and recharges itself using energy from braking, further conserving on electricity. The Japanese automaker refused to say what supplier was providing the battery.

Additionally, the automaker stressed that it has no plans to lease the car outside Japan. The leasing fee will be identical to the vehicle’s predecessor at about $3,500 a month. According to Mazda, the vehicle is aimed at government and ecological organizations. At its research facility in Yokohama, Mazda also showed a "concept car," or show model, called Taiki, that it said was inspired by flowing wind. Its curvaceous surface creased with swooping lines, the slinky car looked like a metal stingray.

Laurens van den Acker, general manager of design, said the sports car highlights the Hiroshima-based automaker's innovation in design. Its shape developed from studies of sheer fabric fluttering in the wind, and its interior was based on "koinobori," or carp-shaped decorations of cloth that Japanese put up to sway in the wind to celebrate Children's Day, a national holiday, said Atsuhiko Yamada, the company’s chief designer.

Explaining the design challenges, Yamada added: "Air is a very important substance, but it is invisible.”

The Japanese automaker has been recording accelerating sales at a time when a number of established car manufacturers were struggling to return to profitability amid cost cutting measures and detrimental sales doldrums.

The company’s global sales for the current fiscal year is expected to rise four percent to a record high 1.35 million vehicles, surpassing its previous record set in 1990. This goal will be triggered by the growing vehicle sales in Europe and North America, which would be offsetting flat sales in its hometown.

With the increasing popularity of Japanese automakers led by Toyota Motor Corp., it is also anticipated that auto parts such as Tokico shocks would go with the popularity.

Source:  Amazines.com