anybody else see this yet?

Mazda to resurrect the rotary engine next year in range-extended electric car | Fox News

"Electricity brought Frankenstein’s monster back to life, why not the Wankel?

After ending production of its last car powered by a rotary engine this past June, Mazda CEO Takashi Yamanouchi has confirmed that the unique powerplant will return next year in a new range-extended electric car like the Chevy Volt, according to Autocar.

Rather than propel the vehicle directly, the compact engine will be used as a generator for its electric motors and to charge its battery.

"The rotary has very good dynamic performance, but if you accelerate and brake a lot there are efficiency disadvantages. The range extender overcomes that. We can keep it spinning at its most efficient 2000rpm while also taking advantage of its size," Yamanouchi told the news outlet.

Further details on the vehicle were not revealed, but the automaker has previously tested an electric version of its Mazda5 minivan that used a hydrogen-fueled rotary engine as a range-extending generator.

Read more: " http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/...#ixzz25AXBrwiZ

 

Mazda needs this to compete with the other manufacturers.
If they can sell enough hybrids maybe they'll put some of that money back into a new rotary sports car.

 

I realy hope Mazda can make enough money so they can justify using enough on R&D to get a new Rotary powered car, cause electrics car's suck.

 

Oh, I didn't know you can predict the speed of the car that Mazda might produce in the not so near future. I didn't know time travel was possible.

 

The engineering behind that actually sounds pretty awesome. They're taking the wankel engine beyond it's current "use" and turning it into a "centrifugal force" generator (or, that's what I got from the article). I think that it's pretty awesome that Mazda has the innovation & willingness to actually even think about doing something like this.

 

I think its dope.. and I also think this is gonna be a big eye opener for the "rotaries are unreliable" people, when their moms put 300,000 miles on their rotary powered prius haha

I'd get one, slam it, and call it a day

 

I have seen some pretty fast electric cars.

 

this sounds pretty interesting.. as long as they don't only put it in an SUV, or make it look like a prius..

edit: what i mean is hybrid electric cars always have this certain look to them, i guess to hide the batteries or something idk. just make it look like a normal car.

 

Gay. Hybrids are not the answer. Tesla proved that you can make a practical full electric vehicle. If only the government would help them to lower the price...

What about the 16x? I'm about to make my own 16xxx... porno version. lol

 

Wow this is pretty cool

 

There's already a thread about this.

 

This is just depressing.

 

If mazda makes rotaries mainstream im selling my 7

/hipster

 

I'm so sorry

Hahaha just kidding :P

 

The rotary was not a hot seller because the mpg really hurt it, so this is great if they can do this and bring awareness back to it to the masses.

 

exactly!

i'm glad it's making a comeback.. it's just a liiiitle wack that it's going to be a prius class car.. but hey, at least it's keeping mazda on their rotary ****..

someday, and hopefully someday soon, they will be smushin out power from another weird little 1.3L motor :') hahaha

honestly though

 

Have you head of the 16X?

 

There is some carb kits that claim mpg results. One guy at RotaryFest this year had 30mpg plastered on his windshield. My opinion is that Mazda doesn't put as much of an effort into it as they could. Fuel mileage was definitely not the reason why rotaries are dead. My girlfriends t2 is better on fuel than my 2wd v6 ford ranger that is 14 years newer.

 

You say that with out posting a link to it? Weak..............

 

i have.. but if they were going to do it, they would have..

they need more inspiration!

 

A performance hybrid would be cool. I dont think hybrids would be so bad if they just had an on and off switch.

 

well theres the C-RZ from honda, but that thing is ****** gay.

hopefully mazda is doing something more along the lines of that, and not the prius

 

Hybrid sport cars have huge potential, if a manufacture could just get it right.

I would like to see it happen with the engine still driving the wheels, not just a generator. And a setup similar to the prius with one electric motor between the engine and trans, rather than multiple motors, to keep the weight down.

But, its still going to be excess weight, so it doesn't stand much of a chance of being a light, tossable sports car.

 

I dont support electric cars that plug simply into an "outlet". They are basically getting people to pay more money for a false sense of environmentalism. But really its not helping at all since electricity doesn't grow on trees, but most of it is produced from coal burning power plants. I do like the idea of a car that self produces a recharge for its batteries though.

I talked to a guy who worked with Mazda's production team in America and he simply put it this way about the future of rotaries. Car manufactures need a certain amount of fuel efficient cars in their lineup to meet manufacturing regulations. Once Mazda can build a good steady lineup of cars with the sky active tech, they can then begin to build another rotary sports car.

 

CAFE standards will require increasing mpg for new cars. So unless you think mazda can make a rotary "sportscar" thats get those high mpg numbers you may want to keep dreaming. Seriously guys, every year there's another thread about how Mazda is "bringing back the rotary sportscar." Not gonna happen people.