wtf.. I just got back from the North american autoshow, and the mazda exhibit had a hydrogen renisis MINI VAN?
I couldent get any of the people to pop the hood, but it looked fwd.. also I dident bring my camera
also there was a sweet rotor push button inside to change it to Hydrogen, oh and it was RHD.

but, they did have a better rotary engine display this year, right next to the van.

 

We were able to pop the hood when we attended and I took a whole bunch of pictures...Then we got in trouble and the Mazda people asked us to leave the area. I'll post them when I get a chance.

 

I believe that it was straight from the Tokyo show. The Mazda guy told us that no one was suppose to see the engine bay. It looked very much like a production vehicle. That says to me that perhaps they're planning on running a fleet of vehicles, perhaps like the Honda FCV (or whatever the correct letters are). We all know that hydrogen is all hype at the moment, but should hydrogen ever become the energy source of choice Mazda is clearly at a distinct advantage. Fuel cells are extremely expensive, whereas Mazda can essentially switch over to hydrogen tomorrow with only a nominal increase in cost.

 

yeah, I just went back to the auto show JUST to see it! it's pretty damn cool.

 

I don't know why they were so concerned about people seeing the van though. There was nothing to see. The Renesis was so small and down low it was difficult to see anything but the top of the intake manifold.

 

ahh, yah i was about to pop the hood also and I got bitched at.
then I asked if they can do it for me and they said no.
but what I really wanted to do was punk that sweet rotor button inside.

we should have gotten a group together to go to the autoshow.. I live minutes from the tunnel bus station.. where you guy's most likley went through.

 

Saw it yesterday. Automakers wanna keep that stuff on the down low, as most of it is proprietary. The secret to hybrids is not "what" to put in them, it is "how" to control it, so if Mazda is using different controllers and such, they have a reason to want to cover it up.

Minivan-style stuff (this was a mazda5) are most often used because those 5000psi hydrogen tanks take up a lot of room.

All of this reminds me of my days at GFI. The tech really hasn't changed much in the last 5 or so years.

 

Aaron - post those pics!

Jon

 

burning hydrogen is kind of stupid. compare a brand new gasoline car (like a Civic or something, NOT a SUV), to hydrogen, in terms of the total byproducts of each. sure, water comes out the tailpipe (not entirely true actually), but it takes something to make that hydrogen in the first place...

gasoline engine emission reduction and efficiency tech are still progressing at a decent pace. some of the new compact cars come close to even hybrids in terms of emissions and consumption. guess this is due to gasoline engines being a mature technology, but also maybe because, in the end all these alternatives/hybrid cars are for the most part marketing for the big car companies. sure, individually the cars work quite well and are great, but the technology on a wide scale is not being pushed in the direction to make a real environmental impact. not any time soon anyways. we might have to wait until fossil fuels reach a rediculous price.

 

i got picks of the van (j/k)













he he found this and could not resist.

Hows that for a Rotary powered van :P


Prôdigy

 

I'll post them soon...

Yeah, I agree that the hydrogen stuff is generally a big fat waste of time and money. The only really neat hydrogen product I have seen is a UPS made by APC that uses a fuel cell instead of a battery. To "charge" it electrolyzes water and then recombines it in a fuel cell whe it needs to supply energy. To upgrade runtime, you just swap on a bigger hydrogen tank.

 

I think it was stupid to have it there if they were not going to show the motor.

As it was, it was just a right hand drive Mazda 5 with a bunch of decals and a big tank hidden in the back.