It appears that a range-extended Mazda electric car with a rotary engine is a reality, and you can expect it to come fairly soon. Automotive news outlet AutoRAI spoke with Mazda’s Europeans Vice President for sales and customer service, saying that the company has an electric car salted for 2019, and will be available with a rotary engine as a generator.
In the details provided for the car and its power train, he said the car would be similar to the size of Mazda3, and might even be a crossover. The car will also be based on Mazda’s upcoming modular small car platform. Talking in terms of the rotary engine that’s making a return, it will only generate electricity, will only have one rotor and will be mounted horizontally. This is interesting news because every rotary Mazda thus far has had the engine mounted upright.
While we don’t have additional details and specifics, the return of the rotary as a range engine looks very promising. Mazda has experimented with the idea for several years, and even created a functioning Mazda2 EV with a rotary range-extender. Not only that, the company has also filed patents in the U.S. for the setup as recent as last year, in addition to other previous rumors.
