Use of rotary engine in new MX-30 R-EV saves space and adds extra kilometres in range The Mazda MX-30 R-EV's battery is only half the size of the all-electric version. This week’s review car could easily put you off buying a new battery electric vehicle (BEV). It highlights what a sup of petrol in your tank can do to transform a car from being a “pure” petrol to a mixed-power plug-in hybrid.
I am talking about two near-identical cars from Mazda. One uses electric power only, the other adds petrol to the mix of battery and motor. Say hello to the small SUV plug-in/range extender from the Japanese giant, the MX-30 R-EV.
It is closely related to the full-electric Mazda MX-30. The R-EV has a small 830cc rotary engine. And that is enough to drive it hundreds of kilometres further than its EV sibling – thanks to its combination of battery, electric motor and engine.
The full-electric will, if you are mighty lucky and the wind is at your back, get you 150km-175km. Officially it can cover 265km. Not a hope.
The plug-in (technically it should be called a range-extender) can, starting out with a full battery and 50-litre fuel tank, keep going for a claimed 680km. Even at 600km it is way ahead of its stablemate. And both cars cost more or less the same.
I know where I’d be spending my money. The full-electric MX-30 is typical of many small-battery electric vehicles in that it is only good for town and suburban use. Which is fine as far as it goes.
But it doesn’t go too far. God help you if you need to take a motorway dash to the country or to Dublin and don’t have a second car (petrol/diesel/hybrid/plug-in) to fall back on. I have yet to drive one of these urban crossovers without some trepidation on range even within the ambit of shorter journeys.
So, what a good number of car companies have done is make hybrids or plug-ins as well as electric cars because people don’t want to buy full electric. Not yet anyway. There are typical, conventional hybrids where the battery, motor and engine pull together or separately depending on demand for more or less power.
Then there is the plug-in where you can also charge a larger battery from a home or public outlet and get long stretches of driving on the strength of the battery only. Mazda (and Nissan for some time) do much the same except, with their systems, the engine is only used to feed the battery, which in turn powers the 170hp motor which drives the wheels. The engine doesn’t power the wheels – the 170hp motor does.
What makes the Mazda plug-in truly stand out, however, is that it is the only one using a single-rotor Wankel engine (830cc) to act as a range-extender and generator. Small bit of physics here: A rotary (Wankel) engine works different than a conventional piston powerplant. Instead of each piston going up and down in a cylinder on a four-fold mission to take in fuel, compress it, ignite it and emit it as exhaust fumes, a rotary engine is like having a dedicated cylinder for each of the four jobs.
The piston moves continually from one to the next. Fascinating, and used before by Mazda with uneven success. But the little 830cc (75hp) rotary engine on the MX-30 plug-in it works well at saving space and providing so many extra kilometres of range.
I love the technology of it and how it curbs weight whereas many PHEVs, large and small, have to use a larger engine to carry the extra weight of the bigger battery. I quickly got used to the fact that when the engine kicked in, it was at a constant speed rather than at revs reflecting the car’s speed or acceleration. That’s because it is only charging the battery and not driving the wheels.
The 170hp motor, as I said, drives the wheels. Fair dues to Mazda for the innovation because, initially, the sense is that you are driving an EV without the range-limits imposed by the full-electric. The notion of it being an EV, however, is quickly dispelled when the engine kicks in with its own “gruff” sound.
I liked it; some didn’t. The battery in the plug-in (17.8kWh) is only half the size of the full-electric version.
Yet it still manages a noteworthy claimed 85km on battery power alone. There are three self-explanatory driving modes, Normal, EV and Charging and you can also help recoup brake energy via paddles on the steering wheel. I got great fun out of those.
Visually, there is little to distinguish it from the full-electric version which is just as well because I love the look of the car. The cabin is quite small, though smartly laid out and furnished. Two passengers in the back had just about enough room and the boot runs to a modest 350 litres.
The use of cork on some surfaces, such as the central console, works to great effect. It was a neat, tidy drive around traffic in Dublin and it had a great driving position. Would I buy it? Yes.
It is a far better option than the EV model. Mazda MX-30 R-EV Petrol plug-in Rotary engine (830cc) Five-door, five-seater From €43,000 Model on test: €46,718 Car on test had big spread of comfort, safety systems and driver’s aids, plush cabin fabrics, interactive screen, 18ins alloys, air con, reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors, keyless entry, cruise control, with the special edition getting items such as heated seats and embossed headrests. Join the Irish Independent WhatsApp channel Stay up to date with all the latest news.
