Plug-in-Hybrid

Plug-in hybrid, electric car with an extended range, call it what you want – in any case, it is the return of the Wankel engine with rotary pistons under the hood of the Mazda car that made this German invention famous around the world. And at the same time, a much more usable version of the MX-30 electric car, which was introduced to the world a few years ago.

It is sometimes difficult to drive even 150 kilometers on the 35.5 kWh battery of an electric car, and it charges slowly, by today’s standards. The MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV version, as the new product is called, has half the battery, but with a 50-liter gas tank, the automaker promises a combined range of up to 680 km.

From a car exclusively for the city and its immediate surroundings, it turned, at least on paper, into a car that can also be used for traveling across the country in addition to the city. If this is the case in reality, I am testing on the roads and highways of Bavaria.

Still the same from the outside

There is no need to describe the appearance of the MX-30, it has been known to fans of the brand for a few years. You don’t see her much on the roads, so she didn’t look around and she still looks quite interesting. At the same time, it still belongs to the cars whose design you have to find your way to.

As with the door system it carried over from the RX-8; you need to think about it not as a classic five-door car, but, say, a three-door plus. In terms of practicality, the small rear rear doors are far from the classic rear pair of doors, but they are an undeniable improvement in practicality compared to the three-door body.

The interior also remains with cork on some details, pleasant, denim-like upholstery and air conditioning controlled in its own display, which, unlike the main one, is touch-sensitive. The central dashboard screen is really just a screen, controlled by a panel on the center tunnel; it takes a little getting used to, but it’s not that difficult.

Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV

A fuel gauge was added to the partially analog instrument panel, which replaced the battery thermometer of the purely electric version. The display in the middle is still relatively shared, it will offer all kinds of values ​​of consumption and range, and the indicator that the combustion engine is running has the form of a triangular rotary piston.

Brand new engine

That’s what I’m here for – the Wankel engine under the hood. It is a completely newly developed unit, designated 8C, which, unlike the 13B engine used in the Mazda RX-8, has direct fuel injection and only one spark plug. There used to be two, but thanks to direct injection, the mixture of air and gasoline has better homogeneity, so despite the shape of the combustion chamber, which is really far from ideal, it manages to burn all of them, even if you light it in only one place.

Unlike the 13B, the 8C is also naturally aspirated and has a single rotor with a “displacement” of 830cc. It is thus the largest “cylinder” of all wankels that Mazda has ever used in a production car. It produces 74bhp and 116Nm and runs between 2300-4500rpm depending on the driver’s requirements.

But it never drives the wheels of the vehicle directly, it only serves as a generator of electrical energy; that’s why I also personally lean towards the designation “extended-range electric vehicle”, abbreviated EREV. Mazda itself refers to the car as a “series plug-in hybrid”, it has homologated the car as a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and this is how the units sold will figure in the statistics.

Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV

But let’s leave the boxes aside, what’s more important is how the car drives. In addition to the obvious benefit in a significantly longer range, the technical data also say that the electric motor offers up to 170 hp and 260 Nm. That is 25 more, or 5 less compared to the purely electric version.

It is the more powerful electric motor that is the difference that one notices immediately – the car accelerates willingly and completely linearly from any speed, in the city, outside it and on the highway. There, the speed limiter stops it relatively early in flight, the maximum speed remained limited to 140 km/h – but there is a relatively good reason for this.

The big difference in the performance of the Wankel and the electric motor makes one wonder how the car will behave when the display shows a dead battery. With a standard range of 85 km, it’s not that difficult to test, even though we got the car almost fully charged.

Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV

This is where the three driving modes that the MX-30 R-EV offers come into play. The basic “Normal” runs on electricity at first, and when the traction battery is about 45% charged, the wankel starts and keeps the battery around this percentage. “EV” mode behaves in much the same way, except that it allows the car to run on electricity until the display shows 0% charge. Finally, the “Charge” mode allows the driver to set the percentage the car should keep the traction battery at, in a range of 20-100.

A dead battery will not limit the dynamics

First of all, we find that the real range on the battery is 70-75 km even with quite brisk driving in a slightly undulating landscape. Electricity consumption is 18.3 kWh/100 km, which is quite a decent value. I then leave the car on the range extender and do something that the average MX-30 owner might not do very often – I hit the highway and the gas pedal goes to the floor.

The speedometer stops at 144 km/h – but the adaptive cruise control cannot be set to more than 140 – and the car maintains this speed without any problems, even for quite a long time. I don’t turn on the Charge mode and the traction battery still remains at zero, at least according to what the display shows.

Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV

I try to slow down to 80 km/h and then accelerate again at full throttle. The MX-30 is a pleasant surprise – the pull is still the same as if the battery were fully charged, and I again reach the speedometer’s 144 km/h. When I then try the Charge mode, even at this speed the charge level slowly climbs up; in the districts and in the city, of course, it grows much faster.

It is precisely in this connection that I suspect the reason why the top speed is limited to 140 km/h. A weak internal combustion engine can produce enough power for the electric motor to drive the car at this speed on the highway, and still have some left over to maintain a reserve amount of power in the battery, or even to recharge it very gently.

What about fuel consumption? We are talking about a wankel, so if the traction battery is discharged, expect an average of around 8-9 liters on the roads and 11-12 liters on the highway. The next day, however, I set off with a charged battery and leave the entire route of more than 90 km in Normal mode, so that around 45% of the charge, the wankel starts and alternately runs to the destination. This is how I see 3.2 l/100 km + 15.7 kWh/100 km on the display.

It’s not the catalog’s promised 2.1 liters, but it’s still nice numbers. I don’t really want to believe the total range of 680 km on a single charge and refueling, but I believe that the car would easily manage a little over six hundred.

Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV Edition R

In terms of drive, the R-EV version means a clear improvement for the MX-30 in all respects. And the rest, driving characteristics, was already excellent before. Thanks to half the battery, the weight of the car has remained at the same 1,645 kilograms, which is a remarkably low number among electric cars, and the behavior of the car in corners is just as good.

The neutrally tuned chassis holds up well on the asphalt, it is confident in corners and holds the track excellently, and despite the stiffer suspension, it is not uncomfortable. Along with precise and quite fast steering, I really enjoy driving briskly through corners.

The silence on board is also at a fairly good level – but until the wankel under the hood starts. Despite the fact that the advantages of the engine with rotary pistons should include smoothness and refinement of operation, the vibrations are quite significantly transferred to the interior – albeit gently, but I can still feel the engine running.

Finally a usable car

However, I take that as a small price to pay for the major improvement in everyday usability of the MX-30. We don’t see this Mazda model on the roads too often for now, perhaps because of the relatively high price given the possibilities that its electric drive offers, but that could change with the arrival of a combustion engine under the hood.

The R-EV version starts at the same 949 thousand crowns as the electric car. Across the equipment levels, it continues up to the fully equipped Makoto version, which with a few extra charges including a sunroof comes to 1,075,800 crowns.

Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV Edition R

More expensive with a price of slightly over 1.1 million is only the limited Edition R. The letter R here stands for “Return”, because the R-EV model returns the Wankel rotary engine after an eleven-year absence from the range. The body is black, only the red color Maroon Rouge on the pillars and sides of the roof resembles the Mazda R360, the brand’s first passenger car from the 1960s.

While this price is high for an electric car that can hardly manage 150 km on a single charge in hot weather and takes a long time to charge, the R-EV version makes much more sense for this money – it’s a competitive style car for people who want to drive on electricity short routes, but they don’t want to limit themselves on longer trips.

Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV – Basic technical data and prices Highest power/torque of the electric motor 125 kW (170 hp)/260 Nm Acceleration 0-100 km/h 9.1 s Top speed 140 km/h Range of one charge (WLTP) 85 km Battery capacity 17.8 kWh Charging time AC (11 kW, 0-100%) 50 min Charging time DC (36 kW, 20-80%) 25 min Internal combustion engine 830 cc, 1 rotor Highest power /combustion engine torque 55 kW (74 hp)/116 Nm Consumption (WLTP) 1 l/100 km + 17.5 kWh/100 km Curb/total weight 1,645/2,251 kg Boot volume 341-366 l

Prices

Prime-line equipment CZK 949,000 Exclusive-line equipment CZK 973,000 Advantage equipment CZK 1,000,800 Makoto equipment CZK 1,017,800 Edition R equipment CZK 1,104,900

2023-10-13 16:54:00
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