Recently, we learned from foreign media that the Mazda MX-30 Journey Edition will be released in March 2023, which is not the focus, the most eye-catching thing is that the rotor engine that fans have in mind will be "draped", the difference is that this time it will not directly provide power for the vehicle, but "transform" into a range extender to generate electricity for the vehicle.
The existing Mazda MX-30 has a pure electric version and a fuel version of the two powertrains to choose from, of which the fuel version matches the 24V micromix system, and the pure electric version has a cruising range of 256 kilometers. Mazda had long had the idea of launching an extended range version of the model and decided to restart the rotor engine.
The advantages and disadvantages of the rotor engine are very obvious, and despite the emergence of classic models such as the RX-7 and RX-8, they did not stick to it in the end. The appearance of this time as a range extender may be able to justify the name of the rotor engine, which can give full play to its characteristics of low noise, small displacement, high power, uniform torque, small size and light weight.
This is not the first time Mazda has used a rotor engine as a range extender to be mounted on a production model, as early as 2013, Mazda's ExtenderEV extended range electric vehicle used a very small single rotor engine as a generator to provide energy for the electric motor. The model, based on the Mazda 2, is equipped with a 330cc small displacement single-rotor engine, which has a small body, quiet operation and a maximum output of 20 kW. Since the rotor engine only provides power generation with a fuel tank volume of only 9L, the cruising range can be increased by 180 km.