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Mazda Pushes the Propulsion Frontier

It may be a small OEM, but Mazda has always punched far beyond its weight class in engineering and technology. That point is acknowledged by Masahiro Moro, president and CEO of North American Operations (MNAO) and an officer of the parent Mazda Motor Corp. A 34-year veteran of the company, Moro-san is responsible for all aspects of Mazda operations in the region. He clearly enjoys talking tech, as he’ll do on April 11 as part of SAE’s Leadership Summit at WCX ’19 in Detroit. At the L.A. Auto Show he spoke with Editor-in-Chief Lindsay Brooke to discuss recent developments.

Mazda’s Skyactiv concept—the holistic combination of light weight, high efficiency, and driver-centric design—resonates with engineers across the industry. They get it.

Yes, but it’s very important that our customers and dealers get it, too! We have a process called ‘co-creation’ which is connecting the R&D engineering with the customer through sales and marketing. The story behind the technology is absolutely critical for the customer to understand and believe in Mazda as a company or brand.

What is the status of Mazda’s Rotary program?

Thanks for asking about the Rotary; it’s always been at the center of our hearts at Mazda and we’ve never given up on its development. A big opportunity has arisen for the Rotary engine to be used as a generator in a range-extender or PHEV. The Rotary is compact and smooth running—no vibration. And surprisingly, at constant rpm the fuel efficiency is very good. As you know we have a technical partnership with Toyota, in which Mazda will provide the Rotary engine to Toyota’s new electric platform—the ‘e-pallet’ concept that Akio Toyoda announced at CES. It is scalable from small vehicle to big pickup. We have an electric vehicle concept underway. And I want to get that Rotary engine as a range extender to the U.S. market.

Will this be a challenge?

Well, it’s a completely different value proposition compared to the usual electric vehicle. With a typical EV, when you make the vehicle bigger the battery also must be bigger. You need charging stations. With a rotary range extender, you just fill it with fuel and drive. No range worries. And still you can use the vehicle as an EV in town.

We also see opportunity to use the vehicle as a generator, for those who like to go camping.

We think the Rotary Range Extender has a larger purpose and makes sense for the customer who’s looking for those usages. The concept puts Mazda in unique territory, and that’s what we’re always looking for.

And Skyactiv-X?

Skyactiv-X is a step our engineers have made toward achieving the optimum internal combustion engine. We call it SPCCI [Spark-Controlled Compression Ignition] — very, very lean combustion, almost diesel-like. It’s a huge leap compared with current engines in terms of combustion efficiency. It’s a smart idea, using a spark plug to invite the high-pressure air/fuel mixture to self-ignite.

SPCCI has a wide operating range from low to high load. It has three layers of combustion, the third layer being greater than Lambda-1, which is super lean. Compression ratio is 15:1 or 16:1; by comparison our diesel is 14:1! So SPCCI is a breakthrough.

What’s the deployment plan?

As one of Mazda’s technology ‘pillars,’ Skyactiv-X is going to be mainstream in the future, as environmental requirements get more stringent and severe.

Our strategy is to introduce Skyactiv one-by-one, according to market. Europe’s CO2 emissions requirement is severe and the the CO2 penalty there is enormously high. Skyactiv-X is in production for Europe and will immediately help CO2 compliance there.

For the U.S., we’ll be ready with robust plans to comply with CO2 and greenhouse-gas requirements.

Topics:
Automotive Electrification Emissions Control Engine/Powertrain Green Design & Manufacturing Greenhouse Gases Propulsion

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