Look,’Ma! No spark plugs!
Mazda will is set to introduce a new generation of engines that employ an innovative combustion method that results in a 30 percent improvement in fuel efficiency by the end of 2018, reports the Nikkei Asian Review.
Called ‘homogeneous charge compression ignition’, this new engine will not need spark plugs to light up an ignition chamber as most do today. Diesel engines are the ones most known to be able to ignite via pressure alone, though for the same thing to happen with petrol would require even more compression within the cylinder.
In addition to ultimately consuming considerably less fuel than typical petrol engines, this pressure ignition method is also purported to produce fewer exhaust emissions.
The report says that it Mazda is in the latter stages of development for a full large-scale production campaign for the engine, which is due to premiere in the next-generation all-new Mazda3 (sold as the Axela in the Japan) in 2018.
Following its introduction there, the engine and its unique ignition system will be adapted to more cars under the Mazda brand, increasing in capacity and/or power as the needs dictate, and slowly phasing out their current crop of spark plug-dependent engines.
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