Contrary to many of its fellow automakers and industry trends, Mazda seems to be going even harder down its combustion engine path instead of investing similar amounts of time and effort on electric powertrains.
Their SkyActiv-X, the first mass produced petrol engine capable compression ignition, while impressive in claimed its ability to be both more fuel efficient and more powerful, is still one that emits pollutants.
Or does it? Despite particulates and pollutants being emitted from its exhaust pipe, Mazda claims that the overall level of harm effected on the environment is less of that of the fully electric vehicles when factoring in a more holistic view to include material sourcing and manufacturing in addition to the fact that much of the electricity used to power EVs are sourced from fossil fuels. This broader outlook was outlined in their (ahem) Sustainable Zoom Zoom 2030 vision.
However, even though the SkyActiv-X hasn’t yet reached a single buyer, Mazda is already plotting their next advancement in combustion engine tech. According to Mitsuo Hitomi as reported by Automotive News, Mazda sees much work to be done in the area of energy efficiency.
The next step could be an engine called the SkyActiv-3, which would one of the rare engines to achieve a thermal efficiency figure of around 56 percent, meaning that significantly less of the chemical energy stored within the petrol molecules will be burned (wasted) as heat.
Racing engines, due to its high-stress/high-demand needs, are engineered to offer higher-than-normal thermal efficiency quotients, but even so only a few even pierce the 50 percent barrier.
Coupled with the same view that the pollution generated by the material sourcing, refinement, and manufacturing of EVs results in a nett impact on the environment that’s greater than the average combustion engine car over the course of its life, the SkyActiv-3 (or any engine that’s capable of such high levels of thermal efficiency) could potentially be revolutionary.
Indeed, a jump of roughly 27 percent versus the average thermal efficiency of Mazda’s current crop of petrol and diesel engines is huge, and it’s not entirely clear how the Hiroshima automaker intends to tackle it. Perhaps they would need to seek the aid of exotic new materials and all manner of clever forced induction.
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