The Rotary Engine: A Declining Technology with Advantages for Electric Vehicles

Another factor that contributed to the decline of the rotary engine is the environmental impact it has on emissions. The rotary engine's combustion process releases pollutants and greenhouse gases, making it less desirable for environmentally conscious car buyers.

Furthermore, the rotor ceiling of the housing is a significant challenge in terms of heat management. The intake and combustion occur simultaneously but in different parts of the housing, resulting in uneven temperature distribution. This makes the top of the housing cooler than the bottom, creating an uneven heating load. As a result, the rotary engine's lifespan is shorter compared to piston engines.

The rarity of the rotary engine is also a contributing factor to its decline. It's not easy to find parts when repairs are needed, and even if you're able to find the right parts, it can be challenging to find a mechanic who's skilled in fixing rotary engines. There aren't many experts available, making it harder for car owners to maintain their vehicles.

City driving is another challenge faced by rotary engine owners. The rotary engine has a short lifespan between rebuilds and usually lasts less than 100,000 miles. Some RX8 owners were able to get a longer life span out of the rotary engine by mainly driving their vehicles on highways at steady speeds.

Despite these challenges, there are some advantages to using a rotary engine over a piston engine as a range extender. One significant advantage is that rotary engines are smaller than piston engines, making them ideal for electric vehicle (EV) designs. This means that EV manufacturers can optimize the primary parts of their cars and then decide where to place the rotary range extender, improving the overall usefulness and interior space.

Another advantage of the rotary engine is its light weight. Most owners of typical plug-in hybrid cars charge their cars at night, which means they're lugging around a heavy piston engine that drags down the car's fuel efficiency. In contrast, a small and light rotary engine as a range extender doesn't waste electricity as much, making it a more efficient option.

Finally, the rotary engine has a distinct advantage over piston engines in terms of noise and vibration. The rotary engine doesn't reciprocate, meaning you don't get engine vibrations or car noises that can be annoying to some drivers. While the mx-30rev isn't completely silent, it's significantly quieter than a piston engine.

The Mazda MX-30: A Range Extender with a Twist

The battery electric version of the Mazda MX-30 attracted customers due to its sleek design and safety features. The car received maximum five stars on the front crash test for both the driver and passenger, as well as five stars on all side crash tests and four stars on the rollover wrist test.

However, sales took a hit with the introduction of the battery electric version in 2021. Mazda sold less than 200 MX-30s for the last half of 2022, with many customers unable to order the car due to its high price point. The base price started at $33,470, which is $11,000 higher than its rival, the Hyundai Kona electric.

Another challenge faced by the MX-30 battery electric vehicle is its limited driving range. The car requires recharging every 100 miles, which can take around 36 minutes on a level 3 charger or three hours on a level 2 charger. This can make long road trips less practical for some drivers.

The Mazda MX-30 Rev: A New Twist with the Rotary Engine

In response to these challenges, Mazda has introduced the MX-30rev, which features a rotary engine as a range extender. This allows the car to have a longer driving range and reduce its reliance on battery power. The addition of the rotary engine bumps up the driving range of the car, making it more practical for long road trips.

While there is no solid news on whether the MX-30rev will be available in the United States, Mazda has confirmed that the car is available in California. With the introduction of the rotary engine, the MX-30rev has the potential to up its game and become a more competitive option in the electric vehicle market.

Conclusion

The Mazda MX-30rev offers a unique blend of advantages for electric vehicle owners. The rotary engine provides a compact and lightweight design, reducing waste electricity and improving fuel efficiency. Additionally, the rotary engine is significantly quieter than piston engines, making it a more pleasant driving experience.

While there are challenges associated with the rotary engine, including its environmental impact and limited availability of parts, Mazda has introduced the MX-30rev to address these concerns. With its improved driving range and reduced reliance on battery power, the MX-30rev has the potential to become a top contender in the electric vehicle market.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe mx-30 was a milestone for Mazda that's because it was Mazda's First full battery electric car ever it was a crossover that was only available in sunny California and it debuted for the 2022 model year but it got mixed reviews and it saw chairs of fans and haters but recently Mazda announced the 2023 mx-30rev and this time it's coming with a rotary engine today we're looking at how it works and how it differs from the battery electric version we'll also see if the rotary mix is a good thing and whether this can help change the game for Mazda's electrification plans there's been a lot of hype about Mazda's plans to add a rotary engine to the mx-30 but here's the thing it's just a compact rotary engine and it doesn't even power the car actually it's a range extender in other words it Powers the charger to add more battery capacity think of it like a generator that's why some consumers are saying Mazda's rotary engine is just a marketing gimmick basically Mazda took the EV been added a rotary combustion engine and turned it into a plug-in hybrid or phev if you look inside the Mazda mx-30e skyactiv rev you'll find a 17.8 kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery a 160ps electric motor and the new 830 CC single rotor 70ps Wankel rotary engine now I don't know if you're a member of a back when Mazda first announced the psychonic Winkle rotary engine will you make it a comeback Mazda fans got excited but then they clarified that the rotary engine would come in the form of a range extender for an electric vehicle and the battery Electric version of the mx-30 the battery Powers the motor which then turns energy into moving at the wheels through the car's drivetrain pretty simple right but the problem with the mx-30 Bev is that it's powered by a 35.5 kilowatt hour battery pack tiny battery means tiny range I'm talking only about 124 miles and that's on a good day to put that into perspective just look at the EVS that the mx-30 is competing against take for example the Hyundai Kona electric it offers more than double that range on top of that the Kona electric has a slower starting MSRP so it's a no-brainer which EV offers more value if you're wondering why Mazda even released to the market an EV with lower range while evidently Mazda felt the driving range would be sufficient apparently it did some research and found that the average commuter only travels 30 miles a day so from that perspective it has 124 miles of ranges is plenty enough for those small trips anyway I'm sure the saws had a bearing on why Mazda went back to the drawing board and now its solution is to add a compact rotary engine internet will serve as a generator to help with the EB's driving range but now remember the rotary engine doesn't power the wheels of the mx-30rev it runs between 2500 to 4 500 RPMs to generate more charge for the mx-30s onboard battery and here's the beauty of it it extends the EVS range from a measly 124 miles to an impressive 400 miles so you can see it's quite a jump but that's not the only change we'll see in the mx-30 because of the addition of the rotor extender the mx-30rev is getting a smaller battery pack by small I mean a 17.8 kilowatt hour battery pack compared to the 35.5 kilowatt hour battery pack and the battery electric version of the mx-30 to understand what this means if we're to rely solely on the Rev smaller battery without the rotary engine extender we're looking at 53 miles of range in electric only mode now the rotary engine Range Extender on the mx-30rev is super light I'm talking 33 pounds lighter than RX8 twin rotor Genesis that's because the whole block is only 33 inches and the single rotor's radius spans 4.7 inches the mx-30rev's rotor engine also has direct fuel injection instead of port injection if you ask Mazda it'll say it means the economy of the wank or rotary Tech is about 25 percent better than a normal rotary and that carbon dioxide emissions are lower too Mazda increases rotor engine's compression ratio to 11.9 to 1. topics done the engine's life Mazda also made the Apex seals thicker these seals come with a new and specially developed coating to reduce wear and tear and evidently you can use the Reb's rotary engine to generate electricity for emergency camping or job sites blood clarify something else about the rotary engine if you're a cult fan of the rodeo engine you're probably wondering if it can work on a new RX sports car well the answer is no at least for now the thing is for now Mazda's priority is to Electrify its lineup that's just where the current focuses and besides they're having to play catch-up as it is since they're a bit behind in the EV game but now that's all said keep in mind that the rotor engine is the symbol of Mazda consider too that there's almost a cult-like following of the rotary engine which has grown over the years Mazda executive Coda masui has casually stated that it's an engineer's dream to have a sports car with a rotary inch but he also said that right now this isn't the time for it but who knows maybe in a distant future Mazda May reconsider expanding its focus yet again shows a rotary range extender a good thing before we get to that let's rewind a bit and look at the fundamentals of a rotary engine the wanker rotary engine was actually invented by Felix Wankel he worked throughout the 1950s to develop a new engine that wasn't based on cylinders and pistons and that's how it came to an engine that uses triangular rotors and oval-shaped housings here's how it worked in general the rotor revolves around the house a small pocket of air then expands into a larger pocket to create a vacuum air and fuel get injected into this vacuum through the intake ports on the combustion chamber the air and fuel mixture is then compressed against the flat side of the housing this combustible mixture gets ignited by two spark plugs and then the exhaust gases are forced out at high pressure now the Winkle engine was new exciting and Innovative for its time but it was also controversial and slowly started to fade away from the market in the 2000s the main reason for this was due to laws and regulations but not American or Japanese laws actually it was due to European laws primarily the strict Euro 5 emissions regulations Mazda has stop selling its RX8 and you're up in 2010. it just couldn't meet the emissions regulations of Europe the reason came down to inherent design flaws with the rotary engine for example the rotary engine has lower thermal efficiency than piston engines that's because of its long combustion chamber which often leads to on burnt fuel leaving the exhaust which thereby causes the engine to backfire if you remember the original Mazda Cosmos is those things you turn them off and bang they backfire all the time now rotary engines burn oil by Design since oil gets injected directly into the combustion chamber I'm talking about an oil guzzer so you have to regularly check oil levels to keep the rotor lubricated properly and it also means you'll see more yucky stuff come from tailpipe which is not good for the environment another thing that impacts emissions is the rotor ceiling the thing is the intake and combustion occur simultaneously but in different parts of the housing that's why the top of the housing is cooler where the bottom is hotter the uneven temperature makes ceiling a lot harder you can use coolant jackets to help even out the heat load and reduce the problem but you can't eliminate it entirely even worse because the rotary engine is more rare than common it's not easy to find parts when repairs are needed and even if you're able to find the right parts you still need to find a mechanic who's skilled in fixing rotary engines and sadly there aren't that many of them out there there's also the matter of City driving when it comes to City Driving the rotary engine has a short life span between rebuilds and usually lasts less than a hundred thousand miles some RX8 owners were able to get a longer life span out of the rotary engine but it was used to the same people who mainly drove their vehicles on highways at steady speeds all this is to say these are the main factors that contributed to the rotary engine dying out and combustion engine cars in recent times that's not to say that rotor engine snake Believe It or Not There are a few big advantages to using a rotary engine over a piston engine as a range extender first of all you got the size rotary engines are smaller than piston engines so you don't need to design the car around the engine instead it's the other way around you can first optimize the primary parts of an EV then decide where to place the rotary range extender this also helps you improve the overall usefulness of the car's interior and cabin space another Advantage is that the rotor engines are light here's the thing that not many people think about most owners of typical plug-in hybrid cars charge the cars at night that means that most of the time they're lugging around a heavy piston engine which drags down the car's fuel efficiency on the flip side when you have a small and light rotary engine as a range extender wasting electricity isn't as much of an issue another advantage of the rotary engine is that it doesn't reciprocate in other words you don't get the engine vibration and car noises that you experience with piston engines now that's not to say rotary engines are completely silent they're not but they're definitely quieter than a piston engine that's a more balanced engine with smoother power delivery to appreciate the mx-30rev you have to understand the battery electric version of the mx-30 before it got the rotary range extender the battery electric crossover attracted customers because it looked similar to the more popular cx-30 and for the most part was a safe car on the Nitza ratings it received a maximum five stars on the front of crash test for both the driver and the passenger it also got five stars on all side crash tests and four stars on the rollover wrist test with a rollover risk of 11.6 percent but Mazda sales took a real hit with the mx-30 battery electric car in 2021 Mazda sold less than 200 mx-30s for the last half of 2022 you couldn't even order an mx-30 because Mazda said it was sold out but by Year's End Mazda sales and the mx-30 were just 300. part of the problem was the battery electric crossover wasn't affordable the base price started at 33 470 bucks and that was 11 000 bucks higher than its rival the Hyundai Kona electric for example the other problem with the mx-30 battery electric vehicle was the 35.5 kilowatt hour battery which had to be charged at least every 100 miles that's 36 minutes on a level 3 charger which is a DC fast charger for a little less than three hours on a level two chargers for 20 to 80 percent charge since most charging stations are typically level two obviously family road trips could be a drag that's why the 2023 mx30 rev now comes with the rotor your engine Tundra to bump up the driving range of the car Beyond rival cars anyway suffice to say the mx-30rev will up its own game and Mazda fans are already asking the big question and that's whether the new mx-30rev will be coming to the U.S well there was a time when Mazda said it would be in the works but if you ask Mazda today it's a different story all we know for sure is that the battery electric version is available in California and only California so far there's no solid news on whether the mx-30 Rev will someday set its wheels on American soil but now you tell me does the addition of the rotary range extender change your opinion of the Mazda mxr EV please share by commenting below if you like this video please like share and subscribe thanks for your supportthe mx-30 was a milestone for Mazda that's because it was Mazda's First full battery electric car ever it was a crossover that was only available in sunny California and it debuted for the 2022 model year but it got mixed reviews and it saw chairs of fans and haters but recently Mazda announced the 2023 mx-30rev and this time it's coming with a rotary engine today we're looking at how it works and how it differs from the battery electric version we'll also see if the rotary mix is a good thing and whether this can help change the game for Mazda's electrification plans there's been a lot of hype about Mazda's plans to add a rotary engine to the mx-30 but here's the thing it's just a compact rotary engine and it doesn't even power the car actually it's a range extender in other words it Powers the charger to add more battery capacity think of it like a generator that's why some consumers are saying Mazda's rotary engine is just a marketing gimmick basically Mazda took the EV been added a rotary combustion engine and turned it into a plug-in hybrid or phev if you look inside the Mazda mx-30e skyactiv rev you'll find a 17.8 kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery a 160ps electric motor and the new 830 CC single rotor 70ps Wankel rotary engine now I don't know if you're a member of a back when Mazda first announced the psychonic Winkle rotary engine will you make it a comeback Mazda fans got excited but then they clarified that the rotary engine would come in the form of a range extender for an electric vehicle and the battery Electric version of the mx-30 the battery Powers the motor which then turns energy into moving at the wheels through the car's drivetrain pretty simple right but the problem with the mx-30 Bev is that it's powered by a 35.5 kilowatt hour battery pack tiny battery means tiny range I'm talking only about 124 miles and that's on a good day to put that into perspective just look at the EVS that the mx-30 is competing against take for example the Hyundai Kona electric it offers more than double that range on top of that the Kona electric has a slower starting MSRP so it's a no-brainer which EV offers more value if you're wondering why Mazda even released to the market an EV with lower range while evidently Mazda felt the driving range would be sufficient apparently it did some research and found that the average commuter only travels 30 miles a day so from that perspective it has 124 miles of ranges is plenty enough for those small trips anyway I'm sure the saws had a bearing on why Mazda went back to the drawing board and now its solution is to add a compact rotary engine internet will serve as a generator to help with the EB's driving range but now remember the rotary engine doesn't power the wheels of the mx-30rev it runs between 2500 to 4 500 RPMs to generate more charge for the mx-30s onboard battery and here's the beauty of it it extends the EVS range from a measly 124 miles to an impressive 400 miles so you can see it's quite a jump but that's not the only change we'll see in the mx-30 because of the addition of the rotor extender the mx-30rev is getting a smaller battery pack by small I mean a 17.8 kilowatt hour battery pack compared to the 35.5 kilowatt hour battery pack and the battery electric version of the mx-30 to understand what this means if we're to rely solely on the Rev smaller battery without the rotary engine extender we're looking at 53 miles of range in electric only mode now the rotary engine Range Extender on the mx-30rev is super light I'm talking 33 pounds lighter than RX8 twin rotor Genesis that's because the whole block is only 33 inches and the single rotor's radius spans 4.7 inches the mx-30rev's rotor engine also has direct fuel injection instead of port injection if you ask Mazda it'll say it means the economy of the wank or rotary Tech is about 25 percent better than a normal rotary and that carbon dioxide emissions are lower too Mazda increases rotor engine's compression ratio to 11.9 to 1. topics done the engine's life Mazda also made the Apex seals thicker these seals come with a new and specially developed coating to reduce wear and tear and evidently you can use the Reb's rotary engine to generate electricity for emergency camping or job sites blood clarify something else about the rotary engine if you're a cult fan of the rodeo engine you're probably wondering if it can work on a new RX sports car well the answer is no at least for now the thing is for now Mazda's priority is to Electrify its lineup that's just where the current focuses and besides they're having to play catch-up as it is since they're a bit behind in the EV game but now that's all said keep in mind that the rotor engine is the symbol of Mazda consider too that there's almost a cult-like following of the rotary engine which has grown over the years Mazda executive Coda masui has casually stated that it's an engineer's dream to have a sports car with a rotary inch but he also said that right now this isn't the time for it but who knows maybe in a distant future Mazda May reconsider expanding its focus yet again shows a rotary range extender a good thing before we get to that let's rewind a bit and look at the fundamentals of a rotary engine the wanker rotary engine was actually invented by Felix Wankel he worked throughout the 1950s to develop a new engine that wasn't based on cylinders and pistons and that's how it came to an engine that uses triangular rotors and oval-shaped housings here's how it worked in general the rotor revolves around the house a small pocket of air then expands into a larger pocket to create a vacuum air and fuel get injected into this vacuum through the intake ports on the combustion chamber the air and fuel mixture is then compressed against the flat side of the housing this combustible mixture gets ignited by two spark plugs and then the exhaust gases are forced out at high pressure now the Winkle engine was new exciting and Innovative for its time but it was also controversial and slowly started to fade away from the market in the 2000s the main reason for this was due to laws and regulations but not American or Japanese laws actually it was due to European laws primarily the strict Euro 5 emissions regulations Mazda has stop selling its RX8 and you're up in 2010. it just couldn't meet the emissions regulations of Europe the reason came down to inherent design flaws with the rotary engine for example the rotary engine has lower thermal efficiency than piston engines that's because of its long combustion chamber which often leads to on burnt fuel leaving the exhaust which thereby causes the engine to backfire if you remember the original Mazda Cosmos is those things you turn them off and bang they backfire all the time now rotary engines burn oil by Design since oil gets injected directly into the combustion chamber I'm talking about an oil guzzer so you have to regularly check oil levels to keep the rotor lubricated properly and it also means you'll see more yucky stuff come from tailpipe which is not good for the environment another thing that impacts emissions is the rotor ceiling the thing is the intake and combustion occur simultaneously but in different parts of the housing that's why the top of the housing is cooler where the bottom is hotter the uneven temperature makes ceiling a lot harder you can use coolant jackets to help even out the heat load and reduce the problem but you can't eliminate it entirely even worse because the rotary engine is more rare than common it's not easy to find parts when repairs are needed and even if you're able to find the right parts you still need to find a mechanic who's skilled in fixing rotary engines and sadly there aren't that many of them out there there's also the matter of City driving when it comes to City Driving the rotary engine has a short life span between rebuilds and usually lasts less than a hundred thousand miles some RX8 owners were able to get a longer life span out of the rotary engine but it was used to the same people who mainly drove their vehicles on highways at steady speeds all this is to say these are the main factors that contributed to the rotary engine dying out and combustion engine cars in recent times that's not to say that rotor engine snake Believe It or Not There are a few big advantages to using a rotary engine over a piston engine as a range extender first of all you got the size rotary engines are smaller than piston engines so you don't need to design the car around the engine instead it's the other way around you can first optimize the primary parts of an EV then decide where to place the rotary range extender this also helps you improve the overall usefulness of the car's interior and cabin space another Advantage is that the rotor engines are light here's the thing that not many people think about most owners of typical plug-in hybrid cars charge the cars at night that means that most of the time they're lugging around a heavy piston engine which drags down the car's fuel efficiency on the flip side when you have a small and light rotary engine as a range extender wasting electricity isn't as much of an issue another advantage of the rotary engine is that it doesn't reciprocate in other words you don't get the engine vibration and car noises that you experience with piston engines now that's not to say rotary engines are completely silent they're not but they're definitely quieter than a piston engine that's a more balanced engine with smoother power delivery to appreciate the mx-30rev you have to understand the battery electric version of the mx-30 before it got the rotary range extender the battery electric crossover attracted customers because it looked similar to the more popular cx-30 and for the most part was a safe car on the Nitza ratings it received a maximum five stars on the front of crash test for both the driver and the passenger it also got five stars on all side crash tests and four stars on the rollover wrist test with a rollover risk of 11.6 percent but Mazda sales took a real hit with the mx-30 battery electric car in 2021 Mazda sold less than 200 mx-30s for the last half of 2022 you couldn't even order an mx-30 because Mazda said it was sold out but by Year's End Mazda sales and the mx-30 were just 300. part of the problem was the battery electric crossover wasn't affordable the base price started at 33 470 bucks and that was 11 000 bucks higher than its rival the Hyundai Kona electric for example the other problem with the mx-30 battery electric vehicle was the 35.5 kilowatt hour battery which had to be charged at least every 100 miles that's 36 minutes on a level 3 charger which is a DC fast charger for a little less than three hours on a level two chargers for 20 to 80 percent charge since most charging stations are typically level two obviously family road trips could be a drag that's why the 2023 mx30 rev now comes with the rotor your engine Tundra to bump up the driving range of the car Beyond rival cars anyway suffice to say the mx-30rev will up its own game and Mazda fans are already asking the big question and that's whether the new mx-30rev will be coming to the U.S well there was a time when Mazda said it would be in the works but if you ask Mazda today it's a different story all we know for sure is that the battery electric version is available in California and only California so far there's no solid news on whether the mx-30 Rev will someday set its wheels on American soil but now you tell me does the addition of the rotary range extender change your opinion of the Mazda mxr EV please share by commenting below if you like this video please like share and subscribe thanks for your support\n"