Is hydrogen's future in the hands of Mazda's rotary engine?
Click above to enlarge the Mazda Hydrogen RE
As any regular reader of our site is aware, there are many issues with the notion of using hydrogen as fuel which need to be overcome before there is any chance that you'll find yourself refilling your new car at a hydrogen station any time soon. Not the least of these is the fact that there are almost no hydrogen stations in the first place. Also, whether the hydrogen is used in a fuel cell for an electric car or burned directly in an internal combustion engine, there aren't actually any hydrogen-powered cars available today which you can just go out and buy. Mazda may soon change all of that by introducing a hydrogen-powered rotary-engined RX-9. According to Auto Express, the new car will be dual-fuel capable, with clean credentials coming from hydrogen and performance credentials coming from gasoline. Amazingly, the article claims that Mazda's hydrogen RX could be ready for sale as early as 2012.
[Source: Auto Express]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
paulwesterberg 6:36PM (8/06/2008)
Who Cares. Internal combustion engines are horribly inefficient.
According to wikipedia rotary engines are less efficient than traditional piston engines:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistonless_rotary_engine
It will be more expensive to buy and operate than electric cars.
It will be less efficient than electic cars in terms of energy per mile and dollars per mile.
Hydrogen is not a fuel source, it is only useful for energy storage/transportation, but it is much less efficient than electricity+batteries. Hydrogen is only interesting if you have more energy than you know what to do with, like iceland's access to geothermal energy.
In the US we have access to a large amount of wind power, but we will need to that energy much more efficiently than we have in the past if it is going to come close to meeting our needs.
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tankd0g 9:46AM (8/07/2008)
So they are going to take a 12mpg car and run it on hydrogen. Interesting....no what's that other word?
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jake 1:21AM (8/07/2008)
Recent hydrogen ICE efforts have been really disappointing because they offer less power and barely better efficiency than the gasoline version (take the Hydrogen 7, a pathetic 260hp from a huge 6.0l V12 compared to 438 with gasoline and still only ~16mpge on hydrogen compared to 15mpg combined on the gasoline version), so hopefully this version fixes those negatives, though I doubt it will.
Chris M 3:31AM (8/07/2008)
A really bad idea. Internal combustion engines have a low efficiency, and Wankel engines tend to be even lower due to an odd shaped combustion chamber. Then you have the difficulty of storing bulky H2 fuel, leading to rather short driving range on H2 - that's why a petrol tank is still needed. But H2 costs twice as much as petrol (though that may change by 2012) so why would anyone bother?
Moreover, the cost of the H2 storage tanks is higher than the cost of an automotive LiIon battery, so a plug-in hybrid or battery electric would be cheaper to by, cheaper to run, cleaner, and use less fossil fuels.
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Anton 6:00AM (8/07/2008)
I only see the utility of a rotary engine as a range extender, and more specifically, for a emergency range extender (its lower efficiency is not so critical).
Rotary engines are smaller, quieter, and with low vibrations. Its low weight and quietness would be ideal, even more, for a portable range extender emergency system
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TX CHL Instructor 8:30AM (8/07/2008)
"Is hydrogen's future in the hands of Mazda's rotary engine?"
No, it's in the hands of some fundamental properties of Chemistry and Physics.
Hydrogen: The Perfect Fuel for People who can Freely Spend Other People's Money.
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tankd0g 9:55AM (8/07/2008)
I thought that was Ethanol's slogan? I'm so confused with all this recycling going on.
Serge 9:30AM (8/07/2008)
Now what Mazda and BWM can try is equip their hydrogen guzzlers with one of those HHO Kits to close the green-washing loop ;)
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J.D. 11:07AM (8/07/2008)
The reason for the dual fuel ability is to meet environmental standards. The current 13B engine barely meets emissions standards. I have a feeling that the next gen won't do much better and that the hydrogen fuel capability will allow sell it in places like Ca. I love my RX-8, but I'll stick with gas.
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Grantman 2:23PM (8/07/2008)
Hydrogen is a long way off. A couple of years ago, Popular Science did a great article on Myths and Misconceptions:
http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2006-03/warning-hydrogen-economy-may-be-more-distant-it-appears
I wish more people would be aware of this mirage, sad though it may be.
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innociv 3:16PM (8/07/2008)
Doesn't Hydrogen burn slower?
Won't that make it more efficient in a rotary engine with it's large combustion chambers in comparison to gas?
It might actually be more efficient at burning hydrogen than a piston engine is. I've heard someone say that, long ago, when they first had the Hydrogen-RE concept years ago.
Also, the RX8 doesn't "barely meet emissions" it actually qualifies as a "Low Emission Vehicle II".
And the old 3rd gen RX7 meets emissions in California fine. Theres tons of dirtier cars.
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