Mazda to lease gasoline-hydrogen car in Japan

Car's rotary engine will be able to burn either gasoline or hydrogen.

February 15, 2006; Posted: 1:15 p.m. EST (1815 GMT)







TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Mazda Motor Corp. said on Wednesday it will begin leasing a dual-fuel car that can run on both hydrogen and gasoline in the auto industry's latest effort to reduce oil consumption in vehicles.



Most major auto makers are developing zero-emission hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars as a potential alternative to today's conventional gasoline and diesel engine cars, but believe they are decades away from mass production due to high development costs and lack of infrastructure.



Mazda said the RX-8 Hydrogen RE, based on its popular RX-8 sports car, gets around these problems by running on gasoline in the absence of a hydrogen fueling station, and using existing engine parts and production facilities to lower costs.



The car is powered by Mazda's iconic rotary engine and can switch between hydrogen and gasoline fuel with the flick of a switch. It can cruise for a maximum 62 miles on hydrogen and 41 miles on gasoline it said.



Fuel cell cars, meanwhile, use hydrogen to first generate electricity through a fuel cell stack for power, and require an electric motor.



A rotary engine is suitable for hydrogen fuel because the separate chambers for fuel intake, combustion and exhaust significantly reduce the danger of the fuel's backfiring compared with a conventional engine.



Mazda, the world's only maker of rotary engines, said it would lease the model to Japanese oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co. and gas trading company Iwatani International Corp. starting in March for 420,000 yen ($3,577) a month.



It plans to lease another eight to public and private-sector customers by the end of this year.



Japan has 13 state-owned hydrogen fueling stations, while energy-related companies such as Idemitsu and Iwatani also own their own fueling facilities.



Ford Motor Co. owns a controlling interest in Mazda.

 

Okay, so which da hell rotary engine is getting 41 mpg on gasoline?

 

oOOoo iconic rotary engine.



mazds rx7, drive the icon?



mazda rx7, watch the icon slowly decompose in your driveway?

 

yea my car can cruise for a total of 41 miles... per tank.



kevin.

 

I thought you guys may be interested in this. A rotary engine that will run on both gasoline or hydrogen. It is pretty interesting.



http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/02/15/mazda_...reut/index.html

 

 

i recently had a class on alternative fuels and zero emission vehicles. many car makers have been leasing similar cars like the rx8 for some time. it seems that the hydrogen method is the most practical of the lot. the reason they aren't in full production yet is the lack of infrastructure liek the article said. there has to be a demand before fueling stations spend bundles on coverting and complying to all the standards of having a hydrogen refill station. on the upside i believe some, if not all states offer a sizeable tax break if you do purchase/lease one of these vehicles....

 

Yeah well we are going to need the tax break if we have to pay anywhere near that amount per month to lease it.

 

I have done a lot of research on a Hydrogen economy. It would be a while before it really became effective and it would only get their through public support. However, Iceland plans to become a hydrogen econonmy by 2050. They plan on using their geo thermal heat i believe.