Photo: Mazda
Most of the major auto shows are done for the year, but that doesn’t mean carmakers are done coming up with new products. Next month in Tokyo one of 2019's last motoring events opens, and it is there where Mazda will be presenting its first electric car for the masses.
The announcement was made this week, with the carmaker saying its “first mass- production battery electric vehicle” will be on the floor of the Tokyo Show. The car is supposed to be a completely new model, and the third in the new generation of cars.
“Developed in accordance with Mazda’s human-centric philosophy and making full use of the benefits of electric drive technology, it offers performance drivers can enjoy effortlessly and whole- heartedly.” the carmaker said in a statement.
The carmaker did not provide any other details about the model.
By stepping into the electric segment of the market Mazda seems to go against everything it stood for until now. It was only last year that the Japanese criticized the industry’s tendency to place “absolute emissions of an EV at zero.”
The company’s main argument is the fact that, despite having no exhaust pipes, the electricity used to both manufacture and power EVs is at the end more harmful for the environment than say Mazda’s own Skyactiv-X engine.
Mazda estimated at the time that a mid-sized electric car consumes around 20 kilowatt-hours of electricity per 100 km. CO2 emissions produced by generating this amount of power by burning coal is estimated at 200g/km, while those coming from petroleum sources are at 156g/km.
And that’s higher than most ICE engines currently on the market.
To date, Mazda manufactured only one electric vehicle, a variant of the Demio supermini. The car has only marginal importance in the carmaker’s portfolio, with most of the owners complaining about the very limited range of the car - 200 km (124 miles).
“Developed in accordance with Mazda’s human-centric philosophy and making full use of the benefits of electric drive technology, it offers performance drivers can enjoy effortlessly and whole- heartedly.” the carmaker said in a statement.
The carmaker did not provide any other details about the model.
By stepping into the electric segment of the market Mazda seems to go against everything it stood for until now. It was only last year that the Japanese criticized the industry’s tendency to place “absolute emissions of an EV at zero.”
The company’s main argument is the fact that, despite having no exhaust pipes, the electricity used to both manufacture and power EVs is at the end more harmful for the environment than say Mazda’s own Skyactiv-X engine.
Mazda estimated at the time that a mid-sized electric car consumes around 20 kilowatt-hours of electricity per 100 km. CO2 emissions produced by generating this amount of power by burning coal is estimated at 200g/km, while those coming from petroleum sources are at 156g/km.
And that’s higher than most ICE engines currently on the market.
To date, Mazda manufactured only one electric vehicle, a variant of the Demio supermini. The car has only marginal importance in the carmaker’s portfolio, with most of the owners complaining about the very limited range of the car - 200 km (124 miles).
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