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Mazda MX-30 PHEV Will Have a Rotary Engine, But What About the Battery Pack?

On December 9, 2021, we told our readers that Mazda was already promising the PHEV (plug-in hybrid vehicle) version of the MX-30 for 2022. Automotive News managed to confirm it with the Japanese company and got a deadline for that: the second half of the fiscal year that ends on March 31, 2023. In other words, between October 1, 2022, and that date.
Mazda explains the derivatives the MX-30 can have with the rotary engine 16 photos
Photo: Mazda
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Considering Mazda said that would happen in 2022, we would bet on a day between October 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022 – if the supply shortage crisis does not postpone Mazda’s plans. As we stressed December of last year. what concerns us is how big the battery pack will be.

If we are to believe what Mazda already said about its strategy, it will give the MX-30 a smaller energy storage component than it already has. The 35.5-kWh battery pack gives it 100-mile (161 km) EPA range, which is ridiculous for an electric car. On the other hand, it would be very attractive for a PHEV.

To be fair, Mazda talked about an RE (range extender), a PHEV, and a series hybrid. Series hybrids and electric vehicles with range extender generators are the same concept: neither have any involvement of the combustion engine in powering the wheels directly. They only work to charge the battery pack, which feeds the motors. Honestly, people that hate EREVs (extended-range electric vehicles) prefer to call them series hybrids to show how “impure” they are.

PHEVs are those vehicles that can be powered by the engine, the motor, or both of them simultaneously. Mazda already said the Wankel engine would not be involved with traction in any of its applications (to keep emissions low). That said, all versions of the MX-30 will accept any of the definitions in the graphic. They will probably only allow Mazda to differentiate them that way.

According to Automotive News, the upcoming version of the Mazda MX-30 will be called MX-30 RE Range Extender. That’s not a repetition: RE stands for Rotary Engine. That makes us hope for an EREV with the same 35.5-kWh battery pack that the Mazda MX-30 EV currently uses. You are welcome to join us in that expectation.
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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
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Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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