201–210 of 241 posts
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Outside of Europe maybe. Inside, well, UK and France have already said no more ICE vehicles to be sold past 2040, and other countries are planning the similar (including India). That’s a big loss of market and consequent economy of scale.
2040 is a long way away. very easy to pass laws that take effect after you retire. and very easy to change them after you retire as well.
A reuters story on how it works: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mazda-strategy-idUSKBN1AO... So this is 'gasoline' diesel. Or diesel without the NOx. Which, in theory, would give better fuel economy and possibly better torque. And it will ship in cars in the 2019 model year (so possibly as early as late next year). To me, it sounds like a "Don't pass"[1] bet on electric cars. Which they also are working with Toyo…
> To me, it sounds like a "Don't pass"[1] bet on electric cars. Which they also are working with Toyota on electric cars so perhaps it is a fall back plan The Toyota/Mazda collaboration is a pure compliance play, just like what Honda has done in California for years (read: Honda Fit EV.) The official announcement had a subtle hint: From 2019, start introducing electric vehicles and other electric drive technologies i…
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Perhaps, but I wonder if we won't see more countries go the way of Norway/France/Britain and ban gasoline cars altogether once electric vehicles become more competitive and mainstream....
Sweeden and Norway, where battery performance is impaired by the colder climate. The next absurd thing would be Alaska announcing a ban of ICE vehicles after 2030.
Winters are pretty mild throughout more populated parts of Norway and Sweden.
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2040 is a long way away. very easy to pass laws that take effect after you retire. and very easy to change them after you retire as well.
In Norway it's 2025. Still too long? :)
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I visited a Tesla store once in mountain view, and they have a great little demo where you can check the cost of charging your car in various states. Washington DC, for whatever reason, gets its electricity from a gasoline power plant. In Washington, the Model S gets 28 MPG. This happened a while ago so I could be misremembering, but regardless I don't believe that the environmental value of electric vehicles has bee…
Electric cars are the real world example of loose coupling. Once your car is electric the source of the electricity can change (from Coal -> Gas -> Solar) and you don't have to change your car even slightly. So it doesn't matter about any of the arguments about whether an electric car is more efficient or not when the electricity comes from coal. What matters is that having electric cars enables us to move to a futur…
EVs pollute less, but they pollute too, and in cities as well. They emit dust (including the most harmful particles: PM10 and PM2.5) from break discs and tires. Difference between CO2 in power plants and in city centers matters, but not that much. Once it's in the atmosphere the damage is done. As for NOx, the biggest offender in the dieselgate, Mazda's engines should not emit these.
Add a fact that in the current grid setup most of the energy is coming from coal, and that it's very unlikely it is going to change in a near future (mainly due to political reasons). Also, the waste from batteries is really ugly.
Given all that factors a 30% less polluting combustion engine is almost too good to be true. From a macro perspective the gain for environment is on par, if not better, than from electric cars.
My biggest problem is to believe in the numbers Mazda provides. Have to wait and see.
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Probably true, but at the same time, some electric cars are pretty darn fun to drive.
Of currently available models, isn't that essentially ... one of them? And only in a straight line. Electrics have a ways to go before they're suitable candidates for things like track days.
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> So this is ... diesel without the NOx NOx is not peculiar to diesel engines. Gasoline engines also generate NOx. All internal engines make NOx. As long as you burn fuel + atmospheric air you get NOx. The atmosphere is 78% nitrogen. Some of it gets oxidized.
Yes, but stratified charge combustion produces significantly more NOx in cylinder because of the excess oxygen.
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Electric cars are the real world example of loose coupling. Once your car is electric the source of the electricity can change (from Coal -> Gas -> Solar) and you don't have to change your car even slightly. So it doesn't matter about any of the arguments about whether an electric car is more efficient or not when the electricity comes from coal. What matters is that having electric cars enables us to move to a futur…
I'm as big fan of EVs as the next guy, and would love to see cities with clean air and no noise. But, there are few things that we forget about when we talk about zero-emmision cars. EVs pollute less, but they pollute too, and in cities as well. They emit dust (including the most harmful particles: PM10 and PM2.5) from break discs and tires. Difference between CO2 in power plants and in city centers matters, but not…
Maybe this is old news to people who pay attention to car news, but the most interesting thing to me is this line from the press release: > From 2019, start introducing electric vehicles and other electric drive technologies in regions that use a high ratio of clean energy for power generation or restrict certain vehicles to reduce air pollution I've been kind of disappointed that Mazda hasn't gotten into the electri…
In the industry, the Chevy Bolt is expected to be the first electric car to end up being profitable. Next year's Audi Q6 e-tron quattro (what a name...) is expected to be the second. They are the first specimen of a new generate of electric cars that are for-profit mass production products from the ground up. By 2025 virtually every car manufacturer will be competing seriously in the electric market.
This generational change is happening because as batteries and fuel cells are getting cheaper rapidly. We are coming up on the cross-over point where an electric car can be made profitably right now. But this also means that there was no point for the likes of Mazda to even work on electric cars before now.
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It's good work, but I suspect Mahle's TJI (as used in current F1 cars) is a better bet. - Fuel efficiency gains over 17% - over 40% thermal efficiency - over 99% reduction in NOx - significant reduction in CO2 http://www.f1technical.net/news/20316 http://www.mahle-powertrain.com/en/experience/mahle-jet-igni...
I don't quite like the fact that the spark plug is burried deep inside the engine which makes servicing difficult. Reminds me of Porsche boxer spark plug changes for which you need to unmount the rear wheels.