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Mazda’s interest in hydrogen vehicles covers a span of 15 years: the first
prototype, the HR-X, was presented at the 1991 Tokyo Motor Show. Even back then,
the concept car had a hydrogen-powered rotary engine as its powerplant.
Mazda is strongly involved in the issue of sustainable development, and is
highly committed to researching new energies to meet the mobility needs of
future generations while at the same time looking after the environment.
However, Mazda’s goal is to solve such problems without sacrificing its
‘zoom-zoom’ values of dynamism and driving pleasure; hence the decision to
choose the route of a hydrogen-powered rotary engine. The Renesis engine based
on Wankel’s patent is ingrained in Mazda’s DNA, and was for good reason chosen
as a partner for the company’s new environmentally-friendly requirements.
Although the hydrogen rotary engine remains a key area of development for
Mazda, this has not prevented the Hiroshima-based company from continuing
development of fuel-cell vehicles at the same time.
The hydrogen-powered Mazda prototypes resulting from this intense research
work have succeeded one another at a steady pace since the early 1990s, up to
the latest Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE concept car presented at the Tokyo Motor Show
in 2003.
The 2004 road homologated prototype formed the basis of the Mazda RX-8
Hydrogen RE which is now actually driven on public roads in Japan. Equipped with
a ‘dual-fuel’ power system, it is capable of operating just as well on hydrogen
as on petrol, making it easier to use in everyday life.
In 2006 the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE vehicles are supplied on a lease
arrangement to Japanese companies and local governments – a world first for a
passenger car with a hydrogen internal combustion engine. This unique
‘commercial’ endeavour is providing Mazda with valuable experience for the
future development of its hydrogen-powered vehicles.
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