Mazda CX9 Touring 20 ez5f
Feann Torr15 Jun 2017
NEWS

Mazda to stick with combustion engines beyond 2050

Emissions regulations and electric cars won't kill off the internal combustion engine, says Mazda

If you look at the way governments and even some megacities are legislating, the world will soon move away from vehicles that emit CO2, NOx and other harmful chemicals.

But there is still life in the petrol engine yet, according to Kenichiro Saruwatari, Mazda's deputy general manager, product division.

Visiting Australia for the 40th anniversary of the Mazda3/323, the Japanese engineering executive said internal combustion engines (ICE) still have plenty of fuel in the tank, so to speak.

"We need to have the internal combustion engine," he stated. "Even beyond 2050 we will still utilise the combustion engine. It depends on government direction of course but we see a long life [for combustion engines]."

It's predicted that by 2020 up to 10 per cent of new cars sold will have some sort of electrification, be it hybrid or full EV. Beyond 2050 the skew is expected to be heavily in favour of electric. This could give Mazda could have a point of difference… A very controversial point.

The Japanese brand is a relative minnow on the global automotive game and although 1.534 million Mazda vehicles found homes in 2016 (a 14 per cent increase), its sales were dwarfed by the likes of industry leaders Toyota and the Volkswagen Group, which sold 10.18 million and 10.3 million respectively in 2016.

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Because of its smaller size, roughly two per cent global market share, Mazda can afford to play the long game with its ICE projects and is plotting an ultra-efficient reboot of its four-cylinder SKYactiv engines beginning in 2018.

Its "world-first" HCCI engine tech is expected to be introduced in the Mazda3 next year and Australia will be one of the first markets to get the newly developed powertrains.

HCCI technology, which stands for homogeneous charge compression ignition, is understood to do away with spark plugs and increase efficiency by up to 30 per cent. But even with evolving technology the combustion engine will never be able to match an electric motor for pure energy efficiency.

Electric motors can deliver be up to 98 per cent energy efficient while combustion engines manage between 30 and 45 per cent.

Despite this – and the fact that many major global players are moving towards EVs – Saruwatari doesn't think electric vehicles will kill off the traditional combustion engine.

"I don't think so," he said, arguing that the charging infrastructure cannot support 100 per cent EVs.

"Even though there are many countries and many big cities like London and Paris that want to have [only zero emission and] electric vehicles, realistically think about electric charging services. It's very difficult to have all vehicles using electric energy in the parking lot," he said.

Although global emissions regulations will tighten in coming decades, it won't sound the death knell for the ICE, insists Saruwatari. He is confident there'll be many more decades of petrol and diesel engines to comes.

Mazda has several hybrid cars already, versions of the Mazda2 and Mazda3 that have been offered in Japan, and is already plotting its first full EV for 2019.

But giving up on ICE altogether is not part of the game-plan for Mazda, it seems.
"Some areas like Scandinavia [EV] works well, but think about the global situation. We still use the internal combustion engine globally and of course we can make it more efficient. Of course we need the support of electrification and electric devices to make it more efficient, but the "support" area is getting smaller if we have a very good combustion engine."

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