I was just thinking tonight, what about a hybrid rotary? I was thinking that you could build and electrically assisted awd rotary sports car, where the elecric motor is placed in the front of the vehicle and powers the front wheels only, when the car is slipping, or on a launch or that kind of situation, then you could put the rotary in the rear of the vehicle to power the rear wheels, during most situations. You could hook up a charging system that is hooked to the front axle system so that the batteries charge on it when its slowing down, also using it as a brakeing system at the same time? Opinions? observations, Ideas, ..........go with it .

interesting idea, very detailed. I like the thought you put in to it and reminds me of a the toyota alessandro but it would be interesting for an awd rotary to be out. I like the concept of the idea. But i prefer a rwd then awd but i would give a chance for this concept.

hunh you would think that Mazda had already thought of a rotary electric hybrid engine

^And I thought they had? Or was that just the Hydrogen concept?

Either way, that would be an excellent upgrade to the car. Give us some low-end torque, and much-needed fuel savings. :)

thats sarcasm in my last post- just didnt use the roll eyes.

lol... Alot of that going around lately. :D:

Hybrid Rotary would be soooooo SWEET! Instead of eating it, its saving it =D

i know about the hydrogen concept, if that was ever produced and brought to the states, i would get one in a blink of an eye.

i know about the hydrogen concept, if that was ever produced and brought to the states, i would get one in a blink of an eye.

The hydrogen concept wasn't a classical hybrid. It was either all hydrogen or all gasoline at any one time. Mazda has released press statements about the hydrogen concept and how they are going to be leasing them to the gov't (leasing sports cars to the gov't is weird, but I think it's more of a proof-of-concept than anything else). However, they said that they only get about 60% power when running under hydrogen power and you can't go far on a full tank of hydrogen. There's A LOT of work to be done in this field before you'd want to go buy one.

Read this:
http://autonet.ca/Spotlight/Concepts/story.cfm?story=/Spotlight/Concepts/2005/10/05/1249872.html

The potential replacement to the RX8.....

The hydrogen concept wasn't a classical hybrid. It was either all hydrogen or all gasoline at any one time. Mazda has released press statements about the hydrogen concept and how they are going to be leasing them to the gov't (leasing sports cars to the gov't is weird, but I think it's more of a proof-of-concept than anything else). However, they said that they only get about 60% power when running under hydrogen power and you can go far on a full tank of hydrogen. There's A LOT of work to be done in this field before you'd want to go buy one.

Thanks for the info, yeah, i know there is a lot of work to be done but when it does come out like a lot of years from now, i'm going to get one. haha, but yeah, thanks for the info once again. Leasing them to the gov't is realy wierd but as long as it gets somehwere. Because i really want a hydrogen then a hybrid or gasoline car for some reason.

Thanks for the info, yeah, i know there is a lot of work to be done but when it does come out like a lot of years from now, i'm going to get one. haha, but yeah, thanks for the info once again. Leasing them to the gov't is realy wierd but as long as it gets somehwere. Because i really want a hydrogen then a hybrid or gasoline car for some reason.

I'm right there with you. When they offer a production model that's reasonably practical, I really want to get one too. I know it'll be a pain to try and find "hydrogen" stations, but there's something cool about it. Maybe it's the idea of rolling around town in a car that has a giant decal on it that says "Hindenburg on wheels". It's gunna be sweet.

Thanks for the info, yeah, i know there is a lot of work to be done but when it does come out like a lot of years from now, i'm going to get one. haha, but yeah, thanks for the info once again. Leasing them to the gov't is realy wierd but as long as it gets somehwere. Because i really want a hydrogen then a hybrid or gasoline car for some reason.


They lease these things to governments because heavy fleet use is a great way to rack up the miles and expose flaws quickly, without incurring the wrath of the paying public on a product that hasn't been developed.

We have a lot of gas/electric hybrid and natural gas vehicles running around here with official license plates on them.

No hydros yet, but I believe Mazda may be the first one on the street with a workable model.

yes Ive heard of the hydrogen hybrid, but I was thinking more on the lines of a rotary/electric hybrid. The hydrogen rx8 in my opinion has some promise, but not for many years, when gasoline is having serious supply issues, plus as of now the hydrogen hybrid doesnt really do anything for the rx8 power-wise, where an electric hybrid could have serious benefits for the rotary engine, and an awd vehicle. Think about it, the electric motor could solve many of the rotary's fuel consumption issues, as well as the complaint many people have with the rx8's lack of torque because everyone knows that electric motors produce huge amounts of torque at very low rpm's.

gr8rx, it's definately a good idea because Ralliart, Honda, and Mazda all have cars that do just this (at least in concept form). Also, you don't have to dedicate the electric motor to the front and rotary to the back. It may turn out to make the most sense that way, but the main issue is to leverage the high revving power of rotary with the low-end torque of the electric. There's plenty of ways to go about this including electric turbos which would be perfect for the rotary to help out with the emissions requirements. I wouldn't be surprised to see an electric hybrid assist of some sort in the near future from Mazda seeing as they seem to be fond of the hybrid ideas in general.

of course i was meanign electric/fuel hybrid as gr8rx was saying in his 1st post

An array of advanced technologies is used in the RX-8 RE to allow Mazda engineers to explore their value for a future production hydrogen vehicle. These include an electric motor to boost engine torque at low rpm and an electric motor-assisted turbocharger, both used to improve acceleration at low rpm. An idle-stop system turns off the engine when the car is stopped and then starts again automatically when the driver is ready to accelerate. Regenerative braking recovers energy during deceleration and braking to charge the car's 144-volt battery. In effect, Mazda's RX-8 RE is really a hydrogen hybrid electric vehicle, perhaps the best of all worlds.

The MAZDA5 Hydrogen Hybrid is a concept car in which a hydrogen rotary engine with dual-fuel (hydrogen and gasoline) capability is combined with a hybrid-electric drive system. The hydrogen rotary engine and the electric motor are incorporated into a power unit that is transversely mounted at the front of the vehicle. Efficient packaging permits ample interior space together with the superior environmental performance of the hydrogen rotary engine and hybrid system.

The Mazda Senku *snip* The powerplant is the next-generation 13B-DI direct injection gasoline rotary engine with a hybrid electric unit. The direct injection rotary hybrid allows high power output with lower fuel consumption, plus a 50/50 front/rear weight distribution.

and you can find books like the RX-8 book by yamaguchi which has a history of mazda's rotary developement and shows that mazda has been developing the rotary/electric hybrid for some time

the problem with hydrogen powered cars isn't that they're unworkable, it's the fuel itself. For all the water in the world, it takes a lot of power to produce molecular hydrogen because molecular hydrogen is almost non-existant in nature.

but that said I think mazda has the best bet on a working hydrogen powered car because the rotary is so tiny compared to the fuel cells that take up half the car on other vehicles.