Why Mazda is in no Hurry to Build an EV?

SinceMazda produced the first motorized rickshaw 90 years ago, it has powered its vehicles with internal combustion engines even revolutionizing the concept with the rotary engine, and today it hesitates to switch to electric battery-powered vehicles. The Japanese car maker, the fifth largest car company in the world, is committed to the internal combustion engine.

Electric Power Grids

The move away from the internal combustion engine would be the development of first a hybrid and then an EV if other car companies’ mechanic's matter, but the company’s top people seem ambivalent.

Ichiro Hirose, Managing Executive Officer and drive train supervisor, questions the logic of the carbon trade-off with the electric vehicle. The argument depends on coal-generated electric grids in undeveloped countries to prevail as the norm. Does the trade-off from switching away from gas power to electric power really translate into fewer carbons in the atmosphere, Hirose wonders?

It’s not true among developed countries. For example, the US electric grid is run by solar, wind, and natural gas because combined they have turned the electrical grid in the US into clean power.

Global Markets

Cars today have a global market. The company builds and sells cars in many countries. In one country, they’re sold in one configuration under a unique model name. In another country, they’re rebranded and sold under a different name. Cars are distributed to many different countries in this way. As a result, these cars are dependent on each country’s infrastructure to supply the fuel the car needs to propel down the road.

Dirty vs. Clean Electricity

In terms of electrical generation, there are dirty and clean ways to generate electricity, and by dirty, this means the carbon footprint is significantly high in countries generating electricity with dirty processes such as coal burning.

Many countries are generating renewable energy using wind, solar, and natural gas-generated electricity, and the trade-off from switching away from gas-operated vehicles to electric-powered vehicles works. The environmental cost in these countries using good energy production methods is resulting in a reduced carbon footprint.

The company is arguing that there are far too many countries generating dirty power and actually increasing the carbon footprint to produce electricity for EV cars.

As a consequence, the company remains committed to the internal combustion engine, and in fact, the company searches for ways to reduce the carbon emissions of the engine even further while increasing gas mileage. The Skyactive concept is aimed at lowering the weight of the product.

Is This an Issue About Living in Your Own Times?

Critics wonder how short-sighted the decision was. First, the change to an electric engine in automobiles is evolving. Countries not only continue to develop their solar and wind generation of electricity to increase its production and reduce its cost both in monies and carbon output, but they also evolve their electric-powered cars to be suitable in the marketplace. Only in infrastructure changes are they seriously lacking. In places like North America, the output of solar, wind, and natural gas-generated electricity has actually exceeded the dirtier power source coal.

The company appears to be putting its chips on the internal combustion engine when the hybrid gas-electric engine has taken its place as a step toward electric cars. While Mazda appears to have a hybrid engine in the works, they’re betting that that dirty power output will continue to be the norm in enough countries to make the internal combustion engine the best way to reduce the carbon footprint.

What if the wager doesn’t work? In order for the company to catch up quickly, they may have to abandon building frames and drive trains and produce coaches for electric car platform manufacturers. On the other hand, they know how to make good cars. An electric vehicle is hardly out of their reach. If the recent collaboration between Ford and GM are any evidence, such collaborations produce superior products faster.

The Rotary Engine as an Extender

Do you know how hybrid cars work? The eclectic motor accelerates the car to 40 mph or even as high as 60 mph where it hands the work off to the hybrid’s internal combustion engine. That engine powers it down the road and delivers amazing fuel mileage. Can the rotary engine developed by Mazda be natural in this role?

The company says it’s perfect because it’s powerful, compact, and quiet. It’s an engine the company believes is perfect to run hybrid cars. The commitment is to have an electric lineup in 2030, twelve years away. That's a way off. If they wanted to hedge on this bet, they would put a collaboration card up its sleeve.