Mazda wants to reinvent the electric car with an electric car that is not entirely electric. In China they have improved the idea

An electric that is not electric. Or that, at least, it is not completely electric. In Spain we are not very accustomed to seeing extended rank electric cars, a proposal that makes a lot of sense in some conditions and that they want to exploit in China.

A proposal that Mazda already put on the table.

What is an EREV? Extended Ranger Electric Vehicle, for its acronym in English. Or extended autonomy electric vehicle, How we know him in Spain. They are particular electric cars because they are halfway between the plug and electric hybrid.

In general, it is a car designed by and to be used as an electric car on a day -to -day basis. Unlike a plug -in hybrid where when the battery is over the car works like a hybrid to use, the idea with the EREV is to always have the feeling that we are using an electric car. It would be something like an electric with a “emergency” combustion engine.

Mazda is clear. Although in the market we have seen some other incursion, perhaps the company that has emphasized the system is Mazda. Although the Mazda 6e He is going well in sales and can be a hard rival for him Tesla Model 3 In Europe, the Japanese have insisted on several occasions that they are not completely clear that the future must be exclusively electric.

He Mazda Ionic spfor now, only a prototype, affects this idea of extended autonomy electric. Designed for completely electrical use but with a small rotary engine that allows you to pull it when you need to work with gasoline. If, for example, we want to leave the weekend and make a mountain port.

Although it has not been a great success, the idea has already explored it with the Mazda MX-30an electric of very contained autonomy (just over 200 kilometers on the highway) to which a rotary engine that recharges the battery when it is emptied. Thus, the engine acts as an electricity generator but is still decoupled from the wheels so the touch is the same as with an electric. Works in that case as a series hybrid.

Why do they insist? When Mazda has influenced the disadvantages of the electric car, he has emphasized two issues:

• Large batteries are more expensive: Following Toyota’s philosophy of 1-6-90Mazda specifies that a battery to give autonomies of hundreds of kilometers forces them to make prices more than they would like.
• Large batteries are heavier: and that threatens its philosophy of Light Sports rather than powerful. That is why they prefer to explore the combination of two engines (thermal and electrical) for a possible new sports launch and that is why they bet on a rotating, very compact and low weight engine.

In China they buy it. Mazda is not alone in this idea. As we said, in Europe we have already seen cases such as Mazda MX-30 but in its day BMW also tried with a BMW I3 Rexa car that was undoubtedly an advanced in his time. In Spain you can also buy the LEAPMOTOR C10 REEVa Chinese car distributed by Stellantis that has this peculiar technology.

And in China these cars are the most common. They are vehicles that enter the Nev category (which in the country covers plug -in hybrids and electric). They have a multitude of options and even It has been rumored that the next Xiaomi will set up this structure. The advantages, as we said, smaller batteries (lower price) and electric touch.

Or take it to the next level. But the last step of an EREV is to ensure that yes or yes, it becomes an electric for 99% of situations and that the combustion engine really provides support exclusively in emergency situations. This is what It will present the Chinese company IM Motors next August.

Your proposal It is that of a 66 kWh battery car, equal to or superior to many electric cars that are already sold as an option for day -to -day Peugeot E-3008 It exceeds it by little, with 73 kWh). It is what they call an outstanding “super rank” car because, without intervening the electric motor, I would already deliver 450 kilometers of autonomy (according to the Chinese homologation cycle).

And with all the advantages of an electric. Because the idea is not only that the car works almost as an exclusive electric vehicle or that the touch of it is the electricity even if it has a combustion engine pushing, the battery may work at 800 voltsso extremely high recharges are expected.

The recharge power has not yet been revealed but the 800 V batteries allow to exceed 250 kW, powers that in Spain are unusual and available at a few points but are more than usual in China.

In fact, IM Motors will be the company that offers the extended rank electricity with the largest market capacity but only a few months ago than Catl already put on the table The same structures with 4C ultra -grape load, that is, that can multiply the battery capacity by four. n The case of IM Motors, will have to load more than 264 kW of power to match the load of the catl option.

Photo | Im Motors and Mazda

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