Mazda has combined a cult classic engine with hybrid technology in a car that gives us a peek into a fuel cell future.
The automaker delivered the first Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid to Japanese energy giant Iwatani this week. It is the first car to feature a rotary engine, a lithium-ion battery-electric hybrid system and the ability to run on either hydrogen or gasoline.
The Premacy is the youngest and most advanced member of Mazda's happy hydrogen family, which includes the RX-8 now zipping down Norway's hydrogen highway.
We commend Mazda for its dedication. Tab was in vending machines when it first crammed a Wankel into the 1967 Cosmo, and Crystal Pepsi was still for sale when the HR-X rotary hydrogen concept debuted at the 1992 LA Auto Show.
Mazda says the hydrogen hybrid will have a range of about 125 miles, about twice that of the hydrogen RX-8. Hydrogen is stored in a tank at about 5,000 psi.
This will be Iwatani's second hydrogen Mazda, having received a hydrogen RX-8 in 2006. The company is a major distributor of LPG and Japan's leading hydrogen producer -- and counts "the commercialization of clean energy from liquid hydrogen as an ultimate energy source to supersede LPG" as a core tenet of their corporate philosophy.
"Mazda will use the feedback we receive from Iwatani to further improve the performance of hydrogen-fueled rotary-engine vehicles as we wish to do our part to achieve a hydrogen energy society in the future," Mazda's hydrogen head honcho Akihiro Kashiwagi said in a statement. From there, the vehicle begins testing as an official vehicle at the airport in Osaka.
Photo: Mazda
