Mazda’s Efficiency Strategy to Include Stop/Start, Energy Regeneration, Diesel, and More – Car News

The zoom-zoom people are adding efficiency tech, and we’ll see most—if not all—of it in the U.S. We had a chance at the 2010 Geneva auto show to chat with Robert Davis, Mazda North America’s senior VP of quality and R&D, about the company’s strategy for meeting ever-tightening fuel-efficiency regulations. It’s going to be a multistep process, we were told, covering several technologies, including those outlined here. i-stop This is what Mazda calls its engine stop/start system, which kills the engine at stops and already is available on the Mazda 3 in Europe. Rather than using the electric starter to re-fire the engine, as in other manufacturers’ versions of the technology, Mazda instead stops one of the cylinders at an advantageous point near the top of its stroke and fires that cylinder to get the engine restarted once the driver steps off the brake. The reason we haven’t yet seen i-stop—or most other companies’ versions—on U.S.-market cars is that the tech simply doesn’t have enough effect on EPA fuel-economy ratings. That could change, though, as Davis says he’s hopeful the agency soon will incorporate another test into its cycle that will account for the fuel savings of

stop/start systems. (BMW and Porsche are surely eager to see that happen, too.) Energy Regeneration The next step in Mazda’s plan involves an energy-regeneration setup similar to that seen in BMW’s EfficientDynamics suite of efficiency technologies, where the alternator is generally employed only during braking and deceleration to send recaptured energy to the battery. As usual, the stored energy is used to power accessories, taking the alternator’s burden off the engine when under power. Mazda’s Davis said the tech, which we can expect to see on the brand’s vehicles in the next couple of years, is attractive because the battery pack, while larger than a standard battery, is much smaller than those found in hybrids, keeping weight down. Speaking of hybrids . . . Keep Reading: Mazda’s Efficiency Strategy to Include Stop/Start, Energy Regeneration, Diesel, and More – Car News Related posts: Mazda 3 i-stop Starts and Stops in Europe Only 2010 Mazda MX-5 Miata 20th Anniversary Edition – Car News 2010 Mazda 3 Hatchback – Official Photos and Info – Car News

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Mazda’s Efficiency Strategy to Include Stop/Start, Energy Regeneration, Diesel, and More – Car News