Gasoline cars work hard, there’s really nothing wrong with electric fathers
Image: A Tesla Model S with a Chevrolet V8 engine insideEVs
"You’re riding a Mazda, no wonder you’re stuck in traffic."
In 1997, Leung Ka Fai smiled scornfully at the black boss who was 11 minutes late for the meeting in "Black Gold". In the carefree era of simple gasoline, car brands have clear hierarchies and clear seating arrangements. "We are all Mercedes-Benz and Rolls-Royce," and "you are in a Mazda, you are not qualified to hold this meeting at all."
No one would have imagined that 20 years later, when Mercedes-Benz and Rolls-Royce had followed suit with electric vehicles, the last holdout of internal combustion engine cars turned out to be that cheap, friendly, and naturally anti-bone Japanese company.
The "Mazda traffic jam" meme that was spawned in a few words back then became a classic self-deprecation that fans would enjoy in the future, and also engraved the lingering image brand of this Japanese brand. Call it niche, it is not rare to be reclusive; call it a big name, and it has indeed deviated from the mainstream for a long time. When people talk about Mazda, the impression in their minds is mostly like this.
In the 2010s, the whole world was engaged in small-displacement and turbocharging, and only Mazda insisted on tapping the potential of natural intake engines to the end; in the 2020s, when the world was engaged in electrification and hybrid power, Mazda was making a difficult-to-understand "thin compression ignition" engine. Also under the earthy and strange name "Chuangchi Blue Sky" – who doesn’t know that electric is environmentally friendly and electricity can use blue sky. Today, how can you save fuel when you make a gasoline car? Are you not afraid that everyone will not even have the interest to watch 5 minutes of popular science?
Only those friends who learn internal combustion engines will excitedly pat their resumes and tell you that the blue sky that Mazda has created is the ultimate fantasy that human gasoline civilization has never realized in a hundred years.
Don’t shake your head and say "I don’t understand, I don’t understand" when you hear the word "engine". In fact, most of the so-called "black technology" technologies,If you can’t explain it to ordinary people in plain language, it’s usually not your problem, it’s my problem.
Fantasy Prequel: Ultimate Compression
Whether you pay attention to automotive products or not, it’s hard to avoid the word "turbo".
About a decade ago, small-displacement turbocharged engines became rapidly popular and became the first choice for major automotive brands.It is said that electrification is the "big trend" today, so the "big trend" ten years ago was the small-displacement turbine.Ten years later, looking at today’s civilian car market, it’s hard to buy a naturally aspirated model without a turbo.
Mazda, almost the last remaining retrograde, is used by the whole series Skyactiv-G series natural intake engine…(Mazda has a Skyactiv-G 2.5T turbocharged engine in the US market as a special case, which will not be discussed in this article due to space limitations.)
Insert a vernacular explanation of turbocharging:
The so-called turbocharging is to install a turbine in the exhaust path of the engine. The exhaust energy discharged by the engine drives the turbine to rotate, and the turbine is coaxially connected to an intake impeller. The rotation of the impeller will generate pressure to force the outside fresh air into the cylinder(So a supercharged engine is also called "forced intake", which corresponds to non-supercharged natural intake)…
The power output of an internal combustion engine depends on the amount of air involved in combustion(Increasing fuel injection is not difficult.)Turbocharging provides more abundant intake without changing the physical displacement, so turbocharging can often significantly enhance power.
With turbocharging, the engine displacement required by the vehicle can be reduced. For example, the original need for 2.0L naturally aspirated is now 1.4L + turbocharged(1.4T)That’s enough. And a moderately small displacement will make the efficient operation range of the engine closer to the daily car working conditions(Please note that adding turbines does not improve engine efficiency.)The daily energy consumption and emissions naturally decreased. On the other hand, because of the turbine as a guarantee of air intake, the turbocharged engine can often output peak torque at low speed, which is known as "low torsion strength", which is beneficial for urban driving.
However, there is no free lunch in the world, and no technology will have all the advantages. Small-displacement turbo engines are all kinds of good, and they must have their disadvantages. The most obvious of them is calledTurbo lag.
The throttle (dotted line) is stepped down, but the power (solid line) will not come until a few tenths of a second
The turbocharger is driven by exhaust energy. When the engine is running at low load, the exhaust energy is insufficient, and the turbocharging effect is not obvious or effective. However, when the accelerator is suddenly stepped on to try to accelerate, the engine load increases, the exhaust energy increases, the drive turbine accelerates, and the intake air volume increases. This is a process that requires a certain amount of time.
First, the engine has to "work hard" to generate more exhaust to drive the turbine, and then the rotating turbine rotates with the intake impeller, and the impeller can "pump" the engine. Therefore, it is difficult for a turbocharged engine to have the kind of linear dynamic response of "stepping on and on" compared with a naturally aspirated engine.
The time interval between pressing the accelerator and the time the turbocharger builds up pressure and power is calledTurbo Hysteresis(Turbo lags)This was an objective phenomenon that could only be weakened and could not be completely eliminated. Of course, with the development of turbocharged engines today, there were many technical means to reduce the lag. Nowadays, excellent turbochargers could weaken the turbo lag to the point that it was hard to detect in daily life.
And Mazda said, "No, I couldn’t stand a little delay," and that led to Skyactiv-G.
In 2010 – just as the wind and rain of the small-displacement turbine era was approaching, Mazda proposed the Skyactiv to create a blue sky plan, the core of which was to develop the high-efficiency naturally aspirated engine Skyactiv-G. The ready-made road of adding turbines and reducing emissions, Mazda did not go, but rather went to the ceiling of the existing naturally aspirated technology.(Mazda’s first-generation Skyactiv engine also includes the diesel engine Skyactiv-D. Since diesel vehicles have little to do with China, this article only targets the gasoline engine Skyactiv-G.)
The first metric of Skyactiv-G is thermal efficiency. Yes, it is the "20% to 30%" that the internal combustion engine is often ridiculed. The small-displacement turbine trend is precisely to cope with environmental regulations, so Mazda has to use natural intake engines to do the small-displacement turbine thing, and the first thing is to reduce energy consumption and emissions.
The answer sheet Mazda handed in in 2012, the Skyactiv-G engine, has 37% maximum thermal efficiency and 60kW/L power(US EPA data, Skyactiv-G 2.0L, 2014)Without today’s popular 48V motors, without any hybrids, and without sacrificing drivability and power, the Skyactiv-G achieved a maximum thermal efficiency of 37% solely by optimizing the gasoline combustion process. As one of the earliest modern high-efficiency engines, many of the indicators of the Skyactiv-G were not surpassed by major manufacturers such as Toyota until a few years later.
(In addition to the highest thermal efficiency, pay attention to the high-efficiency range indicated in green, the lower two graphs obviously have a wider area)
Now you can buy the most thermally efficient gasoline engine, which is 40% of the Dynamic Force series engine under the Toyota TNGA architecture, and the version for the gasoline-electric hybrid system can reach 41%, while the liter power also reaches 60kW/L(Efficiency does not come at the expense of motivation.)Although the thermal efficiency is already higher than that of the Mazda Skyactiv-G, it should be known that Mazda is five years earlier after all.
Today, while Skyactiv-G is still advanced, many technologies are not new.
The most direct way to improve combustion efficiency is to increase the compression ratio of the engine. Roughly understood, the compression ratio is the ratio of the minimum volume of the engine piston when it moves to the top dead center and the maximum volume when it moves to the bottom to the point. Usually, the compression ratio of gasoline engines is around 10:1, and it is rare to exceed 11:1. Engines that focus on power performance will use a smaller compression ratio; engines that emphasize low energy consumption and high efficiency will use a larger compression ratio.
[Compression ratio = (A + B)/A]
The difficulty of improving the compression ratio is to faceknockKnock means that the fuel in the cylinder is ignited in advance under high temperature and high pressure during the process of upward compression of the engine piston. Sudden accidental deflagration of fuel that does not follow the law of piston movement will seriously damage the internal structure of the engine until it is scrapped, which is a very dangerous phenomenon.
One of the means of suppressing knock is to reduce the residual last combustion exhaust gas in the cylinder. To suppress knock and improve the compression ratio, Skyactiv-G uses a unique 4-2-1 exhaust manifold. That is, the four exhaust manifolds of the four cylinders are first merged into two and then combined into one. The exhaust path is longer, the ignition is farther apart from the adjacent cylinders, and the exhaust pulses of the adjacent ignition cylinders will not interfere with each other, so that the exhaust valve can be opened for a longer time, and the exhaust gas and residue can be drained as much as possible.
The special exhaust manifold, together with other measures, allows Skyactiv-G to achieve an amazing 14:1 compression ratio(Domestic oil problems reduced to 13.1:1).This was the highest compression ratio of any production gasoline engine until it was broken by Mazda’s next-generation engine, the Skyactiv-X. Five years later, the 40% thermal efficiency of Toyota’s Dynamic Force engine had a compression ratio of "no more" than 13:1.
In order to meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations, the small-displacement turbine is to bring the engine’s efficiency zone closer to the daily use conditions. Mazda, on the other hand, chose hard and rigid: I just want to make the hard index of thermal efficiency. With the first generation of Skyactiv series engines, Mazda has not only survived but also established a place in the eyes of others in the ever-tightening and more favorable emissions regulations of small-displacement turbines. In spite of the trend of getting smaller and smaller in the land.
Fortunately, the high-compression-ratio self-priming Skyactiv-G is just the beginning.
Ideal Burning: Magic Reality
No company that stands still can survive, especially for those who are on the wrong side of the road.
The first generation of Skyactiv-G went into production in 2012. What has Mazda been doing over the years? Busy developing the second generation Skyactiv –Skyactiv-X is the highlight of this article.If according to plan, the Skyactiv-X engine, which has just been put into production overseas, should be launched in China within 2020.
The first generation Skyactiv was actually divided into gasoline engine Skyactiv-G and diesel engine Skyactiv-D, while the second generation Skyactiv gave up diesel engines and focused on gasoline engines. The suffix "X" seemed to represent the intersection of gasoline and diesel technologies: the core of Skyactiv-X can be attributed to"Burn gasoline in the way of a diesel engine"…
We know that due to the different characteristics of gasoline and diesel,steamThe oil engine uses spark plug ignition, that is, ignition type; the diesel engine does not need ignition compression and ignition, that is, compression ignition type.For a hundred years, gasoline has been ignited and diesel has been pressed to ignite, as if one plus one equals two.
(Ignition and compression)
Old drivers all know that diesel cars save fuel, and the compression ignition of diesel engines has more advantages in terms of thermal efficiency. The principle is actually very easy to understand: spark plug ignition, the flame should spread from the center spark plug to all directions, and gradually ignite all the fuel mixture in the entire cylinder. The process of combustion propagation takes a while.
But in the process of burning and doing work, the engine will not stop waiting for you to burn, and the piston is always moving up and down at high speed. When the combustion is not completely over, the piston has already started to move down, which means that there is a part of the burned energy behind that does not really act on the piston to go down, which is equivalent to this part of the energy being wasted. It’s like when we pedal a bicycle, our feet accidentally step on the air, and your legs obviously do work, but they are not really used for the bicycle to move forward, which is equivalent to this part of the energy being wasted.
(Compression and ignition work is more concentrated in the time dimension, and the efficiency of work is higher)
In contrast, diesel engines use compression ignition. The fuel mixture is evenly distributed in the cylinder, so when the piston goes up to meet the required conditions for compression ignition, combustion will occur at multiple points and simultaneously throughout the cylinder. The combustion energy is released in an instant, the work time is shorter, and the peak value is higher. And the combustion of fuel throughout the cylinder is more uniform. There will be more of the fuel energy(Compared to ignited)When used to push the piston to do work, the thermal efficiency will naturally be higher.
Mazda Skyactiv-X, the world’s first and only compression-ignition gasoline engine.
("Gasoline cars, diesel cannot be added")
How did Mazda achieve this magical reality by turning a gasoline engine into a "diesel engine"? The core technology of Skyactiv-X is called SPCCI spark plug controlled compression ignitionSpark Controlled Compression Ignition…
If you are too lazy to look down, make a simple and rough point:
(SPCCI: Thin Compression – Spark Plug Recompression – Compression and Ignition Achieved)
Thin Temptation
In the cutting-edge research field of internal combustion engines, there is an ideal combustion state calledlean burn…
Thin combustion, how is it considered thin? According to the oxygen content in the air and the combustion chemistry formula, people calculate the air/fuel mixture ratio required for full combustion(Air-fuel ratio), should be 14.7:1Therefore, in theory, only when the air-fuel ratio is greater than or equal to 14.7 can the fuel be completely burned out, and the chemical energy in it can be fully releasedWhen the air-fuel ratio is greater than or equal to 14.7, it can be considered a lean mixture, so lean combustion is an ideal combustion.
However, gasoline cars have been developed for a hundred years, and they have almost never achieved the ideal air-fuel ratio. You have seen so many cars running on the road, none of them can achieve the air-fuel ratio of 14.7, and none of them can provide enough air for gasoline to fully burn.
There’s certainly a reason for this. Today’s gasoline engines have an air-fuel ratio of excess fuel. Because while this will lead to insufficient combustion, wasted fuel and increased emissions, the excess fuel will cool down and help improve power performance. On the other hand, when the air-fuel ratio is really close to 14.7, the oxygen-rich environment created by the thin mixture will lead to nitride(NOx)When pollutants increase significantly, fuel economy has improved, but emissions pollution is unsightly.
Ideal burning, it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s impossible.
Mazda wants to continue to improve the thermal efficiency of the engine, but Skyactiv-G’s method of improving the compression ratio can no longer be counted on. The reason is that according to the theoretical thermal efficiency formula of the internal combustion engine Alto cycle, as the compression ratio increases, the thermal efficiency improvement space will become smaller and smaller, that is, the marginal utility will decrease. Skyactiv-G has achieved a compression ratio of 14:1, and by continuing to improve the compression ratio alone, the improvement of thermal efficiency is limited.
Theoretical formulas give another way out, calledspecific heat ratio, that is, the constant pressure specific heat capacity is compared to the bandwidth evaluation specific heat capacity. Although listening to the profound talk makes people’s heads big, I took some time to think about it and summarize it. In fact, you can understand it this way:If the fuel mixture in the cylinder canMore heat is used to expand it rather than to heat it up, and the thermal efficiency of the internal combustion engine increases.
Making the mixture thinner can improve the specific heat ratio. Because when there is too much air, more gas does not participate in combustion but will absorb heat, and the combustion temperature will drop; plus the fuel can be fully burned, the energy is more thoroughly used for expansion work. Therefore, the thinner the fuel mixture, the higher the theoretical thermal efficiency will be.
The theory is in place, and the practice is left.
The nitride pollutant mentioned earlier is the first major problem. However, Mazda found in the laboratory after trying a variety of air-fuel mixing ratios: when the air-fuel ratio is equal to and slightly greater than 14.7, it will indeed cause a surge in nitride emissions as common sense; but when the mixture is further increased, the air-fuel ratio reaches 29.4(Twice as much as 14.7)Nitrogen emissions would be reduced to an acceptable level. That is, people used to think that the thin mixture would cause NOx emissions to explode, but Mazda found –That’s because the thin mixture in your house is still not thin enough.
(Red line: when the dilution level exceeds 14.7:1, NOx emissions will decrease again.)
The surprise wasn’t over yet. Mazda also found in the lab that when the dilution level was further increased, the air-fuel ratio was increased to an astonishing 36.8:1, under sufficient pressure, the fuel mixture was spontaneously ignited before the spark plug ignited – that is, gasoline compression ignition was actually completely achievable.
Thin + compression ignitionAt the same time, this is also recognized by the industry as one of the most important development directions for the ultimate internal combustion engine in the future.
Compression Ignition Sensitivity
However, for the next few years, Mazda has been struggling with the problem of "achieving stable compression ignition", pressing it on the ground and rubbing it repeatedly. Of course, it is voluntary. Gasoline compression ignition is indeed feasible – in the laboratory. Although similar to diesel compression ignition, gasoline is ultimately gasoline, chemically more active than diesel, and it is much more difficult to achieve stable and usable compression ignition.
First of all, compression ignition has extremely strict requirements on the operating conditions of the engine. Only when the engine load and speed meet a small specific range at the same time can a stable compression ignition be maintained. Secondly, compression ignition is very sensitive to temperature and pressure. At different temperatures and altitudes, whether compression ignition can be achieved or not is almost like fate. Furthermore, the internal environment of the combustion chamber also affects the success or failure of compression ignition: if the temperature is too high, the compression ignition occurs too early and the vibration is serious; if the temperature is too low, the compression ignition is too late to reduce the efficiency…
To achieve stable, usable gasoline compression ignition is like waiting on your fatherIt is not difficult to understand that even if gasoline compression ignition can achieve ultra-high thermal efficiency in the laboratory, it has never been applied to reality by any manufacturer
(Blue: The range of conditions for achieving stable compression ignition is very limited.)
But now that Mazda has ridden the tiger, it must be too late to go down. Even if it goes down, there is no other way out, only to bite the bullet and just face it. Finally, the engineers came up with a solution:Use the method of "betrayal" compression ignition to achieve compression ignition.
Since compression ignition cannot cover all the working conditions of the engine, the compression ignition engine will not completely abandon the spark plug, and can still be ignited when some of the compression ignition cannot be achieved. The reason for the instability of compression ignition is nothing more than temperature and pressure. Temperature is difficult to control accurately in real time, but pressure is possible, for example – ignite with a spark plug?
When the pressure in the cylinder does not meet the compression ignition conditions, the spark plug implements a small range of limited ignition in advance, so that the pressure in the cylinder increases instantaneously, and then most of the unburned mixture in the cylinder can be ignited. As long as the ignition of the spark plug can be precisely controlled, the pressure in the cylinder can be precisely controlled, and a wider range of stable compression ignition can be achieved.
Is it compression? Yes. What about spark plugs? Also used.This is the core technology of Skyactiv-X, which is calledSpark plug controlled compression ignition SPCCI.
(CI is compression ignition, SI is ignition, and SPCCI is spark plug controlled compression ignition)
The basic principle doesn’t sound complicated, but if you really want to achieve precise control, it becomes "easy to sound but hard to do". Because Skyactiv-X has both ignition and compression ignition modes, of which compression ignition mode(SPCCI)It is also necessary to judge the timing and degree of intervention of the spark plug. Finally, the general combustion strategy of Skyactiv-X-ray is as many as three layers. Under different engine load and speed combinations, different air-fuel ratios, fuel injection volumes and combustion methods are used. For example, when starting and accelerating, spark plugs are directly used to ignite; when cruising at medium and high speeds, different degrees of SPCCI compression are required.
Since Skyactiv-X is already a lean-burn engine, many aspects cannot be considered in terms of conventional engines in the past. For example, the compression ratio mentioned earlier. To make the ultra-lean mixture spontaneously ignite with only compressed energy, the compression ratio must be much higher than that of previous ignition gasoline engines. The previous generation Skyactiv-G compression ratio of 14:1 was already the world’s first, and Skyactiv-X achieved an amazing 16:1!Also, don’t forget that SPCCI also has spark plug ignition pressurization for recompression, so the actual compression ratio can sometimes be higher than the physical compression ratio of 16:1.
With compression ratios so high, knock risk naturally needs to be taken seriously. Mazda’s solution is to use up to 1000bar(3 to 4 times that of a conventional gasoline engine)Ultra-high pressure fuel pump, the fuel injection process is carried out in multiple installments. In ordinary gasoline engines, during the compression process after fuel injection, the mixture absorbs heat and heats up, which is a prerequisite for detonation. Therefore, Skyactiv-X only sprays a small amount of fuel during the initial injection before compression. At this time, the mixture is too thin to form a knock; when the compression is carried out to the middle and enough fuel is injected, the fuel will be ignited before it has time to absorb heat and heat up, so the risk of knock is reduced.
The maximum thermal efficiency "target" of Skyactiv-X will reach 44%.(Because there is no third-party measurement, we can only say "target")This is the pure thermal efficiency of the internal combustion engine without the help of hybrid power, and the hot topic efficiency does not come at the expense of driving power
According to Mazda’s own data, at an economical speed of 2,000 rpm, the ultra-lean-burning Skyactiv-X engine can outperform its predecessor(Skyactiv-G)20% fuel savings. Not only is the maximum thermal efficiency improved, but the Skyactiv-X’s high-efficiency operating area has been greatly expanded, which means that the actual overall thermal efficiency will also be significantly improved. In terms of power, thanks to the high compression ratio of up to 16:1, the Skyactiv-X’s low-speed torque has been increased by 10-30%.(Similar to the characteristics of a diesel engine with high torque)The maximum power has increased by 14% compared to the previous generation.
(Skyactiv-X not only increases the maximum thermal efficiency, but also expands the high efficiency range.)
As a new concept engine that has just been put into use, the Skyactiv-X certainly has some questions that need time to test. On the one hand, there is no answer to the adaptability of domestic oil products; on the other hand, the long-term reliability of engine control compression ignition has yet to be verified. In addition, whether the control of compression ignition timing really guarantees NVH(Vibration and noise)The performance is not inferior to that of ordinary gasoline cars of the same level, and the answer will not be available until the arrival of the Skyactiv-X.
However, at least, the European market, which began delivering Skyactiv-X models in the second half of last year, has more acceptance of the new engine than Mazda expected. CEO Yasuhiro Aoyama told Automotive News Europe last year that 60% and 45% of orders for the two main European models, the Mazda 3 and the CX-30, respectively, chose the more expensive Skyactiv-X engine. In Germany, for example, the Skyactiv-X version of the Mazda3 starts at 26,290 euros, while the original Skyactiv-G engine is only 23,790 euros.
44% is not the end of the internal combustion engine. After the Skyactiv-X, Mazda is developing the third generation of the Skyactiv-3. After the Skyactiv-X has overcome lean compression ignition, the focus of the next generation of Skyactiv-3 is rumored to include auxiliary combustion chamber and adiabatic combustion technology.Skyactiv-3 ofThe target is the previous generation(Skyacitv-X)Increase the thermal efficiency by 27% and 56% on the basis of(Pure internal combustion engine efficiency)If 48V micro-hybrid technology is added, the thermal efficiency may approach 60%.
Thermal efficiency of 50 to 60%, compared with 80 to 90% of the energy conversion efficiency of electric vehicles, it still seems awesome? But if you factor in the power generation and conduction efficiency of power plants, consider the emissions from lithium battery production and recycling, and consider the advantages of fuel vehicles such as battery life, energy replenishment speed, and no battery attenuation(It’s not a hybrid)With a thermal efficiency of 50 to 60%, how much advantage can pure electric vehicles still have?
Dongying BMW, apply for regularization?
Skyactiv-X has been delivered overseas for less than a year, and it will have to wait until the second half of 2020 in China. But by then, Mazda, which has solved the technical problem, will face a problem that cannot be solved by technology, price.
The cost and pricing of the Mazda Skyactiv-G models currently on sale have been significantly high, which has indirectly led to Mazda gradually moving away from the mainstream in China in recent years and becoming a second-tier brand. The Mazda 3 with Skyactiv-X compression ignition engine(Domestic Onxella)The expected price after domestic production may approach 200,000 yuan. For a brand like Mazda and a family car like Ma 3, this is too high in any case.
The advanced and efficient engine developed at such a high cost does not seem to match Mazda’s current brand positioning. Or, in other words, it should not be the business of a small, Volkswagen-oriented car brand like Mazda.
In March 2019, Mazda announced its last annual financial report as usual, one of which made the industry jaw drop: Mazda is developing an inline six cylinder(At least 3.0L large displacement)Skyactiv-X engine, and a vertical straight six for rear-drive cars. Among them, the words "brand high-end" are also mentioned(Brand value improvement)…
Straight six, vertical, rear drive, this is the standard BMW formula! And Mazda, which relatively emphasizes driving control among Japanese brands, is also known as "Dongying BMW". When the German BMW began to switch to four cylinders and front drive, the "Japanese BMW" was going to "turn positive" instead?
(The concept car Vision Coupe will be the prototype of the new Horse 6.)
Mazda’s high-end plans are not groundless, let alone mouth-watering. In the following months, patents have poured in for Mazda’s new straight-six Skyactiv-X engine, front-rear-drive chassis, and longitudinal 8-speed automatic transmission. Mazda also announced not long ago that it will focus on developing a new generation of Mazda 6, and will not launch any other new models until 2022. Rumors are basically solid: the new 6 will move from the current horizontal front-drive "grocery car" to a high-end sports vertical rear-drive car, and there may even be a new two-door sports car as a successor to the RX-8.
It is inevitable that the brand that "no wonder there is a traffic jam in Mazda" back then plans to wrestle with Mercedes-Benz and BMW now, which will inevitably surprise people. But when you think about it carefully, the cooperative relationship between Mazda and Toyota has actually vaguely laid a protective net for the former’s high-end.
In 2017, Toyota and Mazda reached a cross-shareholding agreement, and Toyota acquired about 5% of Mazda’s shares. The two sides cooperate fully in the field of production and manufacturing. In 2019, Japanese media revealed that Toyota is planning to equip its Lexus brand’s high-end models with the inline-six engine under development by Mazda. At this time, Mazda’s six-cylinder rear-drive patents are flying, and Toyota has just launched a new sports car with BMW’s straight-six engine Supra. So if Toyota only plans to acquire high-performance engines from other companies in the future, its Japanese partner Mazda will always be more suitable than BMW.
With Toyota and Lexus as "guarantee" measures, Mazda can more easily invest in high-end technologies such as the straight-six Skyactiv-X engine and the front-rear-drive platform, without having to worry too much about the early stage of the high-end experiment. Of course, the hidden danger and challenge is how to differentiate between the high-end Mazda and Lexus to avoid internal competition between the two partners.
Not one person, more than one machine
Mazda is one of the most determined in the gasoline engine route, but it is not the only one. Several other Japanese automakers are also developing the ultimate internal combustion engine technology of the future in addition to electrification. For example, Toyota and Honda are optimistic about the secondary combustion chamber technology, which is a low-cost way to increase thermal efficiency. Nissan has also carried out pre-research in the lean combustion field after implementing the VC-Turbo engine with variable compression ratio.
But only Mazda has focused most of its energy on the Skyactiv series of high-efficiency internal combustion engines. It is not so much that Mazda has more feelings and technology for internal combustion engines, but that Mazda ships are small and easy to turn around – it is almost impossible for a giant like Toyota to be so desperate. So only Mazda is on this road that no one dares to go, one way to the dark.
(Mazda’s forecast for the future sees internal combustion engines and hybrids remaining mainstream until 2035.)
However, don’t think that if we talk about the internal combustion engine for a long time, it means that the electric car is out of the question. When the thermal efficiency of the internal combustion engine develops to 50-60%, it basically reaches the theoretical limit. But for electric vehicles, the main factor that really limits their environmental protection in the long run is actually the proportion of sustainable energy in the entire power grid.
The thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines can see the limit, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the proportion of sustainable energy. Although current power generation(Especially at home)The majority of electricity is still generated by heat, but the proportion of electricity generated by sustainable clean energy will increase. It is impossible for fuel vehicles to save energy and reduce emissions as the grid becomes cleaner, but electric vehicles can. For every new wind turbine and a new photovoltaic panel erected on the earth, your electric car is cleaner by one point, and your fuel car has nothing to do with it.
However, this process may be slower and more complicated than some people imagine. If you look at the distant future, 100% of electric vehicles will replace internal combustion engine vehicles; but if you want to talk about the present and the near future, continue to improve the thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines, at least it is still a very worthwhile direction to try. Mazda 37% and 44%, Toyota 40% and 41%, are currently the world’s first-class efficient engines. At present, the mainstream family car engines on the market have a maximum thermal efficiency of only about 30%, and the overall thermal efficiency is only about 20%. There is at least more than half the room for improvement.
Entering the 2020s, when gasoline is ready to burn, why don’t you work hard?