Tue. Mar 19th, 2024
Mazda

Mazda Will Build A Gas Engine That Doesn’t Need Spark Plugs

Mazda announced its “Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030” vision, a plan aimed at cutting emissions and maintaining growth through the year 2030. As part of the initiative, Mazda has officially unveiled its new ultra-efficient engine design, promising up to 30 percent more efficiency than previous Mazda engines. Hyper-efficient Miata, anyone?

Mazda

The Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition engine, which we first told you about in January, actually works a lot like a diesel. Instead of using spark plugs to ignite the air-fuel mixture, the engine uses compression, allowing a super lean burn like that of a diesel engine, without all the high emissions. Mazda promises a 20 to 30 percent bump in efficiency over its current Skyactiv-G engines.

Unlike our original report, this engine will still use spark plugs for operation during low temperature. According to Mazda’s release, the engine will also be supercharged.

Mazda plans on putting the engine into production starting 2019, and according to Reuters, the company has no plans to supply the engine to other automakers.

As a part of the 2030 vision, Mazda also plans on introducing electrically-driven vehicles starting in 2019, though the press release does not specify which cars will see electrification, though a Miata with instant electric torque doesn’t sound all that bad to us.