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Mazda working on lithium-ion batteries to replace lead-acid starter batteries

In the quest for ever better fuel economy, car companies are looking for every single advantage possible, no matter how small. This is evident in everything from active grille shutters to the 48-volt mild-hybrid electric assist systems like that in the new Ram 1500. For Mazda, the latest target for potential efficiency gains is the lowly 12-volt starter battery. The company announced that it is partnering with two other companies, ELIIY Power and Ube Industries, to develop a lithium-ion starter battery that would be used on mainstream models in place of conventional lead-acid units. Mazda plans to have them ready for use by 2021. The advantage here would be that 12-volt lithium-ion batteries would be much smaller and lighter than the lead-acid ones they replace. And lighter cars don't need as much fuel to move around. Plus, as an added benefit, making cars lighter also often makes them faster and better handling. This is why companies such as Lotus and Porsche have offered optional lithium-ion 12-volt batteries for some lightweight sports cars. A potential downside to the use of these batteries is increased cost. Lead-acid batteries from your local parts store will run you between $100 to $150. AGM batteries could be between $200 and $300. As for lithium-ion batteries, Lotus introduced the option on the Evora 400 in 2016, and the option cost $1,690. Odds are that a company such as Mazda won't be absorbing all those costs, meaning that the cost of these future Mazdas could increase with a change from lead-acid to lithium ion. Related Video:

Mazda poaches designer Kevin Rice back from BMW

Kevin Rice left Mazda a baker's dozen years ago, but now he's back.
A graduate of the Transportation Design program at Coventry University (just across town from Jaguar headquarters), Rice worked his way up in the industry working for the likes of Opel and Italdesign Giugiaro before landing a job at Mazda. Between 1995 and 2000, he collaborated on such projects as the RX-8 and the 1999 Neospace concept that previewed the Mazda2 before moving on to BMW, where the new 3 Series and 4 Series were among the last projects he worked on during his 13-year tenure in Munich.
Now back at Mazda, Rice has been named the Japanese automaker's new creative director, charged with further honing the brand's KODO design language from its European headquarters in Oberursel, Germany. We're looking forward to seeing what he and his design team come up with in the coming years.

Sorry, rotary fans, Mazda's RX Vision probably won't happen

Mazda is doing a lot of things the right way in this age of beige-ness. It just crammed a turbocharged inline-four into the improved CX-9, a bold move unto itself, and one that should also be heartening for Mazdaspeed fans. Wouldn't that engine make for a swell Mazdaspeed3 or Mazdaspeed6? There's a reasonable ray of hope there, but not necessarily a guarantee. The RX Vision, though, is a pipe dream. Mazda is smart to keep the rotary dream alive. It's smart to keep developing it in back rooms and to keep the idea on the public's mind. Credit where credit's due: Mazda has solved some of the stickiest issues the rotary engine has, through savvy engineering and perseverance. We've seen promising patent filings for the Skyactiv-R engine, which is supposed to be found in the RX Vision concept. Mazda uses every opportunity to remind us that development is continuing and that the company would love to bring a rotary-powered sportscar to production. I believe it. But the RX Vision is just a design study. And there are some harsh realities about rotary engine emissions and fuel economy standards that are difficult for modern piston engines to achieve without expensive componentry. Emissions and fuel economy are both bugbears of the rotary, in case you've forgotten. And that explains Mazda's interest in running rotaries on hydrogen, but down that road lie infrastructure challenges as daunting as making a gasoline-powered rotary burn as clean as one of Mazda's Skyactiv piston engines. All this is meant to put Mazda's recent comments to Top Gear in context. Mazda's design director, Kevin Rice, spoke to TG at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa D'Este, and was waving Mazda's rotary flag quite enthusiastically. "In the back rooms at Mazda, we're still developing it," Rice said, "and when the world's ready to buy another rotary, we'll be ready to provide it." I'd like that to be a comforting statement, but given the realities of fuel economy and emissions regulations and Mazda's position in the market, it seems like a hollow platitude. "When the world's ready" is just another way of saying "when we solve the fundamental issues with this engine layout, and there's an unambiguous market study that shows we can build these cars and make a profit, we'll consider it." That seems like a lot of "ifs". Perhaps Mazda does have a clean-burning, efficient, cheap-to-produce rotary running on an engine dyno in Hiroshima, and it's prepping an RX-9 for the next auto show.