Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by elihu 3237 days ago
Maybe this is old news to people who pay attention to car news, but the most interesting thing to me is this line from the press release:

> From 2019, start introducing electric vehicles and other electric drive technologies in regions that use a high ratio of clean energy for power generation or restrict certain vehicles to reduce air pollution

I've been kind of disappointed that Mazda hasn't gotten into the electric car market yet; I'm glad to see they're coming around.
4 comments
seanmcdirmid 3237 days ago
Mazda is kind of small, it would be like expecting an electric vehicle from Subaru. Ya, it will happen eventually, but the big guys are going to have the resources to go first (well, and startups built on the concept itself).

Also, hydrogen was supposed to be the big clean fuel in Japan, but that fell by the wayside when the bigger Chinese market decided it would be electric.

link
skgoa 3236 days ago
Keep in mind that the electric section of the overall car marjket is just 1-1.5% right now. It's just not a significant market right now. Making an electric car is only good for building know-how.

In the industry, the Chevy Bolt is expected to be the first electric car to end up being profitable. Next year's Audi Q6 e-tron quattro (what a name...) is expected to be the second. They are the first specimen of a new generate of electric cars that are for-profit mass production products from the ground up. By 2025 virtually every car manufacturer will be competing seriously in the electric market.

This generational change is happening because as batteries and fuel cells are getting cheaper rapidly. We are coming up on the cross-over point where an electric car can be made profitably right now. But this also means that there was no point for the likes of Mazda to even work on electric cars before now.

link
33W 3237 days ago
They have an interesting somewhat-hybrid called i-eloop that uses regenerative braking and a capacitor to power auxiliary systems:

http://www.mazda.com/en/innovation/technology/env/i-eloop/

link
btian 3237 days ago
Mazda is a small company. They don't have the kind of R&D budget to make EVs.
link