A New Kind of Boom - Mazda engine is 20 to 30 percent more efficient

[Onkel Neal]

Very cool, something new in auto engines

DIESEL CARS, NO longer popular in Europe, are definitely a pariah in the US. Americans never warmed to them, and VW's scheme to dupe millions of customers and pollute the planet didn't help. But diesels provide better fuel economy than gasoline engines, even if they do emit more pollution. The ideal internal combustion engine, then, would combine the efficiency of a diesel with the (relatively) lower emissions of a gasoline engine.
Automotive engineers have spent decades trying to build just such an engine. Mazda just announced it's finally done it.
The Japanese automaker says the Skyactiv-X will be the world’s first commercially available compression ignition gasoline engine. I'll explain the tech in a moment, but the big takeaway is Mazda claims the engine is 20 to 30 percent more efficient than its current gas engines, and at least as efficient, if not more so, than its diesel engines.

https://www.wired.com/story/mazda-in...activx-engine/

[Eichhörnchen]

Well if (although this isn't confirmed) there's a computer controlling otherwise erratic ignitions in the engine, won't this just be another small but very expensive thing that can go wrong?

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Eichhörnchen

Well if (although this isn't confirmed) there's a computer controlling otherwise erratic ignitions in the engine, won't this just be another small but very expensive thing that can go wrong?

As if ANYONE would care about that. New cars are stuffed with complicated and mostly obsolete devices that can and will go broken. A new car's electronics work for three years, until it all begins to fall apart. Injection systems, driving assistants, Xenon lights anyone?
Isn't a car with those systems more dangerous, when the systems fail in crucial moments when everyone feels safe and depends on it, after such short times? Who has the money to repair this stuff, that can only be exchanged en bloc and not repaired?

Buy an old car without those gadgets, and don't feed the automotive industry trolls.

Regarding those baaaaad german Diesel manufacturers, what exactly did GM and other US companies do, at the same time?
Fact is that Diesel engines are more efficient and cleaner than their gasoline counterparts (also when it comes to CO), have more torque, and are generally more sturdy.

Self-ignition gasoline engines, hmm. By pressure alone? This promises to be interesting

[Jimbuna]

Is this not a case of 'too little, too late' taking into consideration the recently announced banning of both petrol and diesel vehicles come 2040?

[Skybird]

German car makers will love to learn this - not. Her ein Germany they and the government not only form a de facto cartel, but still want to shove Diesel down consumers throats - despite the highly dubious legal implicaitons of the events currently going on. Tens of thosuands of Diesle owner could end up with thousands of Euros in losses. Different to America, German consumers are massively disadvanbatged by state and producing companies. We can only look in envy at the luxurious arrangements US consumer had to be given by the offending car makers.

Many Germans think Germany and/or the EU were the spearhead in environmental protection laws and consumer protection laws. Our politicians imply this day in, day out, but it is a lie. It is exactly the other way around, and the most draconic environment protection laws you do not have anywhere in Europe, but California.

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Is this not a case of 'too little, too late' taking into consideration the recently announced banning of both petrol and diesel vehicles come 2040?

Banning petrol and Diesel is wishful thinking in the next decades, thinking of trucks and delivering goods alone.

Better do a bit research before doing something.

Fine dust and particulate matter pollution is now coming mainly from brakes, clutches, Diesel trains, along with inland water transport, and not to to forget pollen.. generating more than 80 percent of particulate matter.

As i also pointed out the switch to electric cars has nothing to do with environmental care, it just shifts the problems to the powerplants. The air in the cities will get a bit better, while pollution around power plants and in the country will get worse.

Have to build new and more power plants to answer the demand.
Then you have a lot of electrical grid loss, until you get the energy to your home plug, and then you have to add charging loss, and battery loss overnight. Not to speak about having to renew the accumulators/batteries every 3-4 years. And that will be very expensive, and "dirty".

All much less efficient than petrol engines for decades to come, from sheer energy consumption to environmental impact.

I heard Schwarzenegger's Hummer runs electric, I guess the energy in California just comes out of the plug, without needing to generate it anywhere