Mazda6 petrol engine, i-ELOOP technology details revealed | CarAdvice

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Mazda6 petrol engine, i-ELOOP technology details revealed

MAZDA MAZDA6
By Anthony Crawford |
FIND DEALS

Mazda Australia has confirmed its all-new Mazda6 range will feature the brand’s innovative capacitor-based i-ELOOP brake energy regeneration system as standard equipment.

Mazda will be the first car manufacturer in the world to use capacitor-based brake energy regeneration system to power ancillary systems in the car such as the climate control, audio, communications and other electrically driven components.

i-ELOOP differs from the standard battery- and alternator-powered systems offered by other manufacturers by using a capacitor to store the energy, which is able to take a charge more quickly.

The third-generation Mazda6 sedan and wagon will be unveiled at the Sydney motor show in October ahead of their local launch in the first quarter of 2013.

Mazda has also confirmed the Mazda6′s new 2.5-litre SkyActiv-G petrol engine will produce 138kW and 250Nm, giving it 10 per cent more power and 11 per cent more torque than the outgoing Mazda6 petrol variants.


 

  • Basil Exposition

    Take this one step further and electric motors in the rear wheels could assist the petrol engine giving near Prius levels of fuel economy… Assuming the capacitor can be made powerful enough.

    • ABCDEFG

      Capacitor can take in and release energy very quickly. But they can’t store a lot of energy.

  • Galaxy

    so does that mean no car battery needed again?

    • Thomas

      no, car battery still there i think!

    • Sydlocal

       It still has a battery. All this does is take some of the load off the battery and alternator with the associated improvement in economy due to the engine not having to drive the alternator under load as much.

  • ac

    Should have a BOOST button on the steering wheel to aid overtaking

  • Shane Chislett

    I have read that the new Mazda6 is now 4.85 metres long.. But why did they have make it bigger? It’s now bigger than all it’s other mid size rivals and approaches the size of a Commodore. I would now class the new Mazda6 as a large car, no longer a medium size car, regardless of whether it only has a 4 cylinder engine under it’s bonnet. I only hope the wagon version is not as big. 

    • Sydlocal

       Shane, the Mazda6 is bigger to satisfy the US market. With the current model the US has a unique locally made version that is larger than what the rest of the world gets. Mazda have since stopped building that larger Mazda6 in the US and is now building the one car for the whole world in Japan. To satisfy the US market, they have made this one much larger.
      Plus we need it bigger in Australia as well considering we can’t stop eating and are even fatter than people in the US. Plus people keep breeding so they can get more money from the government… ;-) TIC

  • Zaccy16

    Great idea! the 2.5 sounds like a good engine

  • crouchy35

    Certainly looks like verrrrry loooong for a 4cyl medium….

  • Tom

    Bigger and with more cabin space, yet lighter and consumes less fuel than before.

    Unless you specifically need a car less than 4865 mm long, what’s not to like?

    • Sydlocal

       The downside though Tom is that the boot is actually smaller than all previous versions of the Mazda6. At least they finally have proper air vents for the back seat.

  • Yaban

    This car seems pretty good

  • TG

    I can’t help but think i-ELOOP is a bit of a gimmick, surely the fuel savings would be a bee’s richard in difference. Different story though if the i-ELOOP capacitor had the ability to power an electric A/C compressor (much like a hybrid)…

    • Thomas

      agree, i dont think those capacitor can do much……

      • Sydlocal

         A capacitor can recharge/discharge a lot quicker and more reliably than any battery can. It is not taking over the battery in the car, rather complimenting it and taking away some of the extra electrical load that is so high in modern day cars. Even if it doesn’t really improve economy at all it should make the battery last a lot longer, especially if you have idle stop/start turned on all of the time.

    • Sydlocal

       It would be a similar improvement to items like electric power steering or electric oil/water pumps. So yes, it would only be a very small amount. They claim up to 10% but I very much doubt that. Probably much closer to 2-5% at best even though the alternator is only working on deceleration. One plus however is that it would take a lot of load off the battery so it should last longer. With the high electricity loads required by modern cars a capacitor would be a lot more reliable. It also would remove a lot of the extra stress placed on the battery when idle stop/start is used due to the high current capability of the capacitor. Whilst it is sitting at the traffic lights with the engine off it can still power the a/c and all the lights/radio etc without the extra weight of large battery packs etc, which in turn would also help improve economy. Like all things, in isolation it may not improve economy by much, but in conjunction with other measures can make a noticeable difference.

      At least they are actually trying for a change to improve their economy as that has never been a Mazda strong point in the past. It is better than doing nothing at all I guess and who knows what it could branch out to in the future with a bit more development!

  • gacho

    now put that engine in the cx5 I have my cash ready :) :)
     

    • Sydlocal

      They can’t do that, it makes too much sense!

    • falcodore

      The CX-5 will get all these goodies with the mid-life update in a couple of years, you watch!

  • RealityBites78343

    i-ELOOP is a small step towards the hybrid direction. Small fuel economy improvements for stop/start driving. The capacitor charge is used up around a minute. Should improve city driving fuel economy, won’t improve highway driving – that will have to come from somewhere else. Their marketing and advertisement are leveraging more that it delivers. Sounds a lot better that what it delivers but a step in the right direction.

  • Waz

    Test drove the new Mazda 6 very nice ride loved the car,BUT,,when at a standstill all is good. When you take off and there is a thump when the Petrol Engine takes over from the i-ELOOP it is a rather loud noise.Its a new system hopefully some thing they can fix.

    • Mars71

      I think you’ve misunderstood how Mazda’s i-ELOOP works. It doesn’t
      provide power to move the car. The energy stored in the capacitor is
      only used to power the car’s ancillary electrical equipment. I quote “Mazda
      will be the first car manufacturer in the world to use capacitor-based
      brake energy regeneration system to power ancillary systems in the car
      such as the climate control, audio, communications and other
      electrically driven components.”

      Thus there could not possibly be a thump felt “when the petrol engine
      takes over from the i-ELOOP” because no such thing happens. It isn’t
      like a Prius for example where at low speeds the power to move the car
      is provided by the battery pack with the petrol engine taking over above
      a certain speed (or after a certain distance).