Mazda-3 5-door

The electric motor also acts as an electric generator, used for charging the hybrid’s battery pack. In simple terms, when the electric motor is not assisting the engine with power, the electric motor becomes a large alternator, and charges the battery pack located behind the rear bulkhead (rear seat). When you apply the brakes to slow down the vehicle, the brushes in the electric motor produces electricity. The electricity is then transferred to the battery pack. New improvements in Honda’s IMA system allows the IMA system to charge the battery pack while coasting or very during light acceleration, compared to the old system which relied mostly on the braking to charge the battery. All of this means that you never have to plug the car in to charge the batteries – in fact you cannot charge the batteries except via the on-board charging features.

Honda employs a CVT (Constant Velocity Transmission) to maximize the efficiency and available power. A transmission’s job is to accelerate the vehicle under various engine speeds. To achieve acceleration to higher speeds the transmission ratios have to change. On a regular transmission, whether it is an automatic or manual, the ratios are changed by shifting the gears. Unlike a “regular” automatic transmission which employs planetary gearsets to change gears (thus ratios), the CVT changes its “gear” ratios by utilizing a 2 sets of tapered pulleys and a metal belt. The metal belt is suspended by the pulleys. To change ratios, the pulleys will expand and contract. The distances of the metal belt changed by this movement alters the transmission ratios. How and why is this superior to a traditional automatic or manual transmission? In a “regular transmission, the gear ratios are determine by the gears. If there are 5 gears there are 5 different gear ratios to work with. The number of ratios are predetermined and fixed. In a CVT transmission, the gear ratios are infinite within a given range (determined by the pulley size and distance). A CVT constantly alters its ratio to compliment the hybrid’s engine maximizing power and efficiency as much as it can.

All this technology is a bit overwhelming to someone unfamiliar with this system, and may cause people to doubt its durability and long-term benefits. Keep in mind the battery pack itself is designed to “last the life of the vehicle”, as attested by its TEN YEAR, 150,000 mile warranty backed by Honda. If Honda had no confidence in its system it would not offer a term this long. In fact many of the hybrid-related components have a warranty up to 15 year, 150,000 mile (consult with the owners warranty manual supplement for specific components). It is an AT-PZEV rated vehicle (Alternative Technology- Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle), so it is great on emissions as well as miles per gallon

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The 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid. The current generation Honda Civic Hybrid is the fourth iteration of Honda’s Hybrid system. Its genealogy consists of the Honda Insight, the 2003-2005 Honda Civic Hybrid, the 2005-2007 Honda Accord V6 Hybrid. During those generations Honda learned a great deal and has applied these lessons to the latest technology in today’s Honda Civic Hybrid. So what’s changed compared to the previous generation? Mainly a higher capacity battery and a more efficient electric motor/generator.

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A brief background on how Honda’s hybrid system works. Honda’s hybrid system consists of a thin electric motor/generator that is sandwiched between the gasoline engine and the transmission. It measures roughly 3 inches wide. The transmission is more compact to retain about the same drive train dimensions as a “regular” Civic. How does the electric motor/generator work? To better illustrate how the system operates, picture yourself when you were young learning how to ride a bicycle. When you were pedaling and your parent pushed you to gain momentum, you did less work to achieve a greater speed and acceleration. Your parent “assisted” you in increasing your speed. That’s how Honda’s hybrid system works. The electric motor “pushes” the gasoline engine to achieve better acceleration at lower speeds thus requiring less fuel. The main propulsion of the Civic Hybrid is its gasoline engine. The electric motor assists it when the computer system deems necessary. This is why Honda calls its hybrid system the IMA (Integrated Motor Assist). It’s a very elegant and simple solution.

A little background on electric motors. Unlike gasoline motors, which must spin several THOUSAND RPMS to achieve maximum torque, the electric motor achieves maximum torque at 0 RPMS. The strength of the electric motor is that it allows Honda to use a smaller engine than its Civic siblings (1.3 ltr vs 1.8-2.0 ltr). In a gasoline engine, a larger motor will produce more torque, but the trade-off is greater fuel consumption. Once up to speed the car needs very little power to maintain its velocity. Honda’s goal is to use an engine as small as possible to maximize fuel efficiency. The smaller engine works great at highway speeds, but will hinder its off-the-line acceleration. This is where the electric motor comes into play. The electric motor helps the acceleration to about 35 mph, afterwards the gasoline motor has enough pull to work on its own. Once up to speed, the 1.3 liter has enough power to accelerate comfortably on the highway while consuming very little fuel. As a result of its engine size, the Civic Hybrid is able to achieve an EPA estimated 45 mpg on the highway, and a very impressive EPA estimated 40 mpg in the city by the EPA. These are, of course, estimates and the real results depend on the many of the considerations we have discussed in our green guide, including the driver.

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The 2009 Mazda3

If we think of our costs and emissions in per capita terms, the more people in the vehicle, the better for the wallet and the environment. It isn’t always easy to find the right person to carpool with, especially given our complicated schedules and our sprawling cities. It definitely won’t happen if you don’t look for the opportunities. But even if you can double up for one day a week on your commute to work, you will reduce your commuting gas usage by 10% (only half the gas credited to you on that shared day). If you can get a third person in the car for that one day, it goes to 13%. Two days is better than one. Every little bit helps.

If you are open to finding new friends for shared commutes, go to any one of the following car pool websites:

www.commutesmart.info

www.erideshare.com

www.carpoolconnect.com

Commuter Page has 10 helpful tips on keeping a car pool group running. Here’s a sample of their tips:

1. Determine your route and schedule. Establish the morning pickup point(s) and designate a place(s) to meet for the trip home.

2. Draw up a schedule for driving responsibilities. If all members of your carpool alternate driving, decide among yourselves if you want to alternate on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

3. Establish a method for reimbursing driving expenses. Is all members of your carpool do not share the driving equally, come to an understanding of how the costs will be shared and agree on payment dates.

Next: Ken Liu’s Hybrid Discussion Part 1

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2009 Mazda6 Near Los Angeles

Nobody is getting good miles per gallon on a congested highway. When you are crawling along in a traffic jam, you are wasting time, gas and engine life. It’s just not what the engine was built to do. You and your car are much happier when you can go the speed limit. Going the speed limit, of course takes less time, but also uses less gas, leads to lower maintenance costs and is probably better for your mental health as well as your physical health (as anyone who’s ever been in a traffic jam can attest to, traffic jams can be stressful).

If you can schedule your life to drive when the roads are in free flow, you should do it. Your car, your wallet and the environment all will benefit. Now, we know what most of you are thinking, and that is your schedule is set, but that’s most likely not the case. The majority of us are indeed 9 to 5′ers, however there is some flexibility there. Here are some suggestions to mix up your schedule and avoid the bumper to bumper.

1. Leave early and bring breakfast to or eat breakfast at work.

2. Eat dinner before heading home from work. For those of us who are married, this might not work all the time, but we’re sure that your wife or husband would understand leaving work late every now and then, to both avoid traffic and become more efficient.

3. Ask your manager or boss for flexibility in your schedule. Coming to work an hour earlier or an our later could really make a difference in avoiding traffic and most likely, would lead to a more energetic and efficient day of work (which of course, would make your boss or manager happy).

Next: Car Pool

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This may seem obvious, but a hybrid driven 20,000 miles a year is probably polluting more than a new SUV driven 7,000 miles per year. To the extent that a hybrid owner feels liberated to drive more because of the efficiency of his or her vehicle, the impact on the environment could be detrimental rather than beneficial. Keep in mind also that miles-per-gallon is only a measure of the impact on global warming. The emission of criteria pollutants (NOx, lead, CO, particulates, ozone and SOx), which are responsible for smog, is a different measure than for CO2, which correlates with miles per gallon and global warming. Low miles per gallon comes with high CO2 emissions which will change the climate for our children. Criteria pollutants hurt us now.

The bottom line is that if you select your vehicle based on uses that don’t put a lot of miles on the car, you can accomplish a lot for the environment (and your wallet) by finding other ways to reach your destination when you aren’t using your vehicle’s full utility. In other words, if you need your SUV for activities you do on the weekend, finding a more efficient way to get to work might be all you really need to do. This starts with trying to live near your job or work near where you live. We don’t do that well in Southern California and many of us aren’t in a position to do much about where we live or where we work. However, if and when you are changing jobs or thinking about moving, the price of gas and newly emphasized environmental concerns should put the proximity of your work to your home higher on the list than it used to be.

Mazda MX-5 Miata 2009

Okay, given that you aren’t moving and aren’t going to change jobs, what can you do? Well, have you tried public transportation lately? Los Angeles has some trains operating and many of the buses these days have TV’s in them. You could be surprised to find that there is a convenient route that goes where you are going, letting you read, relax or people watch while you commute – and it might save you some money. Check it out at www.metro.net. Keep in mind that every mile you don’t drive saves you more than just gas money. Insurance, maintenance and wear and tear all go down with fewer miles traveled. It may take a little longer to take the bus, but the time can sometimes be used more productively than when you are driving.

Another way to reduce the number of miles you drive is to plan your shopping trips. Getting a lot done in one outing will use less gas than taking several little trips. Walking, biking and sharing rides with friends also reduce the number of miles you have to drive.

Next: Drive Less

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Los Angeles Mazda Driving

There are many driving habits you can develop to save gas and reduce emissions. Avoiding idling time is key. This means avoiding drive-through lines, congested highways and intersections that you have to wait through a couple of cycles of the light to get through.

Consumer Driving Tips Pdf (click to download)

You can improve your gas mileage about 15 percent by driving at 55 mph rather than 65 mph, so don’t use that lead foot. Turn off the air conditioner when you are a couple of minutes from home, leaving the fan running. It will blow cool for a short time and eliminate the extra A/C load for that last part of the trip. It will also dry out the condenser so it won’t develop mold as readily.

Try to plan routes that don’t go up and down hills – uphill runs always use more gas than the downhill runs save. Basically, when driving your car, try to stay at a constant speed – use your cruise control when you can.

Again, having a lead foot leads to poor mileage, take your foot off the gas well in advance of when you have to stop to minimize gas use at the light or other stops (this means you won’t be slamming on the brakes, which saves on costly brake maintenance). Don’t rev the engine. Don’t wait for it to warm up. It will warm up faster by driving it. The faster the warm up, the more efficient the whole process is.

Next: Drive Off Peak

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The 2009 Mazda 6

It really is the little day to day things that added up, can make a huge difference in gas mileage.

Keeping your tire pressure up with the right tires on the car, doing the recommended maintenance at proper intervals and keeping your car clean all help get a few more miles per gallon, all the while with less emissions. Fuel efficiency drops one percent for every 3 PSI your tires are under-inflated. Proper tire inflation is also a safety and handling advantage. Also, take all of the heavy things out of your car.

Cleaning out your car seems obvious, but you’d be surprised what people unwittingly leave in their cars. Extra weight significantly reduces gas mileage, so clean out your trunk and back seat. Use your air conditioner sparingly – it adds load to your engine reducing gas mileage. Did We mention doing your regular maintenance – changing the oil and filter, the air filter, aligning the tires, rotating tires for even wear, getting tune ups when scheduled. Have these things done on time – added up, they make all the difference in the world.

Next: Drive Gently

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The Honda Civic GX is truly engineered for the environment. Honda gives you the details at this Honda Civic GX link, which is worth checking out. It is an advanced technology partial zero emission vehicle (AT-PZEV) and, if you lease an in-home refueling system, you can re-fuel in your own garage. The Civic GX gets between 220 and 250 miles per fill-up. You can fill up quickly at special service stations located around Southern California or, if you have the home system, it can take up to 16 hours to fully refill the tank.

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Conventional gasoline, high-miles-per-gallon vehicles Sierra offers

The California Air Resources Board categorizes new vehicles for sale in California as Low Emission Vehicles (LEV), Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV), Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (SULEV), Partial Zero Emission Vehicles (PZEV), Alternate Fuel Partial Zero Emission Vehicles (AT-PZEV) and zero emission vehicles (ZEV). For detail on what these categories mean, see the ARB’s pdf at:

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/zevprog/factsheets/calemissions.pdf.

These designations apply to criteria pollutants (hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, particulates, lead, ozone and oxides of sulfur). Next year there will be a new label on new vehicles in California that shows the relative effects of the vehicle’s carbon dioxide emissions which affect global warming, but really that measure has been there for a long time in the form of the EPA mileage estimates, which correlate directly with CO2 emissions.

In any event, the highest available rating for gasoline-powered vehicles is PZEV. Sierra offers many of them. For reference below, we’ve also included the miles per gallon for the current models, which is a measure of greenhouse gas emissions (higher MPG, fewer GHG). These estimates are from brochures, EPA’s green vehicle guide and manufacturer web sites. They are only estimates and, as we have said throughout this guide, they vary depending on how you drive. The EPA estimate on the vehicle is the estimate that controls – the ones below may be different. We’ve tried to be accurate, but might have made mistakes. Please check the data on the vehicle you are interested in to obtain the correct EPA estimates and ARB ratings.

Honda

PZEV:
Accord Sedan 4 cylinder Automatic: ALL (LX, LX-P, EX, EX-L) EPA 21 city/31 hwy/ 24 combined
Accord Sedan V6: (EX V6, EX-L V6) EPA 19 city/ 29 hwy/ 22 combined
Accord Coupe 4 cylinder automatic: ALL (LX-S, EX, EX-L) EPA 21 city/ 30 hwy/ 25 combined
Accord Coupe EX-L V6 automatic EPA 19 city/28 hwy/ 22 combined

Ultra Low Emissions (ULEV)- Tier II:
Accord Sedan manual transmission: ALL (LX, LX-P, EX, EX-L) EPA 22 city/ 31 hwy/ 25 combined
Accord Coupe 4 cylinder manual transmission ALL - (LX-S, EX, EX-L) EPA 22 city/31 hwy/ 25 combined
Accord Coupe EX-L V6 manual transmission EPA 17 city/ 25 hwy/ 20 combined
Civic Sedan manual transmission: ALL (DX, LX, EX, EX-L) EPA 26 city/ 34 hwy/ 29 combined
Civic Sedan automatic transmission: DX, LX, EX, EX-L EPA 25 city/ 36 hwy/ 29 combined
Civic Coupe manual transmission: ALL (DX, LX, EX, EX-L) EPA 26 city/ 34 hwy/ 29 combined
Civic Coupe automatic transmission: DX, LX, EX, EX-L EPA 25 city/ 36 hwy/ 29 combined
CR-V 2wd: ALL (LX, EX, EX-L) EPA 20 city/ 27 hwy/ 23 combined
CR-V 4wd: ALL (LX, EX, EX-L) EPA 20 city/26 hwy/ 22 combined
Odyssey LX, EX: EPA 16 city/ 23 hwy/ 18 combined
Odyssey EX-L, Touring: EPA 17 city/ 25 hwy/ 20 combined
Pilot 2wd: ALL (LX, EX, EX-L, Touring) EPA 17 city/ 23 hwy/ 19 combined
Pilot 4wd: ALL (LX, EX, EX-L, Touring) EPA 16 city/ 22 hwy/ 18 combined
Ridgeline: ALL (RT, RTX, RTS, RTL) EPA 15 city/ 20 hwy/ 17 combined

AT-PZEV:
Civic Hybrid EPA 40 city/ 45 hwy/ 42 combined
Civic GX EPA “gasoline equivalent” 24 city/ 36 hwy/ 28 combined.

Subarus

PZEV

Forester 2.5L horizontally opposed SOHC EPA 20 city/26 hwy

SULEV

Outback 2.5L 4 cyl. EPA 20city/26 hwy auto
19 city/26 hwy man

Legacy 2.5L 4 cyl. EPA 20 city. 27 hwy

Chevrolets

PZEV

COBALT 2.2L 4 cyl LT/LS coupe or sedan EPA 24 city/33 hwy

IMPALA 3.5L 6 cyl – LS and LT EPA 18 city/24 hwy

ULEV-2

CORVETTE 6.2L 8 cylinder EPA 16 city/26 hwy man
15 city/25 hwy auto
AVEO (Engine, ECOTEC 1.6L DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder MFI) EPA 27 city/34 hwy man 25 city/34 hwy auto
AVEO5 (Engine: ECOTEC 1.6L DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder MFI) EPA 23 city/32 hwy man
24 city/34 hwy auto

Equinox (Engine 3.4L 6 cyl) EPA 17 city/24 hwy

HHR (Engine 2.2L 4 cyl) EPA 22 city/ 30 hwy auto
21 city/ 30 hwy man

BUICK

SULEV(PZEV)

LUCERNE 3.8L 6 cyl EPA 16 city/25 hwy

LACROSSE 3.8L 6 cyl. EPA 17 city/28 hwy

’09 Mazdas

SULEV (PZEV)

Mazda3i sedan (engine: type LFX, 16 valve, 4 cyl 2.0L) EPA 24city/32 manual
EPA 23city/30 automatic

Mazda3s sedan (engine: type L3X, 16 valve, 4 cyl 2.3L) EPA 22city/29 hwy

Mazda3s (5-door) (engine: type L3X, 16 valve, 4 cyl. 2.3L) EPA 22city/29 hwy

Mazda6i sedan (engine: 16 valve, 4 cyl. 2.5L) EPA 21/30 hwy

ULEV

Mazdaspeed3 EPA 18city/26 hwy

Mazda6s sedan (engine 24 valve, 6 cyl. 3.7L) EPA 17city/25 hwy

Miata MX-5 (engine 16 valve, 4 cyl. 2.0L) EPA 20 city/27 hwy auto
SV and Sport EPA 22 city/27 hwy man
Touring, grand touring and SE EPA 21 city/26 hwy man

RX-8 (engine: Renesis 2 rotor rotory; 1.3L) EPA 16 city/23 hwy auto
EPA 16 city/22 hwy man

CX-9 (engine: 24 valve 6 cyl) EPA 16 city/22 hwy FWD
EPA 15 city/21 hwy AWD

Next: Maintain Your Vehicle

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Honda Civic hybrid

Chevy Tahoe hybrid

Chevy Malibu hybrid

Mazda Tribute hybrid

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Hybrids use two sources of energy to power the vehicle – gas and electricity – either in combination or alternating, depending on what kind of driving you are doing. The vehicle’s computer figures out whether to use the gas or the electricity or both without you even being aware of the decision. They get better mileage because of the advanced power train, but also because of a host of other technologies used on hybrid vehicles, including regenerative braking (charging your batteries when you brake), turning off at idle speeds (they turn right back on when you step on the gas), lower profile/higher pressure tires and generally a vehicle design that emphasizes weight reduction. For a history of the Honda hybrid program and more detail on how it works, search for Ken Liu’s article on the subject.

It isn’t just about hybrids

Hybrids are by no means the whole story on green vehicles. Vehicles that don’t depend on conventional gasoline include E85 fueled vehicles (85% of the fuel is ethanol); and natural gas vehicles. There are also a number of vehicles that use good old gasoline, but use it sparingly and have very low emissions.

E85

General Motors has taken the lead in building flexfuel vehicles which can use either regular gasoline or E85 In 2008, Chevy offers the following vehicles with the E85 option: Avalanche, Impala, Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe, Express, and Uplander. One issue for Californians who wish to use E85 as a way to reduce reliance on oil is the availability of E85 itself. To see where the nearest station is to you, check out www.e85refueling.com. As this is being written, there are only three stations within 200 miles of Monrovia, but new stations are being added all the time so it’s worth checking back.

Next: Natural Gas Vehicles

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Buying the right car for you also entails identifying what features you need and want in your car or truck, including how many miles you will be driving it each year and what type of driving (city, highway, combination) you will be doing. Consider how many seats your really need, how much stuff you need to carry around (it takes extra gas to carry extra weight) and how much power you need (these days a 4 cylinder engine can delivery a surprising amount of acceleration). You can compare the mileage ratings of the vehicles you are considering at www.epa.gov/fueleconomy. This guide lets you compare similar vehicles (like small cars like Mazdas, or large SUVs) for their fuel efficiency. It won’t, however, be a true measure of the miles per gallon you will get because how you drive is a huge variable in determining miles per gallon. Also, you can compare new cars for their emissions at www.epa.gov/greenvehicles. Make sure you only look at the drive trains that include the California emissions controls, which are better and included in any new vehicle you buy from a California dealer.

2009 Mazda 6

As you check out the differences, you might want to calculate how fuel efficiency affects your costs of driving. Buying a new car or truck will almost always be an environmental plus for criteria emissions. For carbon dioxide, which is the key greenhouse gas contributing to global warming, increasing miles per gallon decreases your CO2 emissions. It also reduces your cost of operating the vehicle (by requiring less gas). If you want to get an estimate of how much you could save by buying a higher miles per gallon vehicle, this calculator should be helpful.

Current vehicle MPG (mpg1)

New vehicle MPG (mpg2)

Price of a gallon of fuel ($)

Number of miles you travel each year (M)

Annual gas savings (gallons)
M*(mpg2-mpg1)/(mpg2*mpg1)
Annual Dollar Savings
($*M)*(mpg2-mpg1)/(mpg2*mpg1)

You can change the numbers in this calculator to get a sense of how much difference a change of vehicle might make. For example, if you have a mazda sports car that you only drive on weekends, putting about 4000 miles per year on it, and it gets 16 miles per gallon, changing to a 30 mile per gallon car would only save you about $470 per year, assuming gas costs $4.00 per gallon. If you love that sports car, your limited use of it is causing little impact on the environment and not costing you all that much, even considering the high cost of gas.

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The bottom line to finding a green car is that there are a lot of variables other than fuel efficiency and environmental impacts to consider in making a decision about what vehicle is right for you. But most buyers are fairly comfortable with all of the other variables, so this part of our website focuses specifically on Sierra’s offerings and how you might consider the environment and fuel efficiency in thinking about which one to buy.

Next: Hybrids

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Drivers are becoming increasingly aware of both the financial and the environmental costs associated with the vehicles and trucks they drive. Drivers seek to balance the utility we need from our car or truck against the expense of operating it (meaning the amount we pay for gas). We are also increasingly aware of the environmental “footprint” we leave behind when we drive. This guide gives you some tips about how to minimize both the financial and environmental cost of meeting your transportation needs whether you drive a Mazda or any other brand of cars.

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It’s not necessarily what you drive that defines your environmental impact. How and when you drive might be more significant. This is an extremely important point and it is generally overlooked in the judgment of environmental behavior. But when trying to reduce your impact on the environment, the real concern is the total pollutants coming out of your tail pipe measured against what you accomplish. This can be minimized in a number of ways without changing vehicles.

Ways to reduce your environmental impact no matter what car you drive.

1. Maintain your vehicle
2. Drive gently
3. Drive less
4. Drive off peak
5. Car pool

Ways to consider the environment while picking the best car or truck for your needs

There’s more to picking a vehicle than its emissions and fuel economy. Safety, performance, utility, styling, comfort and amenities (like cup holders, power seats, trunk space and navigation systems) – these are all important factors in deciding what to buy. No matter what you decide you need, a new car or truck will almost certainly be better for the environment than an older one. The manufacturers are constantly reducing the emissions and increasing the fuel economy of the vehicles they make. Also consider that many transportation-related environmental goals depend on the sale of new vehicles and the retirement of old ones as their essential strategy. In fact, voluntary accelerated light duty vehicle retirement (paying people to scrap their old vehicles) is a key element for Southern California in California’s State Implementation Plan (SIP) under the Federal Clear Air Act. So buying a new car does advance the state’s environmental goals.

Next: Buying The Right Car for Green Driving

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Mazda Interior Concept

Seemingly marketed for Mazda youth, the new concept hatchback, Mazda Sassou, departs from the traditional cylinder lock key system in favor of USB flash drives, you know, like the flat piece of hardware that goes into all of our cameras and some of our phones. By having the Mazda key be a flash drive opens the possibility for all sorts of Mazda-device synergy. For example, in addition to starting the engine, the flash drives on Mazda keys can be used to transfer driving directions for long trips as well as keeping that trip rocking with of course, all the latest songs for the trip downloaded into the Mazda Sassou’s internal hard drive.

We love the idea and can’t wait to give Sierra Mazda customers new-fangled Mazda flash drive keys. Who doens’t need more mobile storage? With Mazda, the possibilities are endless.

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Mazda Nagare Sketch for Front

Mazda Nagare Sketch Side

The new This Mazda concept vehicle is designed especially for the SUV-hungry Russian market, which amazingly is a huge growth market. Yes, you read that right, Russians are starving for SUV’s (there’s reportedly a two year wait for Hummers).

Mazda’s Nagare design showcases how Mazda could engineer and bring to market a vehicle that is not only gorgeous and aggressive, but also exciting to drive, with an improved average fuel economy of 30 percent. The Mazda concept produces far fewer emissions than any of today’s Mazda models. Mazda’s Nazare is a powerful and efficient compact crossover, with next-generation environmental performance.  We think it’s perfect for Southern California and can’t wait until it hits our Mazda Dealership.

Mazda Nagare Concept

Mazda’s Nagare Interior

Mazda Nagare while graceful and aggressive, has a fully featured interior that accommodates up to four passengers with compact SUV comfort and functionality. The Nagare was designed to fulfil various driver and vehicle interfaces so as to support the driver in enjoying safe and stress-free driving, with well considered human machine interface visibility and driver comfort.

Finally, an SUV that is future-forward in every way… Go Mazda.

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James Owen Design is the one-man firm (no, not like Knight Rider) responsible for penning the new Mazda spec vehicle’s shape. Some of the slick skin features include electrostatic collectors that can collect electrical charges that build up on the exterior panels while driving through dry air. Turning electric garbage into energy used. The electricity take from the exterior panels is stored in capacitors that can then feed the Mazda hybrid drivetrain along with the onboard regenerative braking. We love it. The more Mazda gadgets the better…

Mazda Transforming Tires

A lot of the focus of the new Mazda spec vehicle is located around vehicle’s tires, which feature Electroactive Polymers (E.A.P.) that with varying levels of voltage from the vehicle’s electrical system can actually change the shape and depth of their tread pattern. The rubber donuts can go from flat and smooth to knobby and grippy, or even ride high on their centers for ultra-low rolling resistance. All of this is of course a huge evolutionary milestone for Mazda cars, Mazda dealers and cars everywhere.

More on Shape-Shifting Mazda Tires

The Michelin E.A.P. is a technologically advanced tire system engineered to take advantage of current and future advances in hybrid drive train technology. E.A.P. stands for Electroactive Polymer, which are also known as artificial muscles for their functional similarity to natural muscles on actual living things. E.A.P.s are plastic materials which conform to change shape and size, when a given voltage or current is sent through the material (similar to the flexing of human muscles). These new and advanced polymers have been crossbred with hybrid engine technology and vehicle mounted, electrostatic collectors to create a new kind of adaptive tire future-forward concept.

Fancy Tires for Future Mazdas

Michelin E.A.P.s work in conjunction with many of other newly proposed advanced technology, such as Mazda RX-9’s hybrid drive train, electrostatic collectors, and onboard capacitor. The E.A.P. wheel and tire assembly draws voltage from the hybrid engines’ batteries and capacitor. This voltage activates the articulated treading that responds to changing road conditions. The batteries build up a charge through regenerative braking and engine charging while the capacitor gathers electrical energy through electrostatic nodes located at strategic points on the vehicles skin. As the vehicle travels through the dry California air, an electrical charge is built-up on the exposed metal areas of the RX9. This continual build up is channeled to the batteries and on-board capacitor for distribution to the tires and other systems. It’s kind of like a complex energy feedback loop (as cars get greener and somewhat more complex, we hope that cost reduction and ease of maintenance features are considered for new Mazdas).

Reinventing the Wheel: Changing for Traction

Michelin E.A.P.s are engineered to “morph” from one setting to another when voltage is applied to the electroactive polymer that the tires consist of. These multiple settings allow the tires’ tread pattern to change shape and depth, in order for the tires to adapt snugly for various road conditions in cities and highways. The tread can change from a smooth, even shape to take advantage of the dry road conditions for Mazdas of L.A. County to fully protruded tread sections that are optimized to bite through the snow and slush of Mt. Shasta. “Low Rolling Resistance” is one of the most useful and relevant modes for the California market. This mode allows the RX-9 to cruise on it’s narrow center section of tread. Since commuting is a major part of Californians lifestyle (especially here in Southern California) it is absolutely critical that a vehicle and it’s tires are optimized to return the highest gas mileage while most importantly, sending the lowest emissions possible into the Californian air.

The Mazda RX-9 uses change and advanced technology to control the road via Michelin E.A.P. tire technology. Combined with a four-wheel drive system, regenerative braking, cylinder deactivation at cruising speeds, and lightweight bodywork the RX-9 can feasibly deliver 30 to 40 m.p.g., achieve low six second 0 - 60 M.P.H. times, and attain a top speed north of 150 m.p.h. The front, transversely mounted hybrid drive train consists of a multi-valve 2.5 liter V6 coupled to a wafer-thin electric motor/generator sandwiched between the engine and six-speed transmission. The Mazda RX-9 is configured to seat four passengers comfortably and consists of two smaller rear doors (that deploy in a clamshell fashion). These small backseat doors are small in size but offer ease of entry and exit in a tight space. The doors and inner doorframe are part of a larger internal structure that combines an aluminum space frame with composite exterior surfaces and electrostatic collection nodes. These nodes transfer electrical energy to an on-board capacitor. This energy is gathered as the vehicle travels through the dry California atmosphere and is utilized to power the Michelin E.A.P. tire system.

Science Fiction like Mazda and Michelin technology to bring you into a greener future.

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