ASH8

Mazda Builds First RX-8 Hydrogen RE for Norway

HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation today announced that it has built the first Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE vehicle with Norwegian specifications, developed specifically for participation in HyNor, Norway’s national hydrogen project. The first unit will take part in ceremonies marking the official opening of HyNor’s hydrogen filling stations. The initial opening ceremony will be held in Oslo on May 11, 2009. The RX-8 Hydrogen RE will then undergo certification to meet local standards and will be used for maintenance staff training. Mazda plans to commence leasing of Norwegian specification RX-8 Hydrogen RE models in Norway in summer 2009.

Unlike the RX-8 Hydrogen RE currently being leased in Japan, the HyNor-specification Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE is based on the latest European-specification Mazda RX-8 with left-hand drive and a manual transmission.

The HyNor project aims to enable hydrogen vehicles to travel along a 580-kilometer stretch of highway by establishing a chain of hydrogen stations between Stavanger and Oslo in Norway. Mazda agreed to collaborate with HyNor on the project in November 2007 and began validation of the RX-8 Hydrogen RE’s driving performance on Norwegian public roads in October 2008.

History of Mazda’s hydrogen vehicle development.

1991 Developed first hydrogen rotary engine vehicle, HR-X
1992 Conducted test drive of golf cart equipped with fuel cell
1993 Developed second hydrogen rotary engine vehicle, HR-X2 Developed MX-5 test vehicle equipped with hydrogen rotary engine
1995 Conducted Japan’s first public road tests of a hydrogen rotary engine vehicle, Capella Cargo
1997 Developed Demio FC-EV
2001 Developed Premacy FC-EV, conducted first public road test in Japan
2003 Announced RX-8 Hydrogen RE prototype
2004 Received MLIT approval for public road testing of RX-8 Hydrogen RE
2006 Started commercial leasing of RX-8 Hydrogen RE in Japan (eight models have been delivered to date)
2007 Signed agreement to provide RX-8 Hydrogen REs to Hynor, a Norwegian national project
2008 Commenced public road tests in Norway with RX-8 Hydrogen RE validation vehicle
2009 Commenced commercial leasing of Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid in Japan Produced the first Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE with Norwegian specifications


Pics...Norwegian-specification Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE

ASH8

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

great - another even slower rx8 on the road .... LOL

ASH8

These are Series II RX-8's...

Notice the MESH Stone Guards for the Front Oil Coolers, HMMmmm, Have Mazda added these to the latest production cars?, or are they "Special" for the Hydro 8??

Renesis_8

Wow those wheels make the RX-8 very ugly!

Nice to see their hydrogen program still progressing. However I guess they haven't made any advances or breakthroughs recently? It would be a good idea to put the 16X in a experimental hydrogen RX-8(They all are) before releasing it.
________
Small **** Cam

shazy

Oh wow, 580km to one tank! I barely get 420... I would so get it if it is almost as fast as the high power version!

Rai

but why only leasing is possible?

MattMPS

because they have not any information (or very poor) about reliabilty.....and with lease it's easier for Mazda kepp the things controlled

robrecht

It doesn't give that as a spec for the hydrogen RX-8. Remember the original hydrogen RX-8 only had a range of around 100 km. The press release actually says this:

"The HyNor project aims to enable hydrogen vehicles to travel along a 580-kilometer stretch of highway by establishing a chain of hydrogen stations between Stavanger and Oslo in Norway."

zoom44

glad to see they have moved to the new body for the Norwegian production. should also mean these have all the other upgrades that series 2 has. it mentions ash that this is the new euro spec cars- perhaps that mesh is spec in europe? maybe one of our Norwegian members will chime in. or perhaps mattmps can check in?

MattMPS

In UK* rx-8 there is the new one (R3),but the old one it's still on listings.

http://www.mazda.co.uk/showroom/rx-8/

In my opinion there is no R3 for continental Europe yet (at least..not in Germany wich is the largest continental european market for that car).

Rx-8 (i mean the gasoline version) is not listed in Norway...old one or new one. No mention of H2 Rx-8 (at today)



*cars for UK are RHD ....BUT euro-spec.. (pollution, lights, radio...etc.....)

zoom44

any way to check if the "series 2" "euro-spec" regular rx-8 have the mesh screens in front of the oil coolers?

boizart1

Im surprised no one has pointed out the real importance of hydrogen as a fuel. Its not about mileage. For one is super clean for the environment. But most imporantly hydrogen is obtained by splitting water atoms. you can get it from water people! Petroleum is a big force in the world, IMO the least dependant ur country is on oil the better.

MattMPS

opss....sorry...

i've found only this image (an UK mag brief test)...




seems NOT...sorry for the poor picture.

the only chance to find a "real life" pic of Euro spec R3 is see a UK car.

philipchan

580km=362.5miles...
sounds not bad,,,
and I can drive the 8 in carpool by my self in SOCal....XD

philipchan

US has more colors on the R3 than us =.=
we only have 3 colors, black, blue and Red
They have silver, gray, white, red, black, blue.....

robrecht

It is not typically an energy saving process to make hydrogen. Compare the efficiency and environmental impact to local electric/battery power because it takes energy to make hydrogen. What's the latest on hydrogen-farting microbes?

ASH8

I am not sure there Charlie, I don't have the latest Aussie EPC yet, which also has UK in it, the UK version has the small stone guard for the condenser (which I have put on my car and is the same type of mesh as the hydro 8), I would put these on for the oil coolers as they are even more exposed than Series I.

MY EPC as of Dec -08, the part numbers for UK (R3) and Aust are the same...

ASH8

Gee, the R3 has disappeared from Mazda Russia, was there a few months ago..no more 8 sales in Russia, Norway also don't show RX-8's for sale at all. A quick check of other Euro Sites are showing Series I only. Not on Netherlands, Sweden, Germany (S1 only), in fact I can't find any country in Europe selling the new 8, apart from UK.

So it is USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan...left.

ferg

the new 8 dont look to good at all, sorry,

robrecht

Once again, they are not saying that this hydrogen RX-8 has a 580 km range! Read again:

"The HyNor project aims to enable hydrogen vehicles to travel along a 580-kilometer stretch of highway by establishing a chain of hydrogen stations between Stavanger and Oslo in Norway."

Has anyone seen any reason to believe this hydrogen RX-8 will have significantly more range than the first one with something like 100 km range (= 60 miles)? Also, I don't think you would like the performance hit from using hydrogen.

ASH8

Rob, I can't find any information that suggest this "new" series II RX-8 Hydro for Norway Specifications achieves any higher KPHyrdo Litre than the previous model.

One would think if it did achieve a better tank range Mazda would be saying so in their press release?

j_tso

Isn't there another European country that has H-RE leased? Iceland? Finland?

Batteries don't last as long as a fuel tank, take much longer to recharge than refuel, and manufacturing/recycling them isn't very clean. Both still have the same problem: Where's the power going to come from?

robrecht

Absolutely. I'm not suggesting that electric power is the only solution. Just resisting simplistic views of hydrogen as the perfect fuel of the future. You can't just change water into hydrogen or go fill up every night at the sun.

kersh4w

iTrader: (3)

fail on the base 4at rims. :/