Mazda announces breakthrough in long-coveted engine tech

If Mazda has this nailed down, it will put an end to diesel engines in cars. Eventually, maybe even diesel engines in vehicles... ...what would be the point if you're getting the same process with gasoline?

I hope they have overcome it. We used to get the same thing happening, called 'run on' before they put lead in gas.

All it takes is low octane and/or high compression, and fuel will detonate when compressed. The trick is to not destroy the engine at the same time.

It says the engines will still have spark plugs for when the engine is cold.

So I'm guessing you'd notice a real increase in ooomph with a warm engine...

But it's the compression and detonation rather than burning that creates
the noxious gases and particulates.

If they can defeat it, great, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

We have already seen the car companies having to cheat in order to comply
with the crazy Commiefornia/Euro standards...

You mean diesel vehicles. "Diesel" means ignition is due to compression, regardless of the fuel.
Not likely, what would they do with the diesel oil produced? Go back to heating homes (it was the same thing)?

What this does do, as gasoline has a higher energy content and quicker burn time is allow them to produce more power leading to smaller displacement. But there's the problem of cost producing the stronger engine parts required.
Maybe that little 3 banger 660cc truck in the driveway could crank out 50hp...

The new 2030 Dodge Charger with a 1.5L V8 and giant speakers to give it that muscle car sound...

Mazda already engineered the Rotary Engine and this break through could be their next step.

Had their first one the R100.
60 cid cranked out same HP as my old 225 slant 6, half the weight of a Plymouth too.
Too bad it was so tall and skinny and top heavy it was a deathtrap. Worse when it wouldn't start in the rain and you live in Burnaby!

To correct something I said previously, diesel actually has about 12-13% more energy content per litre than gasoline. In practice it burns slower and incompletely, the black smoke, smell, etc.
Theoretically a diesel engine that could run either should run better with gasoline.

And don't forget the minute they make a fuel cell vehicle that runs on gasoline, it'll hit the market. No "15 years away" for 50 years bullshit.

It's interesting Mazda has taken this route instead of fully jumping on the electric car bandwagon like everyone else.

You realize lithium ion batteries won't survive a Canadian winter. Lithium iron phosphate batteries are destroyed when chilled below -20°C. Here in Winnipeg it gets down to -40°C on the very coldest nights. Last time was January 2005, perhaps global warming means we won't see it again. Good riddance. But it does still get below -30°C. And there's usually 2 weeks at a time when the daytime high doesn't rise above -20°C. In 2013 it didn't set any record low, but was the longest stretch where the daytime high didn't rise above -20°C: 90 days.

Toyota Prius uses nickel metal hydride batteries. They can handle much colder temperatures. A few years ago major auto-makers tested their vehicles in Thompson, an 8 hour drive straight north of Winnipeg. Lithium ion provides 30% greater range for a battery of the same size and weight, but if it won't survive winter, it's useless.

And how do you heat an all-electric vehicle in winter? Hybrid cars still have an engine, so still burn fuel. That can generate heat.

Last winter I attended a job fair by the city of Winnipeg. Transit had their electric bus on display. The recruiter got excited when I told him that I used to work at New Flyer, at the factory where they're made. But he didn't appear to understand when I said I worked in I.T., not on the production line. Anyway, he showed me the bus. It has a furnace that burns diesel fuel to produce heat for passengers. Batteries have a liquid cooling system for summer, but they use that coolant to prevent batteries from freezing in winter. The coolant is heated via the same diesel fuel furnace. It has lithium ion batteries, so you have to prevent the batteries from freezing. So even an electric bus burns fuel.

So what?
The idea is to reduce the use of fossil fuels and every single electric method does.
It isn't yet 100% perfect storage from perfect sources so lose this constant "well the plant that makes the electricity uses coal" and the people who tout it don't wear sandals and hairshirts and walk on water attitude as it only point out the YOU are the obstacle to progress.

Yeah, because of that scandal, these engines will get examined to the umpteenth degree to ensure they are all Mazda says they are.

I'm hoping Mazda got it right, but after the VW scandal, I'm highly skeptical of all car makers 'innovations'.

Seems most people already are skeptical of anything new.
Seems 95% are too fucking scared to press that "cruise control" button that's been around for decades.

I used to be strongly pro-environment. Then environmentalists started demanded all fossil fuels stay in the ground. They want to shut down all coal mines, all oil wells, all tar sands, and even all natural gas. They want to close all pipelines. That's absurd! We need to reduce, not go cold turkey. We live in Canada, we have winter here. What are we supposed to do, freeze in the dark?

I was against the Northern Gateway pipeline because the route would go through aboriginal land that has never been ceded to the Crown. They've been treated badly far too long, we certainly can't take even more land from them.

But advocates are now against twinning the Trans-Mountain pipeline. That one makes sense. There's already a pipeline there, so it doesn't take land from anyone. Ships load oil at Burnaby, in Vancouver harbour. That's already industrialized, it makes sense. Furthermore, during the 2006 election I called for reversing the flow of Line 9. Now it has been reversed, Alberta oil is flowing to Ontario and Quebec, all the way to Montreal. But environmental warriors tried to stop that. Why? It was built for oil from Alberta in the early days of Tar Sands operation.

I would like to go further, to use the pipeline from Portland Maine to Montreal to transport Alberta oil to tidewater. Use the port in Maine to export Canadian oil. Not sure if that's rated for diluted bitumen; if not then transport synthetic crude. Alberta has talked about an upgrader for decades, why don't they do it already?

So, yes, we have to reduce emissions somewhat, but when people talk about going cold-turkey it really bugs me. Hybrid cars good. Rechargable hybrid cars better. All electric cars bad.

Well I grew up in Burnaby with a Dad in the refinery. I'm not totally opposed to Trans Mtn either. I just don't like zero refineries jobs all export concept, and I cede the right to oppose more tanker traffic to the people who live there.
I fought Gateway across my rivers and rec areas, would've been really pissed if they jammed their decisions in my backyard.
Nor do I think that Eastern Canada being deprived of western Canada's gas an oil is anything other than stupid and short sighted.
But I'm damn tired of the dissing of any concept of environmentalism by the same crowd who bleated "jobs OR the environment" since 1970.
If I still lived in the Lower Mainland I'd already have a Chevy Bolt for my 2nd car. Got it - SECOND CAR? Go on GasBuddy and listen to the anti-green crowd bleat about electrics, hybrids, even ethanol in their gas. They're so stunned they 100% think a Chevy Volt stops dead on the road after 40 miles. That you can ONLY make ethanol out of corn, and electricity MUST be produced from coal. And act like they're all to butt poor to own a second vehicle because gas is taxed so much at 27c a gallon.
Just like I was pissed off at my young employees who thought I made them wash out their pop cans and bottles and put them in the bin cuz I wanted the damn nickel. Or the daughter that tries to tell me paper bags take thousands of years to rot.

Site C is nearby and I'm not opposed but not convinced for the need. I'd back it if they said it was to charge roads & vehicles in BC and maybe bring back the electric trains they abandoned there. Not for cheap hydro so Malaysians can export OUR LNG.