How Mazda is setting the bar for greener motoring with i-ELOOP

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Red Mazda sedan with a transparent view of the engine and internal mechanical components, highlighting car technology, suitable for used cars and new cars advertisements.
Red Mazda sedan with a transparent view of the engine and internal mechanical components, highlighting car technology, suitable for used cars and new cars advertisements.

Drivers are being given the opportunity to trial the world's first passenger car system to use a capacitor in order to store electricity with Mazda's innovative i-ELOOP technology.

The motoring manufacturing industry has long been stumped when it comes to finding the best strategies for harvesting 'free' engine power when a vehicle brakes or when it is running on a trailing throttle.

In the past, the most common solution has been brake energy regeneration, which sees kinetic energy captured, otherwise it would be lost when slowing down.

While this strategy - which has even been used on Formula One cars for the past few seasons - is effective for gaining energy to recharge batteries in electric or hybrid vehicles, Mazda has claimed that its i-ELOOP system will set the bar higher for achieving environmentally-friendly motoring.

Jeremy Thomson, the managing director for Mazda Motors UK, explained: "The i-ELOOP capacitor is a unique solution to the challenge of how to harvest free engine power."

One of the main selling points of i-ELOOP - short for intelligent Energy Loop - is that Mazda has realised the limitations of charging and storage drawbacks of conventional lead-acid starter batteries seen in regenerative braking systems.

As such, Mazda's technology comes fitted with an electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC), which is able to recharge fully in only a few seconds.

This EDLC is charged using a 12V-25V variable voltage alternator, while DC/DC converter is on hand to power such electrical components as a vehicle's climate control air-conditioning unit or its audio system. Any surplus from the DC/DC convertor is then delivered to the car's starter battery.

"One of the benefits of energy recovering systems is that they allow ancillary systems such as air-conditioning to be used without drivers having to worry about the detrimental effect on fuel consumption," Mr Thomson added.

Mazda's i-ELOOP system is being made available initially in the all-new Mazda6.