Mazda likes to save lots of weight wherever it may possibly. Its flagship sports activities automotive, the MX-5 Miata, weighs beneath 2,400 kilos due to a method of shaving off the grams wherever attainable. Ultimately, extra basic modifications need to occur although, and it appears the Japanese automaker is trying into new supplies for a attainable upcoming product.
A patent granted to the automaker only a few days in the past goes into element concerning the strategies and processes it could use to construct such a car. It doesn’t describe a selected automotive past the truth that it should have 4 doorways. Sadly, this does not seem like a sports activities automotive if the automaker decides to supply it. Based mostly on the included artwork, it might be a sedan.
Patent artwork is not all the time consultant of a possible product, however the textual content of the doc does describe 4 doorways.
Mazda is probably going trying into this know-how to shed weight within the period of electrification. Different patents printed not too long ago by the automaker point out it is exhausting at work creating extra hybrids and full EVs, each of that are sometimes heavier than pure ICE vehicles. One technique to struggle this additional mass is by eradicating it from the next-heaviest a part of the automotive after the drivetrain, the physique and chassis.
The automaker appears significantly enthusiastic about crossing carbon fiber laminations in several instructions to create what it calls a “quasi-isotropic” materials, aka one that’s sturdy in each course load is utilized to it. It not solely defines how it could create this materials but in addition lays out a number of profiles it could use for various components of the automotive. The roof-supporting pillars, body rails, and crash bumpers are all proven to have totally different cross-sections.
With carbon weaves in several instructions, Mazda hopes to create a composite that is sturdy in a number of axes.
Based mostly on the authorized particulars of the doc, Mazda is not going to be alone in growing this chassis. The patent was assigned to each the Japanese automaker in addition to the Nippon Metal Chemical & Materials Co., Ltd. In different phrases, it is working with a associate who has expertise growing carbon fiber constructions.
For sure, we do not know when or if a carbon-chassis Mazda will ever hit the streets, nevertheless it’s all the time attention-grabbing to seek out out what an enthusiast-focused automaker like Mazda is researching behind the scenes. It might be at some point quickly that Mazda sells a hybrid or electrical sedan that, due to a carbon body, is significantly lighter than its competitors. We’ll simply have to attend and see.
