With more and more manufacturers launching details about Hydrogen cars, we take a look at the latest offering from Mazda.  This new prototype RX-8 is taking leaps forward to putting Hydrogen cars on our road.

With Hydrogen cars being in their infancies, the RX8 produced 100bhp, somewhat less than its petrol counterpart however emissions are reduced to water from the exhaust.  At the touch of a button, the RX-8 can also revert back to its normal petrol guise. 

Mazda, who still utilise the rotary engine on their RX-8 have found it a lot more suitable to burning hydrogen than a conventional engine.  The Hydrogen/Petrol hybrid is likely to superseded by a Hydrogen/Electric hybrid which it does not foresee to be far off.

The Mazda RX-8 RE is currently not available in the UK however there are examples on the road in Norway and Japan making it the worlds passenger car with a hydrogen internal combustion engine.  The majority of cars are being leased to the Japanese governments while under testing.

It has taken 15 years of research into hydrogen vehicles for Mazda to develop and make the RE.  Although not as efficient as a fuel cell,  structurally it is closer to the petrol engine and therefore a cheaper to produce and is far more reliable.