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October 30, 2007
Pressing the red "Start" button, the Mazda RX-8 fires up, the pint-sized rotary engine under its hood buzzing as I modulate the throttle, shift into gear and launch down the test track at Mazda'sHiroshima headquarters, writes thecarconnection.com's Paul Eisenstein.
Acceleration is a little slower than I'm used to, but that's the trade-off signaled by the glowing "H2" light on the sports car's instrument panel. This prototype version of the rotary-powered RX-8 has been converted to run on hydrogen, the lightweight gas that many experts believe will be the fuel of the future.
Like most of its competitors, Mazda has come to recognize the long-term need to find alternatives to conventional gasoline. And like the rest of the industry, it is toying with a variety of options, including both electric and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles. But the Japanese maker is placing its big bet on hydrogen, a fuel it has been tinkering with for two decades, in a series of prototypes and now, in a small fleet of vehicles, like this RX-8, undergoing real-world testing.
Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth 
at 10:38 AM to Alternative fuels
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