Mazda looking into ‘Mobile Carbon Capture’ technology for future models

Mazda is looking at new ways of offering sustainable mobility on its future models with its ‘Mobile Carbon Capture’ technology.

The technology was first showcased at this year’s Tokyo Mobility Show on the firm’s Vision X-Coupe Concept, which demonstrates the firm’s ‘Multi-Solution Approach’ strategy when it comes to alternative-fuelled vehicles.

Mazda’s Mobile Carbon Capture features a CO2 collection system in the vehicle’s exhaust, which enables direct CO2 recovery from the exhaust gases before it leaves the car, resulting in a carbon-neutral circulation process. The firm says that ‘exhaust gases offer higher CO2 concentrations, allowing for more efficient capture’.

The CO2 captured within the exhaust can then be reused for stimulating crop growth, or can contribute to creating high-performance carbon materials.

The Japanese firm is testing the technology with the system installed in a bio diesel-powered Mazda Spirit Racing Mazda3 endurance racer, at the Fuji International Speedway, Japan.

Masahiro Moro, representative director, president and CEO of Mazda, said: “The phrase, ‘The joy of driving fuels a sustainable tomorrow’, expresses not only Mazda’s fundamental spirit, but also the core of its future challenges.”

Mazda will continue to invest in electrified powertrains with mild-hybrids, hybrids and EVs, while aiming to hit EU emission targets by 2035 with its ‘Multi-Solution Approach’ strategy.

It’s unclear at this stage if and when Mazda will start trialing its Mobile Carbon Capture technology on its passenger production vehicles, but it’s likely to be introduced before the end of the decade.