First drive: Mazda EV prototype

What’s most refreshing about Mazda’s EV, on roads before the end of next year, is how different its approach is to existing EVs on sale today, Those who have driven a few EVs will be familiar with their typical characteristics: instant torque, near-silent motion and one-pedal driving. None of those apply here.

Mazda has single-mindedly chosen to go another route, and it’s immediately noticeable behind the wheel. Press the throttle and there’s a far more progressive line of acceleration, which feels very different to the instant torque of other EVs. That’s intentional, says Mazda, because it wants it to feel like any other car. Schultze comments: “We wanted to make a car that you understand is a car from basic technologies about cars. We wanted to make a true Mazda.”

The EV has a middling power output of 141bhp and 195lb ft from a single AC synchronous motor, but it feels ample in almost all situations. Exceeding UK speed limits on a German autobhan was the only time where it felt you had to be committed to the throttle to maintain speed. 

Deceleration is another major differentiator between this prototype and a typical EV. It shuns the one-pedal mode of driving for a more traditional setup. There is a small amount of regenerative braking when coming off the accelerator, but most comes from using the brake pedal. Schultze says: “For strong deceleration, we think the brake is better, because it moves in the direction of our body. It has the same efficiency as the one-pedal of other EVs but has human advantages.”

However, Heiko Strietzel, European powertrain boss, explains that Mazda is still working on various scenarios. “There is some need to provide options to change deceleration level. So, we will offer a more aggressive option in terms of [regenerative] deceleration, but we won’t provide a full one-pedal.”

The third contrast is Mazda’s decision to implement artifical sounds to reflect acceleration, again more closely aligning to a combustion-engined car. It’s still fine-tuning the sound, but its intention is to “give realistic feedback through sound on how much torque is being used,” said Schultze, as well as bridging the gap between combustioned-engined cars and EVs. It’s a subtle sound, more calming than that of an ICE car but not so much as a silent EV. For those adjusted to the silence of EVs it might be disconcerting, for those new to EVs it might be comforting… Mazda says it's currently discussing whether it will offer an option to turn the sound on and off from inside. 

While the sound and deceleration qualities are still being tweaked, one area where Mazda is broadly happy is the EV’s handling. It uses a platform derived from the new architecture that underpins the 3 and CX-30, but with increased ring structures around the battery and floor in order to achieve a “super stiff and fast-reacting body,” according to Schultze.