Mazda Patents and Plans an Electric Miata

Mazda Patents and Plans an Electric Miata

Mazda’s new Skyactiv-Z engine platform will reportedly power the next generation of the iconic MX-5 Miata, but based on a recent patent filing by the automaker, Mazda is also preparing for the eventuality that is a fully electric Miata.

The recently published patent filing details how Mazda plans to structure the first-ever Miata electric roadster. And in typical Mazda fashion, it’s taking an unorthodox approach when dreaming up its small EV sports car of the future.

Unique EV Battery Packaging

Instead of a skateboard-style EV battery platform, where the battery cells are spread flat across the floor of the vehicle, the patent description (and accompanying images) details placing small battery packs stacked mainly toward the center of the car, in “the tunnel portion of the formed floor,” or where the transmission tunnel would be on any other MX-5 Miata.

Based on the patent drawings, Mazda isn’t planning on next-generation electric batteries to take up all that much space inside its diminutive roadster. So, perhaps the design plans are for an electric Miata with a more meager range, say, for spirited driving around town and as a second vehicle or weekend car. Miatas aren’t really designed for long-haul highway cruising, anyway.

Or, perhaps Mazda is expecting battery electric car technology to come a long way by the time the automaker is finally ready to release a fully electric MX-5 Miata. Based on the plans we’ve heard for the next-gen NE Miata, it doesn’t sound like the carmaker is in any rush to go fully electric with its flagship small sports car.

The plan is for the number of battery packs to be flexible, depending on the available technology and the demands of the platform, and to open it up to more Mazda EV models with various range targets. As the patent says, “The plural battery units are arranged at various portions of a vehicle body, so that the installation quantity (volume, capacity) of the battery can be increased.”

Stacking the batteries in the very center of the vehicle’s mass is clearly targeted at keeping the eventual electric Miata’s front-to-rear weight distribution at or as close to a 50:50 split as possible.

When Could We See a Fully Electric MX-5 Miata Arrive?

As we mentioned in our earlier preview of the next-generation NE Miata, we don’t expect to see a fully electric Miata until EV battery technology has progressed to where there’s little to no weight penalty for transitioning from a gas engine to electric. After all, weight is the ultimate enemy of the MX-5 Miata.

The fifth generation of the Mazda MX-5 Miata is due any model year now, as the current ND Miata has been on sale since 2016. The next Miata is reportedly sticking with a fully gas-powered engine in the form of a larger and more efficient Skyactiv-Z powertrain.

With future Miata platforms like the NE Miata likely to be in production for a decade or more (with upgrades and refreshes along the way), we wouldn’t be surprised to see Mazda add a Miata hybrid or fully electric Miata later in the model’s life cycle as a supporting character to the pure gas-powered roadster.

As always, we’ll be closely following developments of the next Miata and all other future Mazda models, so subscribe to our newsletter and stay tuned for more.