The idea of electric MX-5 is the only time I’ve been a bit excited about an EV. If they somehow managed to keep it light, low, and perfectly balanced it could be an amazingly quick little pocket rocket.
Though no doubt the price tag would be bigger.
I’m all in favour of an electric MX5. In fact I looked into the cost of converting my NA six or seven years ago. At the time it would have been about £30k, so I spent that on an electric Mini instead and sold the supercharged NA.
What you lose in noise, smell, vibration and gear changing (which I concede is a lot), you make up for (a bit) with greater responsiveness, massive instant torque, speed and running costs. Added to which, in a few years time people will be looking increasingly scathingly at those who continue to burn fuel when 90% have switched to EVs. I’d far rather drive an electric sports car than none.
As a side note, it’s amusing that Mazda’s patent puts the batteries and motor exactly where you would put them if you were converting an existing car.
How is this patentable? What’s novel about it?
It seems to be the battery arrangement.
In my experience of driving a few (including the electric MINI), what you loose in noise, smell, gear changing, and connection you ‘make up’ with it being a one-trick pony. Fine for a quick bit of acceleration, but woefully lacking thereafter. Total kitchen appliance driving.
Regarding people ‘looking scathingly’ at someone running a petrol car, maybe remind them of all the petrol and probably diesel cars they owned, well after the first electric cars which were any ‘good’ hit the streets (say 2011 with the Leaf), plus ask them what plane/foreign holidays they’ve been on and indeed just booked. Ask too if they got a nice ‘wood’ burner, as well. Then maybe get your phone out and Google for them the word ‘hypocrite’ 
Looking at those non-fleet EV sales, leading to massive price deductions to shift some of them to ‘help’ a generally unconvinced populous, 90% conversion to EVs in ‘a few years time’ seems pie in the sky stuff.
Maybe the MG Cyberster could provide a price guide, because at around £50,000, it will not be cheap.
I’d be interested in this as well. After owning an EV for a couple of months I actually prefer driving the EV over the MX5.
In the end it was patentable. You can look up the patent EP4538081 - ELECTRIC AUTOMOBILE on WIPO. If you create a WIPO accout, you can view the complete dossier, as well as the Examiner’s report.
The Examiner had rejected all the claims in the original filing.
The novelty is in how the batteries are packaged. The Examiner had argued this is obvious to anyone skilled in the art.
Some peop,e get hung up on a "MX52 appearing in a Mazda patent. Mazda does this all the time.
Back in the day, the appearance of this drawing in a patent about a new bumper construction convinced people this was the ND leaked
So this appeared, with confident predictions this was the ND
Another grasping at straws becaue journalists don’t understand patents
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