BMW starts testing hydrogen vehicles on European roads

The German automotive giant BMW is one of the few carmakers who believes in hydrogen as a fuel for sustainable mobility. And so the Bavarian carmaker has announced the commencement of public testing of their first hydrogen fuel cell prototypes on the European streets. As part of the new ‘i Hydrogen NEXT’ programme, the first production-ready hydrogen-powered BMW will be the X5 when it will roll off next year.

In an announcement Wednesday, the firm explained prototypes of the BMW i Hydrogen Next would be tested on a range of metrics including reliability, safety and efficiency.

It described hydrogen fuel cell tech as having the “long term potential to supplement internal combustion engines, plug-in hybrid systems and battery-electric vehicles.”

According to BMW, they went on to add, “become an attractive alternative to battery-electric drive trains – especially for customers who do not have their own access to electric charging infrastructure or who frequently drive long distances.” It’s hoped the tests will lead to the production of a small-series model in 2022.

The BMW i Hydrogen Next powertrain will make use of the fifth generation of the eDrive powertrain. This means it could have an output of around 125kW (around 165bhp). But energy stored in a performance bugger can help in short bursts when accelerating availing close to 275kW (around 370bhp) whenever required. 

BMW claims to have already tested the fuel cell system, hydrogen tanks, performance buffer battery and central vehicle control unit in a lab and now it’s time to test these parameters in real-world conditions. The BMW i Hydrogen NEXT uses fuel cells from the product development created in cooperation with the Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota already has a hydrogen fuel cell model – the Mirai. The cooperation was established in 2013 to optimise the scalability of hydrogen fuel cell technology for both the carmaker’s use while also sharing expertise.