A new player is about to enter the hydrogen game as BMW has confirmed plans to roll out a fuel cell electric vehicle in 2028. To bring the project to fruition, it's expanding its existing collaboration with Toyota, one of the few other automakers that still believes hydrogen has a future. While the Japanese brand has been selling the Mirai for a decade, this will be BMW's first hydrogen car people will actually be able to buy.
Since the vehicle won't be launching for another four years, BMW refrains from going into details. However, it does say the hydrogen model will be a version of an existing product. Munich’s latest hydrogen project is based on the X5. That being said, logic tells us a hydrogen SUV would not be a production version of the iX5 pictured here. This generation of the luxobarge is already in the second half of its life cycle. By 2028, it will have been replaced by the next-gen vehicle.
Whichever shape it'll take, BMW pledges to sell an original product that'll stay true to the brand instead of being a reskinned Toyota. Naturally, the latter is working on its own cars that will utilize the hydrogen fuel cell tech it's developing with its Bavarian partner. In the meantime, it's worth noting the fuel cells that go into the iX5 Hydrogen are supplied by Toyota.
The zero-emission SUV is part of a test fleet of fewer than 100 units built in Spartanburg and modified at a pilot plant in Munich. It's where the 396-horsepower iX5 gets its pair of 700-bar hydrogen tanks made from carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP). The two hold six kilograms of hydrogen for a WLTP range of 313 miles. It takes three to four minutes to refuel the vehicle, so about the same as a gas or diesel X5.
Provided BMW's first hydrogen car will be based on the next-generation X5, it'll be underpinned by the same CLAR platform as the gas/diesel/plug-in hybrid versions. There are reports that BMW might also launch a conventional EV with batteries on the same architecture as the rest of the X5 flavors. The next X5 is supposedly going into production in the latter half of 2026 and should include BEV versions from day one.
Arriving next year, Neue Klasse will be BMW’s first dedicated electric architecture and is being developed with a hydrogen fuel cell setup in mind. However, reports indicate that CLAR will be used instead, at least for the initial hydrogen efforts.
This might come as a surprise, but BMW has been actively involved in the development of hydrogen cars since 1979. It all started with the 520h featuring a combustion engine modified to run on hydrogen, a formula that was repeated later with the V-12-powered E38 and E65 sedans during the 2000s. That said, work on hydrogen ICEs was abandoned many years ago as the engineers preferred to focus on fuel cells after realizing they're more efficient.
Speaking with GoAuto earlier this year, Jürgen Guldner, Vice President of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology and Vehicle Projects at the BMW Group, said:
"Basically, with the X5 Hydrogen FCEV we get around 500 km [310 miles] from a fill. If I put a combustion engine in the same car with the same tank, I wouldn't even get 300 km [186 miles]. That is the difference between a product we can sell, and a product we cannot sell. At the 500-km [310-mile] mark, and with a refueling time of three to four minutes, I think people will consider making the move to hydrogen – so, it is relevant."
There is a major problem we'd like to highlight. Yes, the refueling infrastructure. It’s basically nonexistent in many parts of the world, so we won’t be surprised if the vehicle will only be sold in select regions where owners can juice up their hydrogen cars. 2028 is four years away and the network might improve by then. BMW and Toyota do say they’re "seeking regional or local projects to further drive the development of hydrogen infrastructure through collaborative initiatives."
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