BMW’s production of hydrogen fuel cell systems for its upcoming iX5 Hydrogen model has commenced at its site in Munich.
It comes ahead of a small series of iX5 Hydrogen models being used for road testing later this year. Created at BMW’s competence centre for hydrogen in Munich, the system combines a hydrogen fuel cell with an electric motor and high-performance battery. Two large tanks are used to store the hydrogen, with this entire setup being housed within the existing X5 platform.
Electrified driving ?After researching #hydrogen technology for several years, we’ve started production of hydrogen fuel cells in our competence centre. By the end of the year, we’ll release a small series of #BMWiX5 Hydrogen cars for testing purposes. https://t.co/E3gjnexv9X pic.twitter.com/ZeIAT3edPl
— BMW Group (@BMWGroup) September 1, 2022
Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG, said: “As a versatile energy source, hydrogen has a key role to play on the road to climate neutrality. And it will also gain substantially in importance as far as personal mobility is concerned.
“We think hydrogen-powered vehicles are ideally placed technologically to fit alongside battery-electric vehicles and complete the electric mobility picture.”
Zipse added: “By commencing small-scale production of fuel cells today, we are demonstrating the technical maturity of this type of drive system and underscoring its potential for the future.”
It is unclear whether BMW will move to full-scale production of the iX5 Hydrogen, having only committed to a small series run for the time being.
