According to reports, BMW is set to start mass-production of its first hydrogen-powered fuel cell SUV by 2025. BMW’s sales chief, Pieter Nota, hinted at there being a production version of BMW’s iX5 Hydrogen concept car in 2021, which has got two carbon fibre reinforced fuel tanks for a total of 6 kg for long-distance travel, with 275 kW of rear-driven power thanks to a secondary battery working with the hydrogen fuel cell.
According to BMW, 1 kg of hydrogen equals a range of 100 kilometres, so six kg of hydrogen will be enough to rival the combustion-powered BMW X5s in achieving the distance.
Pieter Nota said they are seeing that hydrogen fuel cell technology is mainly relevant for larger SUVs, and they believe in the importance of the different technologies, including battery electric vehicles, hydrogen, and efficient combustion engines, because they do not want to put all their investment in just one area.
The small-scale production of the BMW iX5 is all set to end by the end of 2022, which will expand into the complete production by the middle of the decade. The new SUV will likely use the knowledge from Toyota, as both BMW and Toyota are working on different projects since 2013, when the companies partnered on Z4/Supra sports cars.
