Despite the growing trend of electric cars and the still limited production of green hydrogen, BMW does not give up on hydrogen car technology and is now producing one hundred vehicles for testing and verifying their potential, in a real driving scenario.
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In 2019, BMW revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show the creation of the iX5 Hydrogen, the brand's SUV powered by green hydrogen.
After four years of development, the idea now is to manufacture these hydrogen cars so that they can be used and tested by people not involved in the creation and manufacturing process.
The BMW iX5 Hydrogen has a 374 hp electric motor and, in addition to the battery, it has two tanks for storing 6 kg of hydrogen at a pressure of 700 bar.
The model has a range of 500 km and takes about 3 minutes to fill the hydrogen tanks.
In the automotive industry, the issue of evolution from combustion engines to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) has become almost unanimous.
According to Oliver Zipse CEO of BMW, only with 100% electric cars it will not be possible to achieve decarbonization. The “green hydrogen” cars are the missing piece of the puzzle” of green mobility.
But in addition to some Japanese and Korean companies, BMW is reconsidering the alternative of green hydrogen.
BMW uses two Toyota hydrogen tanks for this model, but Honda and Hyundai are also developing this technology for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (VECH).
The question of effectiveness of electric vehicles and green hydrogen cars it's debatable, but one of the biggest benefits of green hydrogen is that it only emits water and heat, therefore not emitting greenhouse gases. In addition, the BMW iX5 Hydrogen weighs less than its counterpart with a high-capacity Li-ion battery.
Hydrogen transport vehicles make more sense than electric vehicles, not only because of the excessive weight of the battery, but also because of the time required to recharge it, as this means loss of productivity in transport.
With the increase of this type of hydrogen vehicle, it is natural that the supply network is increased and that, with some effort, filling stations can be made available for both types of cars, electric and green hydrogen.
Recently, and according to Expresso Economia of March 6, 2023, the CaetanoBus signed a contract with the German public transport operator Deutsche Bahn for the delivery of 60 buses powered by hydrogen.
The production of green hydrogen is currently very low, but with the industry using blue or gray hydrogen wanting to switch to a sustainable source, the production of green hydrogen has to be increased, allowing greater accessibility to cars.
