BMW says that the response from its pilot program of 80 hydrogen-powered iX5s has been encouraging, as the company remains invested in the technology.
Speaking to Automotive News, Juergen Guldner, general program manager of hydrogen technology for BMW, said that hydrogen power is being positioned as an alternative energy source in addition to BEVs. “People are saying, ‘This is cool. We wish more people would do this because batteries alone will not be able to do the job.’ There’s too much uncertainty. We need a second technology, and this could be it.”
The company deployed a small fleet of iX5s to gauge interest and generate feedback from users. Program participants from Germany, California, and the Middle East had some rather interesting insights that have buoyed the Bavarian automaker’s optimism about the future of hydrogen.
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Users appreciated the fact that the vehicles’ range was stable between both summer and winter months. Those in hotter climates also enjoyed that they could run the air conditioning without the fear of taxing an onboard battery and reducing range.
However, not everyone believes in a hydrogen-powered passenger car future. Volkswagen’s CEO, Thomas Schafer, went on record earlier this year claiming that the fuel source wasn’t competitive and that the company wouldn’t be pursuing its future. Instead, they’ll be putting their entire might behind electric vehicles.
BMW, however, continues to put faith in the possibility that its H2 cars will soon enter production. The company’s Neue Klasse platform, which will form the basis of all new BMW EVs going forward, will potentially be able to support the integration of a hydrogen drivetrain. The goal for the company’s engineers is to make hydrogen tanks that can fit inside the space that would normally be allocated for EV batteries.
BMW’s long-term road map is to put a hydrogen-powered vehicle into production by 2030. To achieve this goal, they’ve teamed up with fellow hydrogen advocate Toyota to research the future of the tech, with the iX5 using fuel cells from their Japanese partners. While Toyota’s Mirai remains one of the only hydrogen-powered cars on the market, they have a similar ambition to get an H2-powered Hilux on sale by the end of the decade too.
