German automaker BMW has unveiled the first vehicles as the company pilots its hydrogen fleet to enter the service this year.
This development comes after four years of development work, the iX5 hydrogen vehicle and the project is entering the next phase as a fleet of just under 100 vehicles will be deployed internationally for demonstration and trial purposes.
This active driving experience will be the first chance for targeted public groups to gain an impression of what a hydrogen vehicle has to offer.
“Hydrogen is a versatile energy source that has a key role to play in the energy transition process and, therefore, in climate protection,” says BMW management board chairperson Oliver Zipse.
“After all, it is one of the most efficient ways of storing and transporting renewable energies. We should use this potential to also accelerate the transformation of the mobility sector.
“Hydrogen is the missing piece in the jigsaw when it comes to emission-free mobility. One technology on its own will not be enough to enable climate-neutral mobility worldwide.”
BusinessTech Africa has learned that the carmaker sold more than 215 000 battery electric vehicles worldwide in 2022, which is an almost 108% increase over the previous year.
By 2030 at the latest, BMW aims for fully electric vehicles to claim a more than 50% share of its overall sales.
With the right conditions, hydrogen fuel-cell technology has the potential to become a further pillar in BMW’s drive-train portfolio for local carbon-free mobility, says the German car maker.
The BMW iX5 Hydrogen, developed on the current X5 platform, was first unveiled as a concept vehicle in 2019. Per Engineering News.
A chemical reaction takes place in the fuel cell between gaseous hydrogen from the tanks and oxygen from the air.
Maintaining a steady supply of both elements to the fuel cell’s membrane is of crucial importance for the drive system’s efficiency.
The BMW Group sources the individual fuel cells from the Toyota Motor Corporation as the two companies collaborated on fuel-cell drive systems since 2013.
The hydrogen needed to supply the fuel-cell is stored in two 700-bar tanks made of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic.
Filling up the hydrogen tanks takes three to four minutes.
Acceleration remains intact from the petrol-equivalent model, at less than six seconds to travel from zero to 100 km/h.
