BMW says its hydrogen automobile program in a single with longer-term objectives that goals to finally complement, and never change, electrical autos.
On the identical time, the Bavarian automotive producer says hydrogen fuel-cell electrical autos will supply better option to customers who require faster refilling, further energy for towing, and/or better journey distances from their zero emissions automobile.
Introducing its iX5 Hydrogen FCEV to Australian journalists in Melbourne this week, BMW Group common undertaking supervisor of hydrogen know-how and automobile undertaking Dr Juergen Guldner stated the pilot autos presently touring Australia might enter manufacturing in bigger segments, countering battery electrical fashions in smaller and city-centric segments.
“It actually is determined by the use case… we see a portion of the use circumstances to be higher suited to hydrogen than battery know-how. (However) we don’t see it as a contest between the 2 applied sciences, we predict the 2 applied sciences complement each other,” he defined.
“The very best factor we are able to do is to supply choices. BMW is know-how agnostic (and) we wish to give our clients the appropriate powertrain to go well with their particular person wants.”
Dr Guldner stated a lot of the know-how supplied within the pilot autos intently resembles that of BMW’s electrical fashions, with minimal modifications required from each driveline and software program standpoints.
Additional, the addition of the gas cell stack and hydrogen tanks aids in lowering automobile weight (by 100kg or extra) compared with a direct battery electrical counterpart, whereas additionally utilizing fewer assets to supply.
“The vehicles are very comparable. The electrical motor that drives our hydrogen vehicles is similar electrical motor that drives our ‘i’ vehicles, on this case the iXM which shares the identical chassis,” he added.
“The one distinction is that in a hydrogen automotive, the power is saved as hydrogen and never as electrical energy in a battery. The hydrogen is transformed into electrical energy within the automotive utilizing the gas cell system.”
That system is equipped by Toyota and is similar discovered within the Japanese firm’s Mirai FCEV sedan. BMW has ‘tweaked’ the unit to supply extra energy, enabling the iX5 Hydrogen to ship larger power ranges at a relentless charge when seen towards the Mirai’s association.
“The iX5 Hydrogen affords all some great benefits of electrical driving – the silent journey and the absolutely electrical acceleration – with the zero automobile emissions of solely water vapour. That’s the great thing about it.
“Plus, you possibly can refuel it in three- to 4 minutes, similar to the petrol-powered automotive we’ve used for greater than 100 years.”
The BMW iX5 Hydrogen FCEV is powered by a fuel-cell electrical hybrid system comprising three carbon-fibre strengthened plastic (CFRP) tanks that retailer as much as six kilograms of hydrogen beneath 700 bar of stress.
The gas cell produces a relentless 125kW of energy to a 400-volt lithium-ion battery with round 2.0kWh of usable capability. It affords one thing of an influence buffer to the electrical motors whereas additionally serving to collect regenerative power from the braking system.
The 2-wheel drive (rear) iX5 Hydrogen FCEV affords complete system energy rated at 295kW with a driving vary of 504km (WLTP).
BMW’s pilot program will examine the enterprise case for hydrogen-powered autos within the longer-term, with Dr Guldner estimating the automobile –and people prefer it – may very well be manufacturing prepared by as early as the top of the last decade.
“We’re simply trying on the proper cut-off date to launch. We have now been doing crash testing and fireplace testing, endorsed testing, vibration testing, and we’ve been doing street testing with this fleet,” he stated of the 2 pilot autos.
“We’ve been within the desert and within the chilly. Scorching, humid, excessive altitude, and so forth. We have now checked out every thing and the vehicles have carried out to our full satisfaction. We all know that if we resolve to enter (sequence) manufacturing we’ve got a superb foundation of understanding of the know-how.
“We’re ready to launch a automobile inside this decade. We have now been working as BMW on hydrogen for 40 years. It’s common for us that one thing (like this might) take a couple of a long time.
“As soon as we’ve got made the choice, we’ve got to develop the automotive (for sequence manufacturing) which might take a couple of years. Then we’ll resolve on which markets are able to take up the know-how,” he added.
Clearly, the infrastructure required to help a hydrogen powered automobile fleet is significant to the success of the know-how. Australia presently has simply 12 hydrogen refuelling stations, although not all can be found to most of the people.
Dr Guldner stated that with the appropriate funding – and in utilizing photo voltaic and different renewables to generate hydrogen gas – Australia may very well be a great candidate for a hydrogen refuelling community just like that proposed for the European Union.
From 2030, the EU will mandate the set up of hydrogen refuelling stations at 200km intervals, supporting the flexibility for longer distance journey in the same scale to that which might be wanted Down Below.
“There are quite a lot of locations that have already got infrastructure (in place), like California, Europe, Japan, Korea, and China. There are additionally quite a lot of nations which can be enthusiastic about constructing infrastructure, like Australia,” he acknowledged.
“Hydrogen is good for Australia as a result of you’ve got quite a lot of photo voltaic and wind (era), so you possibly can produce quite a lot of hydrogen to be used or export. You even have lengthy journey distance and metropolitan areas the place electrical automobile charging at scale may very well be a difficulty.
“All of the substances are there,” he enthused.
Go to GoAuto once more quickly for our Australian take a look at drive of the 2024 BMW iX5 Hydrogen FCEV.
