BMW is ploughing-ahead with its plans to launch hydrogen-powered cars - and the iX5 Hydrogen SUV could be the first we see on UK roads.
First things first - what are hydrogen cars and how do they actually work?
A car with a hydrogen powertrain is also known as a ‘fuel cell electric vehicle’, or ‘FCEV’. And, to all intents and purposes, a hydrogen car is a type of electric car.
The difference here is that a hydrogen car doesn’t get the bulk of its energy from a traditional rechargeable battery - it instead relies on a chemical reaction between hydrogen - stored in special fuel tanks - and oxygen, which then produces electricity.
The only other byproduct of this chemical reaction - which is called ‘reverse electrolysis’ - is harmless water vapour, which gets expelled into the atmosphere.
So, hydrogen cars effectively have their own on-board power plant, meaning they get a long range between refills.
The electricity generated through the hydrogen-oxygen dust-up is either channelled straight to the motors, which drive the wheels, or it gets stored in a battery. Because that battery is constantly being recharged, it can actually be much smaller and lighter compared with a regular battery electric car, making hydrogen cars more agile.
And, like any other electric vehicle, a hydrogen car can also use regenerative braking to recoup power and funnel it back into a battery.
Perhaps the crucial thing about hydrogen power when compared to bog-standard EVs is that you can refill the tanks in a matter of minutes, just like you might a normal petrol or diesel car, using a nozzle and hose at a filling station.
So, lots and lots of wins for the hydrogen car here and you might be wondering why there aren’t already tons of them on our highways... There are, in fact, only a couple of other vehicles to choose from so far, the Toyota Mirai and the Hyundai Nexo.
This is where things get tricky.
In the UK, right now, there are just 15 hydrogen fuelling stations in the UK.
There’s not a single station between Beaconsfield, Bucks, and Rotherham, South Yorks. From Rotherham you’d need to travel north to Teesside International Airport for the next one.
And after that, if you’re still heading north, the next fuel stop would be Edinburgh in Scotland.
So, vast swathes of the country are not yet catered for, despite the Government last year promising to deliver a ‘world leading hydrogen market’ as part of a £23 million investment programme.
As for the BMW iX5 Hydrogen, the German firm says a fleet of the SUVs will be ‘entering service around the world from the end of this year for test and demonstration purposes’.
The iX5 Hydrogen combines a hydrogen fuel cell, a small battery, and an electric motor to produce overall power of 374 hp. It’s said to have a range in excess of 300 miles between fill-ups, which is more than you get with the battery-electric iX3.
A BMW spokesperson says:
“The BMW iX5 Hydrogen already successfully demonstrated its excellent everyday usability, even at very low temperatures, during the final round of winter testing in Sweden at the start of this year.”
And Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW, adds:
“As a versatile energy source, hydrogen has a key role to play on the road to climate neutrality. And it will also gain substantially in importance as far as personal mobility is concerned. We think hydrogen-powered vehicles are ideally placed technologically to fit alongside battery-electric vehicles and complete the electric mobility picture.”
With a heavyweight like BMW pinning its colours to the hydrogen mast, will other manufacturers soon follow suit…?
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