BMW and Toyota team up to produce hydrogen cars

TOKYO: BMW and Toyota will join forces to produce hydrogen fuel cell vehicles which could go on sale as early as 2025, according to a report in the Nikkei Asia newspaper.

The two firms will begin producing and selling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles developed jointly, BMW sales chief Pieter Nota told the paper.

Technical details are not available yet and Nota said the cooperation would be mainly relevant for larger SUVs.

BMW conducted tests with the BMW iX5 Hydrogen near the Arctic Circle but the vehicle has not yet come to market, even though it was shown at last year's Munich Motor Show.

The iX5 Hydrogen is said to have an output of 125 kilowatts, but important data such as range are still under wraps. A small series of vehicles is still to be built in 2022.

The automakers have worked together on the iX5 SUV, as well as the BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra sports cars in 2019.

Toyota has plenty of experience with fuel cell technology and its eight-year-old Mirai saloon is available in second-generation form with 20 kW more power than the first version.

Fuel cell cars use hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity which provides drive. They have some advantages over battery-electrics such as faster refuelling, Nota told Nikkei Asia.

The drawback is the lack of refuelling infrastructure which is holding back mass adoption around the world.

Nota said BMW does not want to put all its investments into a single technology and he pointed out that hydrogen models are not as prone to component supply bottlenecks as their electric counterparts.