The BMW Group is commencing production of its small-series hydrogen-powered model iX5.
The vehicle’s manufacturing is taking place in the pilot plant at the company’s Munich Research and Innovation Centre, the company said. The first ever Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) featuring hydrogen fuel cell technology has already completed an intensive programme of testing during the development phase and will now be used as a technology demonstrator for locally carbon-free mobility in selected regions from spring 2023.
“Hydrogen is a versatile energy source that has a key role to play as we progress towards climate neutrality,” said Frank Weber, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Development. “We are certain that hydrogen is set to gain significantly in importance for individual mobility and therefore consider a mixture of battery and fuel cell electric drive systems to be a sensible approach in the long term.”
Weber said fuel cells don’t require any critical raw materials such as cobalt, lithium or nickel either, so by investing in this type of drive system they are also strengthening the geopolitical resilience of the BMW Group. The iX5 Hydrogen test fleet will allow the company to gain new and valuable insights, enabling it to present customers with an attractive product range once the hydrogen economy becomes a widespread reality, he added.
The BMW Group Plant Spartanburg in the USA supplies the base vehicles for the hydrogen model, which has been developed on the platform of the X5, the company said. They are fitted with a new floor assembly in the pilot plant’s body shop that makes it possible to accommodate the two hydrogen tanks in the centre tunnel and under the rear seat unit. Further driving the vehicle’s structure, it said the model-specific 12V and 400V electrical systems, high-performance battery, electric motor, and fuel cell are all integrated during the assembly stage, alongside standard production parts. Positioned in the rear axle area together with the high-performance battery, the electric motor is a product of the current, fifth-generation BMW eDrive technology also employed in battery electric and plug-in hybrid models from BMW.
The fuel cell systems located under the bonnet of the iX5 Hydrogen have been manufactured at BMW’s in-house competence centre for hydrogen in Garching to the north of Munich since August this year.
The iX5 Hydrogen combines all the benefits of a locally emission-free drive system with outstanding everyday usability and long-distance capabilities. This makes its hydrogen fuel cell technology an attractive complementary alternative to the battery electric drive system, the company said.