Fuel cells
BMW is on the eve of an important electric chapter with its Neue Klasse. As befits BMW with its ‘Power of Choice’ approach, it does not want to focus on just one form of electric driving with the Neue Klasse.
BMW is already taking the necessary steps in the field of electric driving, but the biggest yet will come in 2025. Then the first BMW will appear on the brand new, modular and purely EV-specific Neue Klasse platform. Naturally, the approach is that the electric BMWs on this basis receive their power from a battery pack that can be charged with a charging cable, but BMW has not seen this as the only EV option for years. It also sees considerable potential in fuel cells and that also translates to the Neue Klasse.
According to Automotive News CEO Oliver Zipse states that hydrogen can certainly play a role in the new generation of electric BMWs. “The Neue Klasse is emission-free and not just battery-electric. This means that we also envision hydrogen-electric propulsion for the Neue Klasse.” According to Zipse, it is important to keep that option on the table, because in this way BMW ‘stands out from the rest’ in terms of approach. “For us, hydrogen is always part of the equation when we talk about emission-free cars.”
It is no big surprise that the Neue Klasse is also switching to fuel cells, because Zipse called hydrogen ‘essential’ in the EV offensive last year. BMW is currently making progress in this area with the iX5 Hydrogen, an iX5 that has a fuel cell from Toyota instead of a large battery pack. It has a total range of 504 kilometers and the hydrogen tanks can be refilled in three to four minutes. AutoWeek recently drove the BMW iX5 Hydrogen and a BMW iX to Munich to see what difference hydrogen versus electric makes in terms of travel time.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl