In an interview with Bloomberg, BMW's chairman Oliver Zipse said: "After the electric car, which has been going on for about 10 years and scaling up rapidly, the next trend will be hydrogen. When it's more scalable, hydrogen will be the hippest thing to drive." He went on to say that having only one powertrain - namely battery-powered EVs - available in Europe in 2035 would be a dangerous thing:
"For the customers, for the industry, for employment, for the climate, from every angle you look at, that is a dangerous path to go to."
BMW has long been experimenting with hydrogen as an alternative power source, even though it is quite unknown and niche in comparison to the current battery-electric vehicles. In 2005, BMW manufactured 100 "Hydrogen 7" vehicles that utilized the fuel to power their V12 engines. Then, in 2021 at the International Motor Show Germany, it unveiled the fuel cell iX5 Hydrogen concept car.
The company started producing fuel-cell systems for a production version of its hydrogen-powered iX5 sport utility vehicle in August. Zipse indicated it would be sold in the United States within the next five years. Bloomberg previously reported that BMW will start delivering fewer than 100 of the iX5 hydrogen vehicles to select partners in Europe, the US, and Asia from the end of this year.
BMW is not the only company that believes in hydrogen-powered cars--Toyota does, too. In fact, the two automakers are collaborating on FCVs. Earlier this year, BMW sales chief Pieter Nota told Asia Nikkei the Bavarian brand is working on "various projects" with the Japanese marque.
