BMW is not alone. Hyundai and Toyota are making similar moves. The fuel, which leaves no emissions when combined with oxygen in a fuel cell, can run everything from vehicles to factories to power plants. In the case of cars, it is safer than gasoline, lighter than air, and easily maintained. And one hydrogen station can service 400 cars a day with fill-ups lasting five minutes.
“BMW is convinced that hydrogen can make an important contribution to sustainable mobility alongside battery-electric vehicles in the future – provided the necessary hydrogen infrastructure is in place and offers a good price for hydrogen, and the price of the vehicles falls,” the company says in a statement. “In those circumstances, hydrogen fuel cell cars can be the zero-emissions technology that allows users to maintain the flexible driving habits they are accustomed to.”
Pure hydrogen is stored in a tank before piping it to a fuel cell to create clean electricity. For it to become mainstream by 2030, prices have to fall. Central to that is electrolyzers — the device that creates an electric current to split apart the hydrogen and oxygen from the water where it is found. Those costs have to fall from $840 per kilowatt to $420 per kilowatt.
BMW says that a critical advantage of hydrogen cars is that they have a longer range than all-electric cars. A full hydrogen tank runs for about 300 miles. Cars with large batteries can match that, but they cost notably more. Furthermore, they take longer to charge. Consequentially, electric vehicles lose range in cold weather. But hydrogen cars do not. Most importantly, the exhaust gas from a hydrogen engine consists of pure water vapor. It is therefore emissions-free. The carbon footprint is neutral if renewables generate the electricity used to break down hydrogen and oxygen.
“We should also not forget that hydrogen technology is not new, but is tried and tested in a range of fields,” BMW says. “By way of example, refineries today use large quantities of hydrogen as a process gas in the processing of crude oil. Pipelines and hydrogen storage have also been in operation for decades.”
“BMW is convinced that hydrogen can make an important contribution to sustainable mobility alongside battery-electric vehicles in the future – provided the necessary hydrogen infrastructure is in place and offers a good price for hydrogen, and the price of the vehicles falls,” the company says in a statement. “In those circumstances, hydrogen fuel cell cars can be the zero-emissions technology that allows users to maintain the flexible driving habits they are accustomed to.”
Pure hydrogen is stored in a tank before piping it to a fuel cell to create clean electricity. For it to become mainstream by 2030, prices have to fall. Central to that is electrolyzers — the device that creates an electric current to split apart the hydrogen and oxygen from the water where it is found. Those costs have to fall from $840 per kilowatt to $420 per kilowatt.
BMW says that a critical advantage of hydrogen cars is that they have a longer range than all-electric cars. A full hydrogen tank runs for about 300 miles. Cars with large batteries can match that, but they cost notably more. Furthermore, they take longer to charge. Consequentially, electric vehicles lose range in cold weather. But hydrogen cars do not. Most importantly, the exhaust gas from a hydrogen engine consists of pure water vapor. It is therefore emissions-free. The carbon footprint is neutral if renewables generate the electricity used to break down hydrogen and oxygen.
“We should also not forget that hydrogen technology is not new, but is tried and tested in a range of fields,” BMW says. “By way of example, refineries today use large quantities of hydrogen as a process gas in the processing of crude oil. Pipelines and hydrogen storage have also been in operation for decades.”
