BMW i8 Hydrogen Fuel Cell Research Car – 3 YEARS after it was built

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A BMW i8 with a hydrogen fuel cell powerplant has been revealed at a BMW technology seminar, three years after it was first built to test fuel cell technology.

It was back in 2011 that BMW and Toyota revealed they were planning to share technology, with BMW getting access to Toyota’s hybrid technology, and Toyota access to BMW’s diesel engines. And it seems it didn’t take long for BMW to make the most of the deal.

This BMW i8 with a hydrogen fuel cell powerplant (pictured above) has just been revealed at a BMW technology outing, but it was actually built in 2012 – and only tested under tight security conditions – just months after BMW got access to Toyota’s toy box.

Based on the underpinnings of BMW’s i8 hybrid supercar, the i8 Fuel Cell car gets what we’re assuming is a take on the fuel cell found in the Toyota Mirai, with the 1.5 litre engine dumped and replaced by a fuel cell stack, the batteries removed and replaced with a cryogenic hydrogen storage tank running along the tunnel and delivering around 242bhp to the rear wheels.

BMW has also clothed the i8 with new panels that look to be a lot more slippery, although this is likely to be simply for testing purposes rather than indicating any future look for the i8.

BMW aren’t ready yet to build a production fuel cell car, but it does look like BMW’s i-brand are likely to be in the hydrogen mix by 2020, although it seems much more likely that a new i3 will be its home initially, rather than an i8 hydrogen supercar.