BMW plotting a hydrogen fuel cell EV

Not satisfied with launching their first premium electric car – the BMW i3 – BMW are plotting the future with plans to develop a hydrogen fuel cell electric car.

BMW has now taken its first fully-fledged step in to the electric car market with the BMW i3, revealed in full earlier this week.

The i3 is a properly competent offering from BMW and it seems likely that, despite a price pushing on £30k even after the taxpayer bribe for EVs, that they will find a ready market in their affluent customer base for the i3 as a second (or third, or fourth…) car for local runarounds.

BMW has even managed to negate range anxiety by offering the option of a range-extender engine in the i3 – basically a BMW motorcycle engine to charge the battery when it runs out of juice – so BMW’s customers who may wish to use their i3 for more than just a trip the shops can do so without getting stranded.

But it now seems BMW are also plotting to bring a hydrogen fuel cell electric car car to the market, with BMW’s Chairman, Norbert Reithofer. saying that “...options like this will offer short refueling times and enable long distance travel with zero emissions.” And he’s right.

Perhaps where he’s wrong is in the assertion that he believes an fuel cell BMW would need to be a purpose built vehicle rather than a fuel cell in an existing car.

Surely, if BMW are going to go the (very sensible) hydrogen fuel cell route, it would make far more sense to do it by adding a fuel cell to the new i3 (and upcoming i8), rather than starting from scratch?

But whichever route BMW go with their hydrogen fuel cell plans, they are very sensible to cover the most promising route to emission-free motoring with their hydrogen plans.