Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, September 1 (Xinhua)-- BMW Group issued a press release on August 31, saying that the company has begun to produce hydrogen fuel cell systems for its next-generation BMW iX5 hydrogen-powered models, and the first vehicles will be tested on the road later this year.

The hydrogen fuel cell power system, built by BMW's hydrogen capability center in Munich, includes a fuel cell, two hydrogen tanks and a fifth-generation BMW eDrive motor.

BMW will use individual fuel cells provided by Toyota, which has been working with Toyota on hydrogen power systems since 2013.

Oliver Zipse, chairman of BMW, said: "as a multi-functional energy, hydrogen plays a key role in achieving climate neutrality." Moreover, as far as personal travel is concerned, its importance will be greatly increased. We believe that hydrogen-powered vehicles are in an ideal position in technology and can keep pace with battery electric vehicles to complete the picture of electric transportation. By starting small-scale production of fuel cells today, we demonstrate the technological maturity of this drive system and highlight its future potential. "

BMW's iX5 hydrogen fuel cell system generates a total of 368bhp brake horsepower, of which about 167bhp comes from a custom hydrogen fuel cell system. BMW said its hydrogen power system would "provide a unique form of drive system for the high-end market".

BMW's iX5 hydrogen fuel cell was tested in winter conditions in Sweden earlier this year and uses a number of new technologies, including high-speed, turbine-powered compressors and high-pressure coolant pumps. BMW said that after years of research and development, it has greatly improved the efficiency of the fuel cell system.

"in BMW iX5 Hydrogen's second-generation fuel cells, we have succeeded in more than doubling the continuous output of fuel cells, while significantly reducing both weight and size," said Frank Weber, a member of the BMW board of directors. "

CTOnews.com has learned that BMW plans to produce fewer than 100 iX5 hydrogen-powered vehicles by the end of this year for testing in daily conditions in the US, Japan, Europe, China and South Korea and is "seriously considering" the possibility of mass production of fuel cell vehicles by 2030.

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