BMW Boss Says Hydrogen, Not Electric, Will Be ‘Hippest Thing’ to Drive

Source: Hannah Elliott | · BNN BLOOMBERG · | October 18, 2022

Source: Oliver Zipse is chairman of the board of management of BMW AG. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- BMW is hanging in there with hydrogen. That’s what Oliver Zipse, the chairman of BMW AG, reiterated during an interview Oct. 17 in Goodwood, England. 

“After the electric car, which has been going on for about 10 years and scaling up rapidly, the next trend will be hydrogen,” he says. “When it's more scalable, hydrogen will be the hippest thing to drive.”

BMW has dabbled with the idea of using hydrogen for power for years, even though it is obscure and niche compared to the current enthusiasm surrounding vehicles powered by electricity. In 2005, BMW built 100 “Hydrogen 7” vehicles that used the fuel to power their V12 engines. It unveiled the fuel cell iX5 Hydrogen concept car at the International Motor Show Germany in 2021. 

In August, the company started producing fuel-cell systems for a production version of its hydrogen-powered iX5 sport utility vehicle. Zipse indicated it would be sold in the United States within the next five years, although in a follow-up phone call a spokesperson declined to confirm that point. 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.

All told, BMW will eventually offer five different drivetrains to help diversify alternative-fuel options within the group, Zipse says.

“To say in the UK about 2030 or the UK and in Europe in 2035, there’s only one drivetrain, that is a dangerous thing,” he says. “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.”