Prototype testing BMW iX5 Hydrogen
pressure refueling
Drifts are easy
© press-inform – the press office
BMW is giving hydrogen a renaissance. We were traveling with a prototype of the BMW iX5 Hydrogen and were quite impressed by the driving dynamics of the H2 SUV, of which there will be a first small series at the end of the year.
The BMW X5 shoots towards the combination of bends: First around to the left, followed by a long, tough right-hand bend. We are on a handling course, i.e. a route where the automotive chaff is separated from the wheat in terms of driving dynamics. All the more so since the subsoil is the bare ice of a frozen lake near Arjeplog in northern Sweden. The Munich SUV doesn’t need to be asked twice and masters the tricky spot with a slight drift that doesn’t pose any problems for the driver. Everything quite normal, even if this X5 is not an ordinary one, but a prototype called BMW iX5 Hydrogen, i.e. a fuel cell car. You hardly notice that in the vehicle, the BMW crossover masters the ice lake just as easily as the snow-covered country roads. The fuel cell version of the crossover is just as easy to drive as the plug-in hybrid version of the X5, which forms the technical basis for the prototype. That’s exactly what Dr. Jurgen Guldner. “We are particularly proud of the fact that the fuel cell implements the commands of the dynamic accelerator pedal without delay,” beams the Head of BMW Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology and Vehicle Projects.
What sounds so obvious is anything but trivial. Because many elements have to be perfectly matched to one another in order to generate unspectacular handling. The experts are breaking new ground in many respects with the BMW iX5 Hydrogen. Especially since the Munich engineers have set themselves the goal of constructing a fuel cell vehicle that creates a continuous output of 125 kW / 170 kW and thus currently has the most powerful fuel cell in a passenger car. To ensure that this power can be generated constantly, an electrically controlled turbocharger ensures pressurized oxygen filling. In this way, the hydrogen can react with the oxygen and generate electricity. “The fuel cell has to perform immediately”; technician Robert Halas explains the challenge. The fuel cell heart of the BMW iX5 Hydrogen is located in the engine compartment, is similar in size to a three-cylinder combustion engine and weighs around 180 kilograms. The tanks, in which the hydrogen is stored at a pressure of 700 bar, are located under the rear seat and in the center tunnel and have a capacity of six kilograms, which corresponds to a range of around 600 kilometers.
At BMW, dynamics are always at the top of the specifications. So there is a 150 kW high-voltage battery with a capacity of 2.3 kilowatt hours under the trunk floor, which increases the system output of the BMW iX5 Hydrogen to 275 kW / 374 hp. Power comes from a fifth-generation BMW electric motor driving the rear axle. Battery-electrically, the fuel cell X5 has a range of between ten and 15 kilometers. The special feature of this battery in the BMW iX5 Hydrogen is that it delivers the power very quickly and the cells can be recharged just as quickly. The SUV, which weighs around 2.5 tons, reaches the 100 km/h mark in less than seven seconds and has a constant speed of up to 190 km/h. To ensure that this boost is always available, the fuel cell fills the high-voltage battery with electricity whenever possible, unnoticed by the driver, so that it always has a charge level of between 60 and 80 percent. The hydrogen X5 has no other restrictions either: the trunk is just as big as that of the PHEV-BMW X5 xDrive45e and the air spring chassis ensures sufficient comfort.
Anyone who thinks that the BMW iX5 Hydrogen is just a finger exercise for technology-loving engineers is wrong. At the end of the year there will be a small series of the fuel cell Kraxler and by the end of the decade the fuel cell variants should cost as much as the battery-electric version, be 100 kilograms lighter and offer a similar range. Then there will also be a BMW iX5 Hydrogen with all-wheel drive, because then another electric motor will fit under the fuel cell at the front. According to the BMW strategy, BEVs and fuel cell vehicles should share a platform. Instead of battery cells, the hydrogen tanks will then be located in the battery box. These synergies keep the price down. The fuel cell in a car is then no different from one in a truck. The platinum content is gradually reduced and is a recycled product from catalytic converters in vehicles with internal combustion engines.
A coexistence of hydrogen and battery-electric mobility also seems possible. According to the study by the Hydrogen Council “Roadmap towards zero emissions”, the CO2 balance of pure electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell vehicles hardly differs when the entire life cycle is taken into account. In addition, the electricity must always be produced close to the grid, while the hydrogen can be transported over long distances by ship or in a pipeline. The United Arab Emirates have been exploring the idea of harnessing the power of the sun to produce green hydrogen for a while and have set up a hydrogen task force with Germany. Whether solar energy or wind power, the great advantage of hydrogen is that it can be used not only as a “fuel” but also as an energy store. In addition to ships, trains or tankers, gas pipelines can also bring the hydrogen to the consumer. On the one hand, due to the extensive gas pipeline network, it should also be possible to release sections for hydrogen. In addition, companies such as Linde Engineering are working on a way of forcing the two gases through the tubes together and then separating them again with the help of membranes when they arrive at their destination, and they have already commissioned a first pilot plant in Dormagen. BMW supports the AFIR (Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation), which aims to ensure that the hydrogen filling station network is so closely linked that there is a distance of 150 kilometers between the filling stations on the main traffic arteries. But that’s not enough for the Munich carmaker: if BMW has its way, the distance should be just 100 kilometers by 2027.