The Bavarian concern started thinking about hydrogen-powered cars back in 2013. By that time, Japanese Toyota already had a solid track record of developments in this field, so the German manufacturer decided to join forces with colleagues from Asia. The result of this partnership was the BMW i Hydrogen NEXT crossover — that's the official name of the new model. Its prototype was shown to the public back in 2019.
In most aspects, the BMW i Hydrogen NEXT is almost identical to the familiar X5, with the main differences hidden under the hood. The powertrain was developed based on the hydrogen liftback Toyota Mirai. It is based on an electric motor powered by energy generated from hydrogen. The gas itself is stored in a pair of carbon-fiber tanks at a pressure of 700 bar — a total of 6 kilograms fits there. Refueling takes only 3–4 minutes, comparable to the time owners of traditional internal combustion engine vehicles spend at gas stations. The output of such a setup reaches 374 hp — about the same as a gasoline V6 engine.
BMW places high hopes on hydrogen technology and sees it as one of the key components of the future model lineup. Nevertheless, the i Hydrogen NEXT is more of an experiment, so its production will be limited to small batches. In addition, the infrastructure for refueling such cars is still poorly developed, and on the Ukrainian market it is completely absent.
