Why BMW backs batteries over fuel cells for cars

Although BMW will launch a test fleet of X5 and X7 fuel cell variants in 2021, it remains convinced that battery power is the right choice when creating zero-emissions passenger cars.

"The development we expect for battery density would make BEVs [battery-electric vehicles] the most-efficient solution," Klaus Froelich, BMW Group board member for development, said on the sidelines of the company's NextGen event in Munich on June 25.

A fuel cell vehicle is an electric vehicle where the fuel cell replaces the battery as the source of electric power.

Cost is the biggest issue. Froelich said a fuel cell powertrain is 10 times more expensive than a full-electric one. The prices will not be comparable until about 2025, he said.

Toyota, which has been working on fuel cell development with BMW since 2013, believes the prices of fuel cell cars will match those of hybrids within 10 years.

Toyota's first-generation fuel cell car, the Mirai sedan, starts at 78,600 euros in Germany.

BMW thinks fuel cell technology would work better in medium and heavy trucks because the weight of the batteries in an electric-driven truck could reduce the vehicle's payload by 6 to 7 tons. "Therefore, batteries are not a viable solution there," Froelich said.

Using fuel cells in delivery vehicles is also a viable option because they normally travel between 150 and 200 kilometers a day. Since it takes just minutes to recharge the hydrogen, a fleet operator would need just a single refueling station to get the vehicles ready during the night.

This is BMW's second leap into the fuel cell/hydrogen sector. From 2005 to 2007 the automaker used hydrogen in a conventional engine, building a fleet of 100 V-12-powered 7-series sedans that could run the fuel or gasoline.

The size of the hydrogen tank limited the zero-emissions range of those sedans to about 200 km. That was a milestone distance for green solutions a decade ago. Today, however, a similar-sized Tesla Model S equipped with a 100-kWh battery has a range of 632 km under the NEDC test cycle.