Toyota Motor Corp and BMW AG said Thursday that they will expand their tie-up to jointly develop a new driving system for fuel cell vehicles, as some global rivals are rethinking their plans for battery electric vehicles in the face of slowing demand.
BMW, as a first step, plans to launch its first mass-produced FCV model in 2028, which will be powered by the new power train. Toyota will also install the new system in its FCV models.
The two will develop components of the new driving system, excluding fuel cells, which Toyota will continue to provide to BMW. They will also work together to build hydrogen stations in Europe.
BMW looks to cut costs of FCVs through economies of scale under the deepened tie-up with Toyota, the world's largest automaker by volume.
"We will...bring down costs to have as much synergy as possible," Michael Rath, vice president of the hydrogen vehicle division at BMW, said at an online press conference, though he declined to elaborate.
Toyota launched the Mirai, the world's first mass-produced FCV, in Japan in 2014. But its FCV sales remain sluggish, with only 4,023 vehicles sold worldwide in 2023, a fraction of its annual sales of more than 10 million vehicles.
"I believe in technology openness," Toyota President Koji Sato said in a video message at the press conference, adding it is a much faster way to achieve carbon neutrality.
FCVs are seen as a promising green vehicle of the future, as they run on electricity generated through the chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen and produce only water vapor as a byproduct.
But their high sticker prices, coupled with a lack of hydrogen stations, have been a major stumbling block in bringing them to the mass market.
Still, they typically have a longer range and shorter refueling time than battery EVs.
Some automakers are being forced to review their strategy for battery vehicles as demand for such zero-emission vehicles loses momentum. Volvo Cars said Wednesday that it abandoned its target to sell only fully electric vehicles by 2030. Ford Motor Co is also reconsidering its EV business plans, delaying the introduction of a pickup truck model.
BMW Chairman Oliver Zipse said in the same video message, "It is time to unleash the full potential of hydrogen."
© KYODO
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GBR48
Why fail at creating one alternative charging infrastructure when you can fail at creating two at the same time?
Oh, and we still have no way of producing hydrogen at scale in an environmentally benign way.
Peter Neil
yes, and this is based on hoping to successfully develop technology that doesn’t exist currently. current state of the art would require about half of the vehicle volume for hydrogen storage.
Desert Tortoise
It is already being done in Europe for the maritime industry. Big ocean going merchant ships cannot rely on batteries. They will burn hydrogen in most conventional internal combustion engines not so much different than the big diesel or LNG driven engines they have now or perhaps by hydrogen powered fuel cells. The prototypes of these propulsion systems and the plants to make the green hydrogen exist today in Europe.
Sh1mon M4sada
No it's not, not 'environmentally benign'. There were lots and lots of announcements, planned projects etc, they have all been scaled back.
Green hydrogen globally...
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/hydrogen/chart-which-countries-are-leading-the-green-hydrogen-race
But, since then, all scaling back....
Forest, who has the most to gain as he can use hydrogen to make ammonia for making green steel - I suspect this has the most potential as storage (hydrogen's achilles heel) is short term.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-21/green-hydrogen-forrest-fortescue/104120492
Geely
https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/production/chinese-carmaker-scales-back-first-phase-of-100-million-tonne-green-hydrogen-to-methanol-project-report/2-1-1705486
I suspect many more to follow, AND as solid state battery comes on line next year, hydrogen will be even less economically competitive for end consumer use. I know, I've watch my own small, toe in the water investment wither...
Desert Tortoise
https://www.reuters.com/article/business/first-wave-of-ships-explore-green-hydrogen-as-route-to-net-zero-idUSKBN27F19K/
Desert Tortoise
I am going to throw something else out there. There are two projects underway in the US right now to drill so deep into the Earth that water can be heated to steam sufficient to power existing steam generating plants. To drill this deep requires some new technologies that have recently been developed but once proven, expected within five years, any current steam plant could be driven by geothermal steam. This allows for mass production of zero emission electrical power anywhere in the world without using nuclear power or damming rivers. This is a near term solution to zero emission energy.
https://www.treehugger.com/geothermal-drilling-technology-quaise-energy-5219924
https://newatlas.com/energy/ga-drilling-deep-geothermal/
Sh1mon M4sada
2020 story ^^^...time has moved on per my links, along with a plethora of other 'announcements' that time revealed as spin, we know now, Green Hydrogen remains a pipedream, and even more so because the largest promoters are winding back their ambition.
If you look further, you'll see making hydrogen, storing it, converting back is highly inefficient vs even the least inefficient battery storage system.
There's no more argument, and when solid state battery comes out, hydrogen will be even more niche.