BMW is already busy adapting its Neue Klasse platform for fuel-cell vehicles. The original idea was to limit its use for EVs, but the company has now decided to try and diversify its applications a bit.
According to Jurgen Guldner, the chief engineer working on the project, BMW only plans to put the hydrogen drivetrain in its larger and more upmarket EVs.
Right now, the company is looking for an optimum layout for the hydrogen storage. As Guldner said, the goal is to reduce the total volume of the tanks while increasing their quantity, so that they could be put in different areas throughout the car. This includes the area where the main traction battery was envisioned by the original design.
It is still open whether BMW will mass-produce any vehicles at all on its Neue Klasse architecture. This might never happen, but, according to Guldner, the possibility deserves studying right now when the whole thing is still under development. Years later, modifying the same design would be much more challenging and cumbersome.
Considering the approach BMW takes to its Neue Klasse project and the available release date estimates, we suppose that the first hydrogen car may reach production in late 2020s at the earliest. Earlier on, the company said the first EV on that platform would be a sedan comparable in size with the latest 3-Series. That one was scheduled for a debut in 2025.
In related news, BMW announced earlier this week that it was producing a small pilot batch of an SUV named the iX5 Hydrogen, so far only for testing purposes. You can find it in the gallery and the video below.