The general perception in the industry is that the future of the automotive industry belongs to electrification. Many new car-making forces are scrambling to emerge, and many established car companies are also accelerating the road of transformation, unwilling to become bystanders of the future war. However, a small number of car companies insist on hydrogen fuel as a breakthrough, believing that it has better environmental protection and stronger traffic capacity than electric vehicle models. The two giants Toyota and BMW are representatives, although they are also enriching their electric vehicle matrix, but they have been insisting on developing hydrogen fuel technology.
A few days ago, BMW said that the new car iX5 Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is undergoing extreme cold testing related work. This not only surfaces that the technology has entered a highly mature state, but also has the preparation for final mass production. New cars can start large-scale manufacturing processes as soon as the second half of this year, and once they officially join the battle, they will not only help BMW open gaps in new areas, but may also inspire more brands to pay attention to the technology, and then guide the wind direction of the entire industry to change.
According to the information obtained so far, the iX5 Hydrogen mainly borrows from the BMW X5 fuel version model in appearance, and the two are highly similar, but there is a difference in some of the logos. The classic "double kidney" type net in the front part of the face is very eye-catching, and the blue sky and white cloud car logo in the middle is the goal of many people. The side look is very sporty, and BMW understands the aesthetic preferences of young people. The tail light group is decent, but it is not excluded that it will be replaced by a through-line layout after the official mass production.
The reason for the vigorous research and development of hydrogen fuel technology is mainly because it has the advantages of long battery life, fast hydrogenation and strong environmental protection. The iX5 Hydrogen is equipped with the fifth generation of BMW eDrive electric drive technology, the system has a maximum power of up to 275 kilowatts, which can give the huge body abundant power support, with BMW's well-known four-wheel drive system, the driving experience is pure and powerful, allowing you to appreciate the original beauty of performance. It is worth mentioning that the car does not emit any harmful gases except water vapor, and can also use the principle of heat recovery to provide heating functions for the cockpit.
Of course, the outside world pays more attention to the endurance of iX5 Hydrogen, after all, this is the biggest bottleneck restricting the development of new energy models, and pure electric models are therefore difficult to truly beat traditional fuel vehicles. In this extremely cold test, the hydrogen fuel cell equipped with the iX5 Hydrogen can reach an endurance of 500 kilometers at ultra-low temperatures, which has a significant advantage over many pure electric vehicles. After all, in the winter, one of the focuses of discussion in the industry was the latter's "endurance shrinkage" problem. In addition, the hydrogen storage tank only needs 3-4 minutes to be replenished, and the limitations of the car are greatly reduced.
Seeing this, it is estimated that many friends have raised more interest in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, believing that this is the real "future car". But in reality, there is still a long way to go before large-scale coverage can be achieved. The first is that the technology still needs more time and energy to invest in order to have more mature application conditions and control security within a reasonable range. Secondly, the hydrogen refueling site is still quite scarce, and the daily replenishment is very inconvenient. But just as charging piles were scarce in those days, as long as you remain patient, I believe that the construction of related sites will also be carried out simultaneously.
As mentioned earlier, in addition to BMW's emphasis on hydrogen fuel technology, another car giant Toyota has also been working here for many years. It has long said that "pure electric vehicles" are not environmentally friendly, although many oil resources are saved on the surface, but excessive power loss will increase the burden on power units, which in turn will lead to more waste of fossil energy.
Previously, at the Guangzhou Auto Show, Toyota launched the "Hydrogen Engine Version" bus, which aroused the attention of many parties. The car is not only full of avant-garde look and feel in appearance, but also has a new power system, which can achieve a combination of longer battery life and better environmental protection, showing Toyota's latest achievements in hydrogen fuel research and development.
Toyota's main hydrogen fuel cell vehicle Mirai has progressed to the second generation of models, its maturity is more outstanding, and it has achieved great progress in multiple stages such as reserve, application and recycling. Toyota said that the car can get up to 850 kilometers of cruising range after 5 minutes of hydrogenation, and in the extreme test, it has handed over a surprising answer of 1360 kilometers, which has a clear advantage over pure electric vehicles, even the most rapid fast charging technology and the most powerful battery pack can only bow to the wind.
Now the automotive industry presents a situation of two strong oppositions, and with the passage of time, the new energy camp gradually occupies the upper hand, and the living space of traditional fuel vehicles is constantly compressed. But when people talk about the former, they often think that it is only the application of electric technology, but they do not think that hydrogen fuel is also one of them. I believe that in the future, more car companies will join the research and development of hydrogen fuel cells, let's wait and see.