Hydrogen gas cell automobiles (FCEVs) have been in the marketplace for the same period to the present wave of battery EVs (BEVs). However they’ve bought a tiny fraction compared. In 2024, 12,866 FCEVs have been registered globally, versus 10.8 million BEVs. Nonetheless, some producers have hopes that hydrogen has a job to play in transport.
Considered one of these is BMW, which not too long ago introduced it will be bringing its first FCEV into collection manufacturing in 2028. Fortune caught up with BMW Group’s Common Mission Supervisor Hydrogen Expertise and Car Initiatives, Jürgen Guldner, at a latest summit selling FCEVs, amongst different hydrogen evangelists.
Toyota has been the main vendor of FCEVs with the Mirai launched in 2014, but it surely isn’t the one participant. Hyundai has been promoting its Nexo since 2018, and Honda, after providing numerous automobiles beneath the Readability identify from 2008 to 2021, introduced its CR-V e:FCEV plug-in hybrid hydrogen automobile to market in 2024. BMW has been extra cautious. The corporate has been trialling FCEVs with a pilot run of automobiles primarily based on X5 since 2023. The iX5 Hydrogen is already a reputable automobile, with easy driving and a well-recognized X5 inside. Nonetheless, this gained’t essentially be the automobile that BMW will launch in 2028.
“The excellent news is a hydrogen automobile is an electrical automobile,” says Guldner. “It’s only a completely different manner of storing the vitality versus a battery, which additionally implies that we are able to reuse a variety of the elements like the electrical motors within the automobile from our BEVs. It additionally has a novel worth proposition. It’s the very best of each worlds, with all the advantages of electrical driving—acceleration, silent driving, zero emission—however you possibly can refuel in 3 to 4 minutes and also you’re 100% full and able to go once more.”
The issue of hydrogen infrastructure
This has all the time appeared like a compelling argument for hydrogen on paper, however the actuality has been that hydrogen refueling hasn’t proliferated like BEV charging stations. In reality, it has gone backwards in lots of international locations. Within the UK, in 2019 there have been as many as 15 hydrogen gas stations, whereas right now in 2025 solely 4 have been listed, with two probably not in service. Against this, based on Zap-Map, there have been 39,733 public charging places within the UK in Might 2025, with 80,998 units and 115,241 connectors. Germany is best served for hydrogen refueling, however some European international locations don’t have any stations in any respect, corresponding to Spain, Portugal and Italy.
Some hydrogen proponents argue that it is a strategic mistake in case your aim is to decarbonize street transport.
“FCEVs are complementary to battery electrical automobiles and heading in direction of one widespread course,” says David Wong, head of know-how and innovation on the Society of Motor Producers and Merchants. “When you spend money on each charging infrastructure and the gas cell hydrogen refilling infrastructure, the general price is decrease. We’ve carried out modelling the place they use Germany for instance. It reveals that if we have now a motor park penetration of 90% BEVs and 10% FCEVs, the general price of investing in infrastructure is $40 billion decrease than the state of affairs the place 100% of infrastructure is public cost factors.”
There’s additionally concern about useful resource utilization when manufacturing BEVs. Guldner factors out batteries requires a variety of uncooked supplies, which might result in shortage.
“Having a second know-how, not placing all eggs in a single basket, gives resilience,” he explains. “BMW having two applied sciences is best than one. We bought a variety of suggestions from individuals saying BEVs don’t work for them. We’re interested by these individuals who can’t or don’t need to use battery electrical automobiles as a result of possibly they don’t have electrical charging at residence, or are on the street lots and don’t need to depend upon charging stops, even when you may get them right down to possibly 20 minutes. We have now points like towing and chilly climate situations. Within the gas cell you should use extra warmth, so that you don’t lose any vary.”
This nonetheless leaves the issue with the way you ramp up the infrastructure to assist hydrogen. A business DC charger could be $50,000, a house charger can price $1,000, or you possibly can even use a really gradual $200 mains plug cable.
However the worth for a hydrogen station is way higher—between $1.5 and $2 million, though some estimate as a lot as $4 million. The answer, a minimum of within the UK, is to focus on the long-haul business sector first and construct out from that. HyHAUL is a venture aiming to realize that.
“The most important problem with hydrogen is the truth that it really works very properly at massive scale, however not so good at small scale,” says Chris Jackson, CEO and founding father of Protium Inexperienced Options, which co-founded HyHAUL. “One single hydrogen fueling station requires a whole bunch of passenger automobiles to make the economics work, however solely a really small variety of vehicles. We’re initially growing three main refueling stations and all we have to get the venture off the bottom is 30 gas cell vehicles. The primary stage can be alongside the M4 hall. We’ll be overlaying from Wales all the way in which into the M25 round London. Over time, we plan to develop throughout different networks, going up the M5 and M6.”
For shopper adoption of FCEVs, nevertheless, it will be essential to cowl the UK fully inside half an hour driving distance, which might require about 1,300 stations. One of many the reason why Tesla was in a position to kickstart the BEV revolution so successfully was its two-pronged method of constructing the supportive charging infrastructure to go along with its automobiles.
Automakers growing FCEVs have historically left this to 3rd events, resulting in a chicken-and-egg state of affairs the place automobile adoption awaited infrastructure, and vice versa. This has meant that as BEVs have reached a tipping level in lots of markets, together with the UK, EU and China, whereas FCEVs wait within the wings.
Can gas cells prevail?
This hasn’t prevented Toyota from persevering with FCEVs. “Our function is to offer clients with selection,” says Jon Hunt, senior supervisor, Hydrogen Transformation, Toyota GB. “We will’t have individuals dismissing applied sciences which are there to allow us all to study and develop.”
Industrial automobiles might assist FCEVs attain that tipping level. In Paris, round 1,000 FCEV taxis have been operated by Hype since 2015, nearly all of that are Toyota Mirais. Because of this, Paris has six hydrogen gas stops with three extra being constructed. This might lay the groundwork for customers to undertake FCEVs within the metropolis. Nonetheless, exterior Paris there isn’t a supportive infrastructure but, stopping lengthy journeys past the city limits. Hype has additionally not too long ago stated it’s pivoting away from FCEVs to BEVs.
Even with full launch nonetheless three years away, BMW is inserting a heavy wager on infrastructure having improved sufficiently for hydrogen to be a viable selection for customers by 2028.
Guldner notes BMW hasn’t but determined which international locations it’ll deliver these automobiles to market, including that it’s going to depend upon the infrastructure.
“Proper now, it’s merely not right here within the UK. However hopefully within the subsequent few years, growth will choose up,” he says.
The precise mannequin that can go into manufacturing in 2028 additionally hasn’t been introduced. And whereas a worth hasn’t been unveiled both, BMW is hoping for parity with BEVs, Guldner says, pointing to earlier dramatic price reductions in different applied sciences like batteries and photo voltaic cells.
For these price reductions to materialize, although, there must be sufficient demand for FCEVs to ship adequate scale.
“I’m all the time shocked by surveys in newspapers the place so many individuals say they would like a hydrogen automobile over battery energy,” he says. “There appears to be demand there.”
The query can be whether or not these survey responses translate into automobile gross sales. In 2028, when BMW launches its manufacturing FCEV, we might discover out.
