The federal government and Bavaria are supporting a hydrogen project by the car manufacturer BMW. The goal is to develop a fuel cell electric powertrain. Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (57; CDU) and Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (58; CSU) presented the car manufacturer in Berlin with a funding notice of around 273 million euros for the HyPowerDrive project. The federal government is responsible for around 191 million euros and Bavaria around 82 million euros, as the ministry announced. The BMW share price was recently slightly in the red.
Schnieder called hydrogen a central component as an energy source, but also in transport. Hydrogen will increase the technological diversity and competitiveness of the automotive location Germany strengthened. Söder said: “We mustn’t give up the car.” He also emphasized openness to technology. Although electric drives will dominate in Europe, there are different markets around the world with different technologies. “We need high-tech combustion engines, but also electric and technologies such as hydrogen.” Söder once again opposed a ban on new combustion cars in the EU from 2035.
From 2028, BMW will also bring the SUV X5 onto the market with a fuel cell drive, in addition to electric, gasoline, diesel and hybrid drives. This makes BMW the only German car manufacturer to rely on hydrogen. Otherwise, this form of drive plays practically no role in the automotive industry. Currently, only a few models with fuel cell drives are available, including from Toyota and Hyundai, of which only small numbers are sold.
It is also unclear where the vehicles can be refueled after the number of hydrogen filling stations in Germany has recently fallen, according to the operator H2.live.