BMW also uses Toyota engines! This SUV has no endurance anxiety, but will it work?

Recently, a group of photos have been widely circulated in overseas media. This is a photo of BMW iX5 testing in cold areas of Norway. From the shooting skills and other aspects, it is obvious that it is a publicity photo taken by an official photographer, which means that this ix5 is about to meet consumers.

Wait, isn't the BMW ix5 already on the market? There are already many people running in the street. Indeed, the pure electric version of ix5 is not a new car, but it is a real new car, because its full name is BMW ix5 hydrogen. Yes, this is a hydrogen-powered car.

When it comes to hydrogen cars, there are many topics to talk about.

Around March 2020, BMW and Toyota announced their cooperation, which did not attract any public attention in China (because it was the worst period of the first wave of epidemic in COVID-19, and no one wanted to pay attention). This cooperation means that starting from 2022, BMW's hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will use Toyota's fuel cell technology and core components. In exchange, both parties will also enjoy the design and manufacturing experience of sports cars.

In 2022, BMW cars equipped with Toyota hydrogen energy system did not appear, but a new generation of sports cars named after the new generation of BMW Z4 and Toyota SUPRA appeared on the market. This is the most successful case of cooperation between two car companies in 2020. And this hydrogen energy ix5 is the second case.

Speaking of the car itself, its whole power system and energy system are from Toyota's second-generation Mirai, so there is not much difference between the hydrogen energy version ix5 and the second-generation Mirai in motor power, hydrogen storage tank capacity and battery life. Except for this hydrogen energy system, all other parts of this hydrogen energy ix5 are no different from the pure electric version ix5-of course, there will be the relevant logo of the hydrogen energy version in some details, but other than that, there is not much worth taking out alone.

Specifically, the figure of ix5 hydrogen energy version is exactly the same as that of x5 now: 5060*2004* 1779mm, and the wheelbase is 3 105mm. As a high-end model of BMW SUV array, X5 is loaded with all kinds of luxury equipment, and all these luxury configurations, whether on the pure electric version or the hydrogen version ix5, will not be absent.

But what we are talking about is actually hydrogen energy itself.

In fact, from a technical point of view, the working principle of hydrogen energy vehicles is not complicated. Consumers drive to the hydrogenation station and fill the vehicle with ultra-low temperature liquid hydrogen fuel. After a series of gasification and chemical reactions with catalysts, these liquid hydrogen fuels generate electricity, water and electric energy, which are collected through complex mechanisms and stored in the battery pack of the car. Pure water is directly discharged to the outside through the exhaust pipe (maybe it should be called a drainage pipe). The motor drives the car forward by getting energy from the battery pack.

In fact, to put it bluntly, a hydrogen energy vehicle is a pure electric vehicle, and it is a "magic change" in principle. The structure is somewhat similar to the current extended-range hybrid. It is driven by a motor and has a battery pack to store energy. The hydrogen energy vehicle is to replace the range extender of the internal combustion engine on the range extender vehicle with a set of hydrogen energy conversion electrolytic power generation device, which is actually as simple as that. ?

There are several selling points in the external promotion of hydrogen energy vehicles: first, pure trams have no endurance anxiety, and it is easy to replenish energy. Hydrogenation time is similar to refueling time. The second is environmental protection. There is no transfer pollution of pure electric vehicles, and there is no internal combustion engine pollution that still exists in hybrid electric vehicles. It eats hydrogen and discharges pure water. Even car companies have demonstrated before that the water discharged from the drain pipe of hydrogen energy vehicles can be directly drunk. Therefore, in theory, hydrogen energy vehicles should be the most environmentally friendly vehicles at this stage, and the only new energy vehicles without transfer pollution. ?

But how full the ideal is, how skinny the reality is. In our opinion, at least in China, hydrogen energy vehicles are too far away from us. There are two main reasons. The first is the laying and cost of the hydrogen refueling station. As mentioned earlier, hydrogen energy trucks should "refuel" like oil trucks. The construction cost of a hydrogen refueling station is at least 13 times that of a gas station (data of Korea in 2022). This is only the construction of the hydrogen refueling station itself, and the transportation and storage of liquid hydrogen are more troublesome. The laying cost of the whole hydrogen station network is much higher than that of commercial fast-filling piles and gas stations. ?

There is even no mention of large-scale preparation of hydrogen here. Pure hydrogen can be produced by simple electrolysis in the laboratory, but it is not easy to realize large-scale industrial hydrogen production, which requires a lot of money, manpower and material resources. At present, the main industrial energy of all land powers in the world is oil, and the oil industry has occupied an extremely important position in the industry of the whole human world, and hydrogen energy will directly impact the interests of the oil industry. Therefore, most of the big countries and powerful countries in the world that rely on oil as their industrial source are in a state where the government actively promotes the development of hydrogen energy, but petrochemical groups are not interested.

This can also explain why only Japan and South Korea are developing hydrogen energy on a large scale at this stage. They are all island countries, not mainland countries, and they have great energy anxiety. Developing hydrogen energy is good for the national interests of these island countries.

It is precisely because of the second problem mentioned above that the third problem was born directly: the cost of hydrogen energy vehicles remains high and the decline rate is slow. Although many domestic enterprises have launched some hydrogen energy vehicles, such as Changan Deep Blue SL03 hydrogen energy version, SAIC Datong MIFA hydrogen energy version and so on. To tell the truth, this market is still a little small. Compared with hybrid electric vehicles and pure trams, the market space of hydrogen energy vehicles is not large enough.

There is also the fourth issue that consumers are most concerned about: the endurance of hydrogen-powered vehicles has no advantage in the face of plug-in hybrid vehicles today. At present, Toyota official data show that the cruising range of the second-generation Mirai is 800 kilometers (the hydrogen-powered car is pure electric, so this figure is also moist), which is really strong compared with the pure electric car with an average of more than 600, but don't forget that in the Chinese mainland market, there are many plug-in hybrid cars with the actual cruising range exceeding 1000 kilometers. The price is cheaper, the configuration is higher, and the internal combustion engine is different from other places. For consumers, not to mention the price problem, at this stage, hydrogen energy vehicles can not achieve the advantages of rolling grade in battery life, nor can they be compared with pure electric and hybrid vehicles in charging convenience, so why do consumers consider this kind of car?

Therefore, to put it bluntly, hydrogen energy vehicles will be very niche and geeky means of transportation at this stage and in the foreseeable future. If we simply look at the current industry trends, instead of waiting for hydrogen energy vehicles to become cheaper and last longer, it is better to wait for large-scale commercial solid-state batteries around 2030. That thing is the "complete whole" of new energy vehicles in the future.

This article is from Professor Hao, the author of Good Che Yi, and the copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author for any form of reprint. The content only represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with the car reform.