BMW still plotting fuel-cell EV

Sources at BMW have confirmed the company is working to deliver its first production hydrogen fuel-cell electric car (FCEV) in 2020.

While BMW is tight-lipped about which model would gain the fuel-cell technology first, suspicions naturally fall on its i brand and the timing would be in line with the scheduled production cycle for the second-generation i3.

BMW has a technical and engineering alliance with Toyota to develop production fuel-cell technology but, unlike Toyota, it isn’t under any direct pressure to deliver production cars immediately.

Toyota's Mirai was launched as the world's first FCEV last year but won't be sold in Australia, and the world's largest car-maker has promised to offer three FCEVs within the next decade.

When Toyota announced its ambitious FCEV rollout last July, a Toyota insider told us the hydrogen fuel-cell powered technology would also be fitted to the BMW i3 by 2016, but BMW has now pushed that back to the next generation of its smallest i-car at the end of this decade.

“We will still be developing the technologies and doing everything else behind the scenes, but we will pass on the chance to do a production car from the first generation of the development,” a senior BMW source said.

“We are betting on the second generation of the technology being right for production, so our target is 2020.”