Photo: BMW
This week BMW CEO, Dr. Norbert Reithofer, held the annual accounts press conference in Munich, explaining both the world and the shareholders, which way is his company heading to.
Amongst various numbers and ambitious plans for the future, the Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG also made a surprise statement, concerning the way cars will be powered on the long run.
According to Reithofer, as a leading premium manufacturer and one of the most valuable companies in the field, you always have to be on the lookout for new technologies that will keep you one step ahead of the competition, especially during these trying times when petrol is getting more and more scarce.
Therefore, fuel cell technology seems to be the future at BMW, hinting at what the Bavarians the Japanese engineers from Toyota have been working on for the last few months.
“We believe the electric motor is a future technology for zero-emission driving in urban areas. Battery technology will continue to progress [...] When it comes to emission-free long-distance driving, however, electric cars featuring hydrogen fuel cell technology offer great potential. Alternative drive technologies are key towards meeting the global CO2 targets in 2020,” Rheitofer said.
That means we’ll be seeing EVs with hydrogen fuel cell technology coming out from BMW in no time, which is ... interesting news. How exactly would this car look like?
Well, unlike the current plug-in hybrids, the emission levels will always be zero, making petrol a long forgotten fuel while range anxiety and long recharge times will be a thing of the past, with all the electricity being ‘produced’ on-board thanks to fuel cell technology.
What will that mean for the driving experience? We can’t be really sure right now but we’ll just have to hope for the best. If the i8 will turn out to be a proper sports car, maybe not everything is lost. You can read the transcript of his entire speech in the press release section, below.
According to Reithofer, as a leading premium manufacturer and one of the most valuable companies in the field, you always have to be on the lookout for new technologies that will keep you one step ahead of the competition, especially during these trying times when petrol is getting more and more scarce.
Therefore, fuel cell technology seems to be the future at BMW, hinting at what the Bavarians the Japanese engineers from Toyota have been working on for the last few months.
“We believe the electric motor is a future technology for zero-emission driving in urban areas. Battery technology will continue to progress [...] When it comes to emission-free long-distance driving, however, electric cars featuring hydrogen fuel cell technology offer great potential. Alternative drive technologies are key towards meeting the global CO2 targets in 2020,” Rheitofer said.
That means we’ll be seeing EVs with hydrogen fuel cell technology coming out from BMW in no time, which is ... interesting news. How exactly would this car look like?
Well, unlike the current plug-in hybrids, the emission levels will always be zero, making petrol a long forgotten fuel while range anxiety and long recharge times will be a thing of the past, with all the electricity being ‘produced’ on-board thanks to fuel cell technology.
What will that mean for the driving experience? We can’t be really sure right now but we’ll just have to hope for the best. If the i8 will turn out to be a proper sports car, maybe not everything is lost. You can read the transcript of his entire speech in the press release section, below.
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