The new BMW X5 will be available as a hydrogen EV

When I drove BMW’s hydrogen-powered iX5 prototype back in 2023, I reported how it drove just as well as any other electric car, with the added benefit of a longer range and faster refuelling – but the lack of hydrogen stations threatened to make it a non-starter.

Fast-forward two years, and with just three hydrogen car refuelling stations in the entire UK (according to UKH2Mobility), BMW says it’s putting a hydrogen-powered X5 into production. It’ll be called the iX5, and be one of five different drivetrain options for the company’s next-generation SUV, alongside petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid and fully-electric.

The iX5 Hydrogen will go into production in 2028, BMW says, and images of a heavily camouflaged prototype suggest it’ll carry the same ‘Neue Klasse’ design language as the recently revealed iX3.

The car I drove in 2023 was part of a 100-strong hydrogen pilot fleet that BMW has since tested worldwide and branded a success. Since it’ll be arriving five years after that first drive, the new iX5 will use a next-gen hydrogen fuel cell system that BMW is developing in collaboration with Toyota.

The German company said of the new tech: “This technological advance paves the way for a system, with a more compact design that is also more powerful and efficient, thereby increasing range and output at the same time as reducing energy consumption.”

BMW hasn’t shared any figures for the iX5 Hydrogen, but said two years ago how the previous-gen test car produced 401 horsepower, accelerated to 60 mph in around six seconds and had a range of 310 miles. That drivetrain used its onboard fuel cell to produce electricity, which was sent to a pair of motors via a small, circa-2.0 kWh battery. Like other hydrogen cars, the fuel cell uses oxygen captured from the surrounding air to create hydrogen, and the only emission to come from the exhaust pipe is a small amount of pure water.

Although running a hydrogen car in many countries is practically impossible due to the lack of refuelling stations, BMW remains optimistic. It said this week: “Hydrogen is recognised as a promising future energy carrier for global decarbonisation…Hydrogen is the missing part for completing the electric mobility puzzle, where battery electric drive systems are not an optimal solution.”

This suggests the iX5 Hydrogen is not intended for the UK or European market, and it will instead appeal more in countries yet to build EV charging infrastructure. Since hydrogen is delivered to fuelling stations by truck, as petrol and diesel are, cars running on the gas could be a success where EV charge stations are few and far between.

At least that’s the theory. We still have three years to find out if BMW’s gamble on hydrogen will pay off.