BMW is seemingly looking for ties in the auto industry with Toyota and General Motors to develop future battery and hydrogen fuel cell-powered EVs, says Motorauthority.com, quoting the German Wirtschaftswoche (Business Week).
So GM’s Volt technology may not be officially a secret any longer, and Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive could enhance the power of all hybrid and electric BMWs, in a fierce competition with Daimler, who owns the Mercedes brand.
However, BMW is not telling the world everything right now, since a spokesman recently mentioned about an agreement, when questioned by a Reuters reporter, but nothing more.
The company is not new to the hydrogen-powered approach. Their already-existing Hydrogen7 proved that they’re able to turn a regular engine into a hydrogen-burning one, but Daimler pushed the limit to that by using fue,l cells, which convert hydrogen into electricity, and that are more efficient than by plainly burning it.
Toyota and GM, on the other hand, would benefit from the agreement with BMW, which can bring them money for further research and development, so it looks like a perfect symbiosis.
One more thing is missing from the stage: hydrogen filling pumps. Once such a network would be deployed, batteries would suddenly become the dirtier and more inefficient option, since using hydrogen only produces water, does not deplete Earth’s lithium reserves and does not pollute the environment in any way.
