BMW Group wants to use hydrogen to power around 230 forklifts and tugger trains at its Regensburg electric drivetrain plant in Germany.
From 2026, the automotive major plans to deploy the hydrogen-powered logistics equipment for “all” tasks in the plant, including press shop, body shop and assembly operations.
With the logistics fleet currently using electric drives, BMW hopes to reduce vehicle downtime caused by having to change batteries twice per shift.
“Battery replacement, which is performed manually using a crane, takes about 15 minutes and requires space,” it said.
BMW Project Manager, Katharina Radtke, added, “The advantage of hydrogen is that refuelling is very fast – just like with conventional fuels. The filling stations required for this will be installed directly within the different production areas and do not take up much space.”
And to ensure the supply of hydrogen, BMW will install a 2km pipeline network with six different refuelling stations by early 2026.
“Once the conversion is completed, our annual hydrogen consumption will be around 150 tonnes,” Radtke said.
The firm expects the entire fleet transition to be completed in stages by 2030.
BMW has already been introducing hydrogen into its factory logistics. In 2022 the company said fuel cells would power automated guided vehicles (AGVs) at its Leipzig factory.
Read more:Hydrogen to power automated vehicles in BMW’s Leipzig factory
More broadly the group has been pushing hard on hydrogen mobility. It plans to launch a series production fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) in 2028 as part of a collaboration with Toyota.
Can hydrogen cars still drive the future of mobility?
© BMW Group
BMW’s September announcement that it would launch a series-produced hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) in collaboration with Toyota was bound to catch the eye of many.
The German automotive giant said it would work with Toyota on jointly developing a powertrain system for passenger vehicles that would be used in their own distinct models.
Following on from the iX5 Hydrogen pilot fleet that has undergone testing in various geographies, BMW Chairman, Oliver Zipse, claimed the effort would “herald an era of significant demand for FCEVs.”
While collaborations like BMW and Toyota’s signal continued commitment to hydrogen technology, the broader market context paints a more complex picture, with several challenges blurring the rationale of hydrogen mobility.
For decades, interest in hydrogen cars has waxed and waned. Early enthusiasm in the 1990s and 2000s was driven by the potential of reaping the benefits of a zero-emission solution, with little change to the behaviours of gasoline car users.
BMW itself has been toying with the idea of hydrogen-powered personal mobility since the 1970s. In 1979, it developed an experimental liquid hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engine (ICE) 5 Series. This was followed by additional prototypes based on the 7 Series, ahead of a small series production 750hl model in 2000…
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