At the 2015 BMW Innovation Days held on the secret BMW ground in Miramas, France, the Bavarian automaker has not only let us drive one of their first hydrogen fuel cell prototypes, but they also let us enjoy from afar a BMW i8 with the same hydrogen fuel cell technology.
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BMW has initially planned to let us drive the “Batmobile” prototype, but the hydrogen tech powering the car was in its early stages and not stable enough to be put through some quick laps. The project was largely completed in 2012.
The car was used for development purposes and according to BMW, as of now, the company has no plans to bring it to the market.
The hydrogen fuel cell technology is a joint project between BMW and Toyota whose aim is to have an initial group of approved components by the year 2020, though FCEV vehicles depend on the development of a hydrogen fuel structure.
BMW’s special i8 sports a matte black paint job with small body modifications compared to the production i8. The front fascia has a new angular interpretation of the traditional kidney grille and fully integrated headlights. Two large air intakes are used to feed air to a series of front-mounted radiators.
The rear end forgoes the floating, layered taillights, basically a more conventional and simplistic approach to design.
Could this hint at future BMW i design?
Underneath, the i8 went through a lot more changes, like the addition of a hydrogen storage system and the afferent fuel cell technology. The fuel stack is placed in the rear where the standard i8 has the 1.5 liter three-cylinder engine.
The interior is made from parts from different BMW models, as you would expect in an early stage prototype.
BMW says its hydrogen fuel cell prototype has recently been taken out of service after being used extensively in the initial development of hydrogen fuel cells.
The design actually reminds me of the Toyota Mirai… Which is not a good thing.
Mirai GT : )
Look how big the powertrain is, they didn’t even manage to make the rear window usable.
:)) It’s a prototype, nothing more. They stopped working on it in 2012
Let’s just hope this isn’t the sports car they’ve been working on with Toyota : )
It’s good to read that BMW has secret technology development projects ongoing. Hopefully more of them will see the light of day.
Sometimes we’d feel better without knowing… Just to name a few when we first heard of the ///M8, or when they ditched a V12 Z4, and the V16…
Well from a pure money point of view, they’d have lost lots of money with these, but from a marketing point of view they would’ve gained a lot. That said, presenting the concepts already gives the second parts i listed without the cost disadvantage…
No they wouldnt. They have the strongest brand from all premium brands and a big step to that was also the i8/i3, because this is something more special than just another super car. Dont get me wrong, I would love to see an M8 or something similar, but I think they will build one in the near future anyway, but the i cars really changed the industry and how customers (will) see cars. Carbon fiber in mass production, imagine how a super car can get profit from that ;)
This right here, is why BMW is a tech leader.
Exactly, I dont see much coming from Audi even though their slogan is “Vorsprung durch Technik”. I have the feeling that they are just catching up on BMW and Benz all the time.
And I like the design of this car too, it looks strange in a good way :-)
Audi have won Le Mans quite a few times, this is not nothing. But these technologies are not in their production cars yet.
Youre right, no big innovations from Audi, alsmost nothing in the past years..
But, they won Le Mans very often, just to be fair ;)
I also dont understand why they are spending billions on this LMP1 stuff, and dont use the know how of this technology in their street cars. Porsche did it right with the 918.
In germany*
Do not forget Toyota, their job is mad, especially since they have Lexus :O
Judging from the text you had the chance to drive this car? How was it? Any impressions? Thanks
Крута
I can’t imagine a joint-venture between GM with Bmw !!