BMW will back hydrogen for transport in its first series production car in 2028 – after all, is the H2 the future?

One of these is BMW, and recently announced in 2028 that it will make its first FCEV a series production. luck Jürgen Guldner, who caught up with the hydrogen technology and vehicle projects of the BMW Group general project manager, was among other hydrogen evangelists at the recent summit promoting FCEV.

Toyota It was a major seller of FCEVS, where Mirai was launched in 2014, but that’s not the only player. Hyundai Nexo has been on sale since 2018 Hondaafter offering a variety of cars with clear names from 2008 to 2021, then launched the CR-V E:FCEV plug-in hybrid hydrogen vehicle to the market in 2024. BMW has become more cautious. The company has been experimenting with FCEVs using pilot vehicles based on the X5 since 2023. IX5 Hydrogen It’s a reliable vehicle with smooth driving and familiar X5 interior. However, this is not necessarily a vehicle that BMW will be released in 2028.

“The good news is that hydrogen vehicles are electric vehicles,” Guldner says. “This is how energy and batteries are stored. This means that many components can be reused from BEVs to electric motors in the car, and so on. It also has a unique value proposition. It has all the benefits of electric driving, silent driving and zero emissions.

Hydrogen infrastructure issues

This has always seemed like a compelling argument against hydrogen in paper, but the reality is that hydrogen refueling does not multiply like BEV charging stations. In fact, it has retreated in many countries. In the UK, there were 15 hydrogen fuel stations in 2019, but today only four were listed in 2025. In contrast, according to Zap-Map, in May 2025 there were 39,733 public charging locations in the UK, with 80,998 devices and 115,241 connectors. Germany is good for hydrogen fueling, but European countries have no stations at all, such as Spain, Portugal or Italy.

Some hydrogen advocates argue that this is a strategic mistake if your goal is to decarbonize road transport.

“FCEVs complement battery electric vehicles and are heading in one general direction,” said David Wong, Head of Technology and Innovation for the Motor Manufacturers and Traders Association. “Investing in both charging infrastructure and fuel cell hydrogen replenishment infrastructure will reduce the overall cost. We did the modeling using Germany as an example. If you have a 90% BEV motor park penetration and a 10% FCEV, the overall cost of investing in infrastructure is $10 billion lower.”

There are also concerns about the use of resources when manufacturing BEVs. Guldner points out that batteries require a lot of raw materials, which can lead to rarity.

“Having a second technology, rather than putting all the eggs in one basket, provides resilience,” he explains. “BMWs with two technologies are better than one. Bevs got a lot of feedback from people who say it doesn’t work for them. We’re thinking about people who can’t use or don’t want to use electric vehicles because they may not have electric charges at home.

This creates problems with how to raise the infrastructure to support hydrogen. Commercial DC chargers can cost $50,000, home chargers cost $1,000 or you can also use a very slow $200 main plug cable.

However, hydrogen stations are much higher, far higher between $1.5 million and $2 million, with some estimates up to $4 million. In the UK at least, the solution is to target the long-distance commercial sector first and then build it. High Hall is a project aimed at achieving that.

“The biggest challenge with hydrogen is the fact that it works very well on a large scale, but not very good on a small scale,” said Chris Jackson, CEO and founder of Protium Green Solutions, who co-founded Hyhaul. “One hydrogen fuel supply station requires hundreds of passenger cars to make economics work, but only a very small number of trucks. Initially, we are developing three main refueling stations. All we need to do is 30 fuel cell trucks to get the project from the ground. The first stage is along the M4 corridor. M6.”

However, FCEV consumer recruitment requires full coverage of the UK within 30 minutes, which requires around 1,300 stations. One reason Tesla As we were able to kickstart the BEV revolution, two extension approaches were extremely effective: building a supportive charging infrastructure for the car.

Automakers developing FCEVs have traditionally left this to third parties, and car adoption leads to a chicken and green situation awaiting infrastructure, and vice versa. This means that BEVs have reached a turning point in many markets, including the UK, EU and China, with FCEVs waiting on the wings.

Will the fuel cells win?

This does not prevent Toyota from enduring FCEVs. “Our role is to provide customers with options,” says John Hunt, senior manager of hydrogen conversion at Toyota GB. “We can’t dismiss the technology there to allow us all to learn and develop.”

Commercial vehicles help FCEVs reach their turning point. In Paris, around 1,000 FCEV taxis have been run by hype since 2015, most of which are Toyota Mirais. For this reason, there are six hydrogen fuel stops in Paris, and three more hydrogen stops. This could lay the foundation for consumers to adopt FCEVs in the city. But outside of Paris, there is no supportive infrastructure yet. Prevents long journeys that go beyond the limits of the city. I also mentioned some hype recently. Pivot from FCEV to bevs.

Even if there’s still a full launch in three years, BMW is putting a big bet on an infrastructure that has been improved enough to make hydrogen a viable choice for consumers by 2028.

Guldner adds that BMW has yet to decide which country to bring those vehicles to the market and will rely on infrastructure.

“Now, it’s not just the UK, but hopefully development will recover in the coming years,” he says.

No exact models have been announced that will begin production in 2028. Also, although prices have not been announced, BMW wants parity for the BEV, says Guldner.

However, these cost savings require sufficient demand for FCEVs to provide sufficient scale.

“I’ve always been surprised by the paper’s investigations that say a lot of people prefer hydrogen vehicles over battery power,” he says. “It seems there’s demand there.”

The question is whether these survey responses will be converted to vehicle sales. In 2028, we learned that BMW began producing FCEVs.