The German manufacturer BMW, which is launching a small series of fuel cell-powered iX5 this year, has found other virtues in hydrogen. It has chosen applications related to bodywork and paintwork.
Like other manufacturers, including Volvo and Mercedes, BMW is going to favour low-carbon steel, produced using hydrogen. The group has signed agreements to this effect with the Chinese producer HBIS, as well as with the Swedish start-up Green Steel. The latter will use hydrogen and renewable electricity for its process. One third of the steel used by BMW will be low carbon by 2026.
In addition, BMW is the first in the world to use burners in the paint booth that can run on both hydrogen and natural gas. This process was developed by the Bremen-based company Saacke, with the support of the Fraunhofer Research Institute. It is being tested at the Leipzig plant, where the burners can use gas and hydrogen alternately, or a mix of both.
Incidentally, this is the site with the most hydrogen-powered forklifts in Germany. There are 130 of them, which are refuelled at 5 stations at the Leipzig plant.
Do you want to find out more about BMW? Then our latest articles about the German group should be of interest to you. You can access all our articles written about BMW here.
PS: You can sign up to our newsletters to follow the latest hydrogen news on a more regular basis:
– “Your hydrogen news live” (to receive all our articles as soon as they are published) and
– “Your weekly newsletter” (sent every Monday morning).
Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King v