BMW back in Le Mans with a hydrogen car in 2018 ?

This week end, France welcomes the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It will be a battle between hybrid cars from Porsche, Audi and Toyota on the famous track.

This race is open to new technologies and helps to validate alternative powertrains prior to series production.

Organisers of Le Mans offer the opportunity to run with innovative concepts, thanks to the Garage 56 entry, wich allows to participate without classification. Nissan already made it twice, including electrically assisted ZEOD car.

According to Autocar, BMW plans to come back to Le Mans in 2018 with an hydrogen racing car. And the garage 56 would be an option, instead of racing against more established teams. This would enable the german car maker to communicate on fuel cell technology.

BMW, which has been working for decades on hydrogen with combustion engines (including the 7 series Hydrogen and a H2 race car for a speed world record), is now partnering with Toyota. The Munich based company is said to have 5 series GT prototypes already running with fuel cells. And Hydrogen Today learned that BMW is planning series production in 2018, probably as an extension of the BMW i portfolio.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans would then offer more visibility in order to promote hydrogen.

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.

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