BMW put seven hydrogen tanks where the X5's battery sits.
BMW Group's new film opens up the drivetrain of the iX5 Hydrogen, the fuel-cell SUV it says will reach series production in 2028.
Seven carbon-fibre pressure vessels run at 700 bar and hold about seven kilograms of hydrogen. BMW calls the assembly Hydrogen Flat Storage. It takes up the same floor space as the battery pack in an electric X5.
Because the hydrogen pack fits where the battery goes, BMW says the car can be built on the same line as other X5 models, and that the new X5 can be fitted with a choice of five powertrains. The film names four of them: combustion, plug-in hybrid, battery-electric and hydrogen.
BMW's own figures: under five minutes to refuel from empty and up to 750 kilometres of range. The car filmed is a prototype, so official EU consumption numbers are not published yet. The fuel cell is a third-generation unit developed with Toyota.
The line is the interesting part, not the car. A mixed line spreads the bet across drivetrains. It does not remove the hydrogen-specific tooling, leak testing and safety work behind it.
🎥 Video: BMW Group, official YouTube channel, 16 Sep 2026 · narration: AI voice
How many drivetrains does your main line have to carry at once?
What the captions say
- Seven hydrogen tanks lie flat in the car's floor.
- They sit exactly where a battery pack would go.
- BMW calls it the Hydrogen Flat Storage system.
- Around seven kilos of hydrogen at 700 bar.
- BMW says it refuels in under five minutes.
- Range of up to 750 kilometres, the company says.
- This one is a prototype. Production starts in 2028.
- One line builds five X5 powertrains, petrol to hydrogen.
