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on the evening of september 5, toyota motor corporation and bmw group announced that the two parties had signed a basic agreement to jointly develop the third-generation fuel cell system. at the same time, bmw officially announced that it will launch its first mass-produced fuel cell vehicle (fcev) in 2028.

this is not the first time that toyota and bmw have cooperated. the two parties first started cooperation in december 2011 and have cooperated in the research and development of fuel cells and other environmental technologies and performance models for more than 10 years. both companies hope to realize a hydrogen energy society. before this, toyota provided battery cells, which are core components of batteries. this time, it is a deeper cooperation. toyota will provide fuel cell systems to help bmw launch mass-produced hydrogen fuel vehicles within a few years.

according to reports, the first step of the cooperation between toyota and bmw is focused on the field of hydrogen fuel cells, and the hydrogen tanks are independently developed by bmw. michael rath, vice president of bmw group hydrogen energy battery vehicles, said: "in terms of system design, both parties develop their own models and apply the jointly developed hydrogen fuel cells to their own models. at present, the two parties have no plans to jointly develop hydrogen fuel cell models." bmw group chairman zipse also said: "bmw is the world's first high-end automaker to launch mass-produced fuel cell vehicles, which represents an important milestone in the automotive industry. it is expected that the demand for fuel cell vehicles in the market will see a substantial increase in the future."

in addition to the above-mentioned cooperation, toyota and bmw also plan to create synergy through cooperation in r&d, procurement, etc., integrate powertrains and units to reduce costs, expand demand for commercial and passenger vehicles, and make fuel cell vehicles (fcev) closer to life.

it is understood that bmw's first batch of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the ix5 hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, was first tested on the road in china in october 2023. in april this year, the car was unveiled again in beijing. specifically, the car's drive system integrates hydrogen fuel cell technology and the fifth-generation bmw edrive electric drive technology, with a total output power of 295 kilowatts. in addition, the hydrogen storage tank equipped with the car can store 6 kilograms of hydrogen, and the vehicle's range under wltp conditions is 504 kilometers.

it is worth mentioning that in today's new energy vehicle era, neither bmw nor toyota has achieved good results in pure electric models. the two sides chose to strengthen cooperation in the field of hydrogen fuel cells, which may reduce the mass production cost of fuel cell vehicles and provide more choices besides fuel vehicles and pure electric vehicles. of course, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have not yet entered the stage of large-scale development in the domestic market. domestic hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are mainly concentrated in the field of commercial vehicles, and passenger vehicles are still in the initial stage.