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9 min ago 2 min read
France’s Lhyfe will supply undisclosed volumes of green hydrogen to BMW in Austria, where the German auto major is testing fuel cell systems ahead of the 2028 commercial launch of its hydrogen passenger car.
The hydrogen produced by Lhyfe will be supplied to BMW’s Steyr facility, where it will manufacture fuel cell systems for its iX5 Hydrogen car, under a “multi-year” deal.
BMW will use the hydrogen for testing and validation of the systems as it looks to roll out series production of its fuel cell electric vehicle under a collaboration with Toyota.
Lhyfe has not confirmed how many tonnes of hydrogen will be supplied to BMW annually. The company told H2 View it does not disclose volumes and added that across its network, hydrogen could come from both its own production sites and selected partner facilities.
The French producer already operates five green hydrogen plants across France and Germany with a combined output of up to 8.5 tonnes per day of hydrogen certified under EU renewable fuels of non-biological origin rules.
Despite supplying various hydrogen refuelling operations across and , this deal will mark its first deliveries to Austria. The firm uses high-pressure gaseous trailers to deliver hydrogen.
BMW began prototype production of its fuel cell system in 2025, claiming it is 25% more compact while offering higher power density and efficiency than previous models.
It will form part of the powertrain for its iX5 Hydrogen car, which it says will have a on one 7kg fill of hydrogen.
While BMW presses ahead with hydrogen passenger car plans, hydrogen looks likely to primarily play a role in very specific mobility use cases where battery-electric systems face constraints in range, charging time, and payload.
Efforts are increasingly being focused on heavy-duty, long-haul trucking.
The European Commission’s latest framework showed hydrogen was the most expensive transport fuel on a per-kilometre basis across the EU.
Across 17 member states, hydrogen ranged between €10.53 ($12.32) and €20.62 ($24.13) per 100km, compared to €2.6 ($2.93) to €11.78 ($13.78) for electric, and €6.2 ($7.26) to €10.66 ($12.47) for petrol and diesel.
