Global Trade Deciphered
Global Trade Deciphered explores global trade, geopolitics, and the global economy, featuring expert analysis from leading world-class expert guests. Hosted by Justin Hayden Miller, a global trade lawyer and partner at a top European law firm, it’s ideal for business leaders, policymakers, and anyone curious about international business and trade policy. Follow for insights to stay ahead. A Privileged Discussions Productions podcast.
Global Trade Deciphered
Bonus: Test-Driving BMW’s Revolutionary Prototype Hydrogen Car
Strap in for an exclusive test drive of BMW's game-changing iX5 Hydrogen prototype—hitting roads in 2028! Join host and test driver Justin Hayden Miller at BMW's iconic Munich FIZ Center - with BMW hydrogen Lead and Hydrogen Council founder, Dr. Jürgen Guldner, riding in the passenger seat.
Feel the instant torque, whisper-quiet EV ride, and zero-emission fuel cell speed: with sub-6-sec acceleration. Blending battery perks with gas-station ease, it's the future of sustainable mobility. Must-hear sequel to our previous hydrogen trade episode!
Key Highlights:
- Thrilling Test Drive: Feel the raw power—125kW fuel cell + 170kW battery boost for highway dominance and sports-mode adrenaline. Justin calls it "driving in the future"!
- Behind-the-Scenes: Live from Munich's innovation hub with 20,000+ experts, plus a nod to the BMW i3's EV legacy.
- Tech Deep Dive: Dr. Guldner explains fuel cell magic: Hydrogen + oxygen = electricity + pure water exhaust. Learn about regenerative braking, 6kg hydrogen tanks, and 3-4 minute refuels.
- BMW-Toyota Partnership: Over 10 years of collaboration culminates in this prototype, with series production hitting roads in 2028 as a complement to battery EVs.
- Sustainability Edge: Why hydrogen beats batteries for long-haul drivers—no home charging needed, just gas-station convenience with zero emissions.
Guest: Dr. Jürgen Guldner, Head of BMW Hydrogen Projects, Vehicle Dynamics Pioneer, founding member of the Hydrogen Council and Global Hydrogen Advocate.
Why Listen? Echoing Top Gear's iconic test drives, discover how hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are revolutionizing mobility, decarbonizing transport, and challenging Tesla-style EVs. Ideal for auto enthusiasts, green tech fans, and global trade pros eyeing Europe's energy transition.
Call to Action: Subscribe now for more episodes decoding global trade trends! Rate and review on Buzzsprout, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Follow @JustinHaydenM on X for updates. Missed the main episode? Check "Driving the Future: Europe's Hydrogen Mobility Revolution" first!
#HydrogenCars #BMWHydrogen #FuelCellTech #ElectricVehicles @BMW #SustainableTransport #AutoInnovation #TopGear
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*Disclaimer: This podcast is simply for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not in way constitute legal, business, financial or other advice whatsoever. Should you require advice then please seek such from an appropriately qualified professional, explaining your specific circumstances.
Today I'm taking you inside the future of mobility as I test drive BMW's revolutionary new hydrogen prototype set to hit the market in 2028. From BMW's Fizz Innovation Center in Munich, Dr. Jürgen Goldner is in the passenger seat, the mastermind behind BMW's vehicle transformation and hydrogen technology. He'll guide us through the specs and innovations powering this game-changing vehicle. If you missed it, check out our previous episode where Dr. Goldner considers the future of hydrogen cars. Now, let's buckle up for a ride into the future. Welcome to Global Trade Deciphered. I'm your host, Justin Hayden Miller, decoding the policies shaping global trade and emerging trends.
DrJürgenGuldner:So anyway, this is the car. And why don't we get in and then arrange yourself with the seating? But in the inside it's it's a normal car.
JustinHaydenMiller:Okay, well you're going to tell me everything when we're driving. We'll do that. Well thank you very much, Jeugen. Brilliant. Ok. This is already a very nice car but obviously the detail is under the bonnet. J.rgenH Hegan. Okay. Brilliant. Okay. This is already a very nice car, but obviously the the detail is under the bonnet.
DrJürgenGuldner:Correct. I mean this is our pilot fleet of our second generation fuel cell systems. Um it's an IX-5 hydrogen. It has a fuel cell system that's under the bonnet, um 125 kilowatt of power. The specialty here is that we have this power available continuously. That is responsible for this car being able to drive 185 kilometers an hour constantly on a highway. This 125 kilowatts of the fuel cell is topped off, I'd say, with 170 kilowatts from a very small battery. The battery has a lot of power, obviously, but not much energy content because we don't need energy. This is uh a fuel cell car. But the 170 kilowatts extra obviously give us great acceleration. And it also obviously acts as a buffer when we regenerate energy while we're braking. The braking levels or the the feel for the driver can be selected in this car, and I'll show you when we drive um how that is done. But it's important to understand that the car always does the best in the background, meaning it gets the most energy out of the braking um as possible regardless of how the driver feels.
JustinHaydenMiller:It's extremely efficient.
DrJürgenGuldner:It's very efficient. It also is very responsive, obviously give us great acceleration under six seconds, which for this car is is pretty good. And when you push the gas pedal, which now has a another meaning here, and uh that's why we say a fuel cell electric car is actually the best of both worlds. So it combines the features of electric driving, the great acceleration, um, the silent ride. We put a lot of effort into acoustics in this car, so we you won't hear anything. And the main feature is that the electricity is produced from the fuel cell system coming from the hydrogen, and the hydrogen tanks are kind of in between us here in the middle of the car and under the rear seat. Um we have six kilograms of hydrogen, which gives us a range of about five hundred kilometers, depending on your driving scale. And two tanks can be refilled in just three to four minutes. So it's the same as going to a gas station with gasoline or diesel fueling. From three to four minutes is a hundred percent four, you can keep going. So use case of a conventional combustion engine car combined with the electric driving features.
JustinHaydenMiller:Well, it's a relatively beautiful day. The sun has been shining, it's completely dry. We've got the slick tires on. Yeah, and you know, it's a beautiful X X5 model. Let's spin away and test it. Okay.
DrJürgenGuldner:So all you have to do is push the blue button that says start.
JustinHaydenMiller:Blue. Good for hydrogen okay pedal.
DrJürgenGuldner:Yeah, and then you push, and then the car says ready. Okay, and um then all you have to do is put it in gear, which is here in this gear level. There's uh the shift lock, so it goes into drive. Okay, and then um you can drive off.
JustinHaydenMiller:So advancing, we're going to stop for this pedestrian to come over. Yes, why don't we do that? Unlike my colleagues. And I noticed that the number of kilometers per hour, etc., is actually on the windscreen.
DrJürgenGuldner:That's our head up system. So we have that in all the cars, it's not a hydrogen feature.
JustinHaydenMiller:We'll turn left on on there, maybe. Well, this is already already a very, very smooth ride, isn't it?
DrJürgenGuldner:Yeah, I mean the base car has a great suspension, uh chassis. It's a good basis.
JustinHaydenMiller:Left and right. And it is very, very, very, very smooth. It's incredible. I mean, uh I don't know if it's psychological, but it actually seems smoother than other electric vehicles that I've I've driven, but perhaps that's in even a more advanced technology, I don't know.
DrJürgenGuldner:Well, it uses the same drive software as our battery electric vehicles, which are very successful in the market, so I'll take that as a compliment. Good control with the gas pedal.
JustinHaydenMiller:Well, I'm normally driving a German competitor model, so you're already convincing me to to switch. For the moment, we're we're just uh driving around the the roads of of Munich next to your innovation center or innovation city. Because uh Lisa was telling me that there's some you know 20,000 people plus actually working through your innovation center. Yes, yes. So we're driving around about 40 kilometers an hour at the moment.
DrJürgenGuldner:We'll just turn left at the next there's a little place where you can have a U-turn there. I don't know if you see it. But I mean you have great acceleration.
JustinHaydenMiller:Let's test the acceleration on this then. I'll give you sports mode, okay? Okay, go for it. Wow, amazing. Where was that other car? Just to explain.
DrJürgenGuldner:Okay, we've got a turn left here.
JustinHaydenMiller:All the cars that we were next to have just disappeared. I I virtually can't see them in my mirror. That is just I mean uh what strikes me, because I've driven some cars with quite high horsepower, but it's the reactivity of it that is really impressive. There's no delay whatsoever, it's just immediate.
DrJürgenGuldner:Yes, this uh responsiveness is the beauty of electric driving. And in a fuel cell hydrogen vehicle, obviously it depends very much on how you design the fuel cell system, that it is able to react instantaneously basically, and the battery then adds the power to it, and the electric motor obviously is very responsive as well. So we have a great response.
JustinHaydenMiller:Tell me what's happening under the bonnet.
DrJürgenGuldner:Under the bonnet we have the fuel cell system, and there the conversion from hydrogen combined with oxygen from the ambient air that we take in through a compressor happens in what we call the fuel cells, and it's a chemical reaction. It's instantaneous. Obviously, it takes a lot of engineering to control that, to have a highly efficient fuel cell system. The output is electricity that then drives the car, and the exhaust is water vapor, because hydrogen plus oxygen makes water, H2O.
JustinHaydenMiller:It's a battery electric vehicle, but the power rather than coming from a battery is simply through a hydrogen cell that converts the hydrogen into electricity.
DrJürgenGuldner:Right. And how does it do that? The uh fuel cell itself has a we call it a membrane in between. So it's it's several layers, and those layers are responsible for the reaction. So on one side you have hydrogen that comes in. Wow, yay, that was the acceleration.
JustinHaydenMiller:Yeah, it's just absolutely it's just like so responsive, immediate.
DrJürgenGuldner:Yes, um, because that um chemical reaction actually is um pretty instantaneous. So the reaction in the fuel cell system happens in the individual cells when we have a few hundreds of them in what we call a stack, and that um is the heart of the system. Now on one side we have hydrogen, uh, and the hydrogen comes in through little channels and meets a layer of a catalyst, and this catalyst layer basically strips the hydrogen molecule of the electrons, and um the electrons then are used to basically drive the car with the electric motors, and what's left is the proton, the H we call it.
JustinHaydenMiller:It's a very small, and that then you're losing the gliogen because it continue, yeah.
DrJürgenGuldner:On the other side of the membrane, we have the air from the ambient that we take in through an air filter and a compressor, and the air contains oxygen. The oxygen then takes up the electrons that come back from the electric motor and and driving the car basically. Um they're ionized and they're ready to take up those protons from the hydrogen. They meet it's a nuclear reactor. Uh no. No. Not at all. No, it's a chemical reaction. And then oxygen plus hydrogen make water, H2O.
JustinHaydenMiller:Right. So the only thing coming out of the back is is pure water.
DrJürgenGuldner:Yes, exactly. It's purified water that comes out with the rest of the air.
JustinHaydenMiller:And you said that when one breaks, then it's actually conserving the energy and putting the how does it actually conserve the energy through braking? Is it a battery system as well?
DrJürgenGuldner:Yes, it it also has a battery. And when we're braking, when you take the the foot of the gas pedal, then the electric motor actually acts as a generator. It decelerates the car, it breaks breaks the car. Um, and that energy that is then generated from the electric motor is fed into a buffer battery, and that buffer battery gives you extra power when accelerating, but also restores the energy that you regain when you're when you're braking.
JustinHaydenMiller:And this car is a is a prototype?
DrJürgenGuldner:Yes, this is a prototype fleet, or we call it a pilot fleet of our second generation fuel cell system. Um we have been working together with Toyota for more than 10 years now, and our third generation will come to the roads in 2028, and that will actually go into serious production. So you will be able to buy or lease a BMW hydrogen vehicle as of 2028.
JustinHaydenMiller:People purchase vintage cars to an extent, they do that in order to go back in time. Getting into like uh, you know, an old Rolls-Royce 1920s or something. I think there's an element of uh of going back in time and certainly driving this car, which is a prototype of something that will eventually come out onto the market. I mean, it's ahead of its time. It does feel as if I'm actually driving in the future rather than driving in the past. It's it's really quite amazing.
DrJürgenGuldner:Yeah, that's I think that's a very good comparison. Yeah, this is uh a prototype of what we'll see in the future. And we think the hydrogen vehicles, the hydrogen powertrains will actually complement nicely our portfolio of battery electric vehicles. Um, we have had battery electric vehicles on the road in the markets for more than 12 years now, starting with our I3, and they're very successful, I'm proud to say. But we also see and get some feedback from people who want to drive a zero emission vehicle but who say it's difficult to integrate a battery electric car into their daily mobility needs. And that is why we're looking into hydrogen mobility because it combines the electric driving features with the capability to use a vehicle like we're using combustion engine cars today.
JustinHaydenMiller:So I can buy one of these in 2028, yeah?
DrJürgenGuldner:Yes, the next generation will come out in 2028, and we're really looking forward to that.
JustinHaydenMiller:Left here, brilliant. So we have Lisa in the back who's our navigator co-pilot. And Lisa is in charge of communication at BMW.
DrJürgenGuldner:This is just park somewhere real quick, because I'll I'll have to put the car back over here. Yeah, this is a good spot to park. Yeah, just here.
JustinHaydenMiller:Try not to crash it. Yeah. Well, I'm so grateful for allowing me to drive in 2028 because that's what it really feels like, you know. I mean, uh I I I feel a little bit I feel a few years older than I am actually at the moment. Thank you very much.
DrJürgenGuldner:Do you want to do a picture inside?
JustinHaydenMiller:Um, yeah, I think a good picture would be good.
DrJürgenGuldner:Let's stop the car first before we do anything else.
JustinHaydenMiller:If you're listening to this, then thank you for having listened to the podcast from beginning to end. The content of this podcast is intended only to provide an information resource of interest, and does not constitute legal, tax, business, or financial advice of any kind. Should you require advice, then you should engage an appropriately qualified person to provide you specific advisory services in the field. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this podcast are my own, and do not necessarily represent the views, thoughts, or opinions of any law firm, nor that of any third party, other person, company, or organization. Stay tuned for the next episode.
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