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At a recent Next EfficientDynamics demonstration day - in which we tried various forms of propulsion BMW is planning for the future - there was one exhibit which really caught the eye - this one...
This evil-looking creation is one of BMW's fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) development mules and it's clear to see the resemblance to BMW's i8 plug-in hybrid. Although it's also just as easy to see the Batmobile in it from certain angles.
On the day of the tests, we tried out the hydrogen drivetrain in a 5 Series GT but this i-car-lookalike was used in BMW's previous development work, having been constructed in 2012. By 2014, it ran a 245hp version of the FCEV running gear, allowing for a 0-100km/h time of 6.0 seconds and a top speed of 125km/h, with a 350km range.
Not the wildest stats, we grant you, but the car is likely to be built on the same lightweight principles as the i8. And it also looks fabulous, so we'll forgive it pretty much anything.
Anything else?
While BMW stonewalled questions about the FCEV prototype that wasn't a 5 Series, insisting it was purely for R&D purposes, it looked like it was finished to a suitably high standard. We reckon this previews the future look of the BMW i models, possibly hinting at either a direct replacement for the i8 or - and here's where we're crossing our fingers - perhaps a model that is even quicker than that. BMW i9, anyone?