Based on the original V12-powered BMW Hydrogen 7 bi-fuel version (petrol and hydrogen), the new mono-fuel vehicle's internal combustion engine is optimized to run solely on hydrogen and is said to deliver the same performance, comfort, and safety as a regular production BMW 7 Series plus better mileage than its predecessor.
Since the consumed hydrogen has no carbon, the engine itself would produce no CO2, hydrocarbons, or other pollutants. However, BMW claims the existing pollutants in the surrounding air are consumed by the engine as well as small amounts of lubricating oil. After the burn process there are virtually zero exhaust emissions. In fact, according to BMW’s own testing the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe was actually cleaner than the ambient air going in.
In initial testing, the Hydrogen 7's engine actually shows emissions levels that, for certain components, such as Non Methane Organic Gases (NMOG's) and Carbon Monoxides (CO's), are cleaner than the ambient air that comes into the car's engine.
BMW has been developing hydrogen technology more than 25 years and claims it’s the most logical energy carrier of the future for three key reasons. First, it has no carbon and therefore hydrogen combustion generates no CO2, hydrocarbons and other pollutants. Second, it can be produced using renewable, clean technologies like solar, wind, geothermal, and bio-processes. And lastly, it can be produced in stable areas of the globe as necessary for energy security.
The Hydrogen 7 mono-fuel is a demonstration production vehicle, not a prototype, and was created to showcase the clean energy potential and feasibility of a hydrogen internal combustion engine.
Reader Comments
Tue Apr 15 2008 2:36 PM
chris says
and the vehicle would only cost about 2 million dollars to the average consumer.
Tue Apr 15 2008 2:57 PM
eee says
economies of scale
Tue Apr 15 2008 3:24 PM
rnsaza says
"it can be produced in stable areas of the globe as necessary for energy security" +1
Tue Apr 15 2008 3:24 PM
Raptor says
Semi useless car just became totaly useless.
Tue Apr 15 2008 4:19 PM
Ben tour says
As usual, BMW keeps logic. The son ought to be the main electrecy energy source while hydrogen extracted from water will serve as energy storage mean.
Wed Apr 16 2008 11:02 AM
BCL says
There is no magic here. Anybody who can design a gasoline engine can design a hydrogen engine. The problem is the safe storage of large amounts of hydrogen in the vehicle. We need to develop low-pressure hydrogen absorbing materials that hold 10x more hydrogen than currently available materials. The other problem, of course, is there are no hydrogen fueling stations. Still, hydrogen is definitely the way to go. We just need to build more nuclear power plants to convert water into hydrogen (or nuclear plants that produce hydrogen directly). Ultimately we need a nuclear/hydrogen based economy.
Thu Apr 17 2008 9:35 AM
Germandude says
Think about it: why would you use electricity to produce hydrogen, which you then convert back to electricity? It's just much less economical than just directly storing the electricity in a battery. I know hydrogen cars are very cool and electric vehicles are not, but EVs are the future.
Tue Apr 14 2009 8:22 PM
bruce says
This is definitely a step in the wrong direction. Think about how many millions of dollars go into this hydrogen car idea, and yet it is flawed as a zero emission concept. Electrolysis, compression of hydrogen, and fuel cell technologies are all hugely inefficient compared to battery storage.
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