BMW has kept its promise of delivering up to 100 hydrogen-fuelled 7-series sedans, with the first customers set to take delivery as early as next March. Produced in a plant in Munich, Germany, the first batch of cars will be leased to minor celebrities including politicians, sports stars and industry leaders. Notable mentions include Madonna, Al Gore, Dr. David Suzuki and Arnold Schwarzenegger amongst others.

BMW believes that this is the first step in the arduous journey of making hydrogen as available as its gasoline counterpart. At the Berlin launch last week, BMW revealed that under the lease arrangements of up to six months, the owners would be assigned an assistant for the car and, at times where hydrogen fuelling stations are not available, mobile fuelling stations will be assigned to the car.

No price has been set for the monofuel combustion engine, which can run on both hydrogen or gasoline. The 191kW 6.0L V12 has a range of roughly 200km from its 8kg tank of liquid hydrogen. Unlike fuel cell technology, the Hydrogen 7 works in the same way that a normal gasoline engine works, however, the special fuel needs to be stored at -253C.