BMW Hydrogen 7
BMW Hydrogen 7 uses Hydrogen power, albeit with a conventional petrol engine in reserve. Unfortunately according to recent reports, Hydrogen powered vehicles may be a little way off mass-production. Hydrogen powered toy racing cars are available to buy now, but the full sized models could be up to 30 years away.
This is not the first time that Hydrogen using vehicles have been developed. Back in the early 1900s, the Zeppelin airships used hydrogen to fly, until the catestrophic Hindenburg disaster in 1937, curtailed hydrogen as a means of transport.
Now, German engineers one again are embracing Hydrogen technology. The BMW Hydrogen 7 was introduced last year. Built around the existing BMW 7 series, but with the addition of a liquid hydrogen fuel tank. Hydrogen as a fuel, has some particular environmental benefits. It does not emit CO2 (a huge part of the climate change issue), just some harmless vapour, unlike conventional fossil fuels.
The high tech hydrogen storage tank has a capacity of approximately 17.6 lb of liquid hydrogen, giving the Hydrogen 7 a cruising range in hydrogen mode upwards of 125 miles. The car will do an additional 300 miles on the petrol tank. The driver, at the flick of a switch can engage hydrogen or petrol, without any change to the car’s performance, as engine power and torque remain identical regardless of the fuel used.
BMW are only producing about 50 Hydrogen 7 cars, with 5 heading for the UK. Unfortunately the Hydrogen 7 is not available to buy as yet, but hydrogen is today powering cars, and once the distribution channels are sorted, then you might even to be able to fill it up.
What BMW have done though is prove the concept. It is only a matter of time before, cars like this are available to buy, and we hope that the Hydrogen 7 helps give this concept some momentum and speeds up the process.
June 4th, 2007 at 10:42 am
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June 6th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Your article refers to the Hindenburg disaster as if hydrogen was the culprit of the disaster.
Hydrogen was not. Hydrogen burns blue and only at the right mixture with oxygen. If concentrated enough hydrogen has the same effect as CO2. The Hindenburg, according to expert eyewitness reports burned yellow, which would be the canvass and sizing. Watch the film footage and, you will see for yourself, people running unharmed from the wreckage as the Hindenburg slowly sinks to the ground.
Hydrogen as an alternative to oil has been around for years, could it be that the major automotive manufacturers together with the oil companies have supressed the development of hydrogen power ? After all the technology involved is very similar to LPG !
June 12th, 2007 at 11:29 am
There is a good article about the Hindenburg Disaster on Wiki. Although my article does suggest that Hydrogen was the culprit, to date their is no firm conclusion regarding the cause of the disaster. From the article: “Also, while hydrogen tends to burn invisibly, the materials around it would be combustible and change the color of the fire.”
With regards to the suppression of hydrogen power by the oil companies… It is certainly possible. As the recent Eco Rally demonstrated, hydrogen powered cars from BMW and other manufacturers, are actually in production now. The biggest challenge seems to be getting the infastructure in place to feed these new vehicles. I think LPG is a good alternative to petrol, but still it is not a sustainable technology, in the way that hydrogen promises.