Hydrogen-powered 7 Series spotted testing
It appears as though BMW's CleanEnergy project is moving along. Evo caught this hydrogen-powered 7 Series testing in Germany.
The engine, based on the 231 bhp 6.0L V12, can run on either hydrogen or gas and automatically switches between fuel source tanks when one is empty.
A hydrogen variant of the 7 Series is expected to be made available to small fleets in 2008.
More information about BMW's CleanEnergy project and their hydrogen mules can be found here.
[Source: Evo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1985 Gripen 2:57PM (9/08/2006)
Like ethanol, I really like the idea of running cars off hydrogen on the surface.
I'm hoping someone can put my mind at ease about where we're going to get the hydrogen to power our cars in the future?
There are two ways of getting hydrogen that I'm aware of: 1.) separate the hydrogen from the oxygen by applying lots of electricity and 2.) extract the hydrogen from fossil fuel gases.
1.) is undesirable because to generate the electricity to extract the hydrogen from water you have to expend a lot of fossil fuels in the power plant (causing even more greenhouse gases)
2.) is undesirable because the point of moving to hydrogen is to move away from dependency on fossil fuels
I'm hoping that there are already answers to these roadblocks and I just haven't heard them yet.
BTW, that's got to be a typo. "Based on the 231 hp 6.0L V12"!?!? The 2.8L V6 Cadillac CTS, for example, puts out 210 hp on three fewer cylinders and 3.2 fewer liters of displacement. Maybe 231 hp is what you get out of that engine when you're running hydrogen, or something?
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DPC car videos 3:58PM (9/08/2006)
Thats nice, I wonder where will the fuel tank be on production models.
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Jacqueline Adams 6:20PM (9/12/2006)
Interesting concept. What about the cost of the vehicle! Jacqueline Adams
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Jacqueline Adams 6:19PM (9/12/2006)
Very Interesting concept. What will be the cost range of the vehicle.
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Dr. Peter M. Wherry 11:04AM (9/13/2006)
Sounds like a good first step. This release would have been much more helpful if BMW also released evidence of up-front collaborations with hydro-electric producers of H2 (As opposed to fossil fuel generated H2). Without this, the new technology will just redirect wealth back into the hands of the oil oligarchy.
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Andy Hornick 3:39PM (4/09/2007)
Think just a little outside the box folks, like -
Generate H2 from nuclear plants on off-peak hours
Generate H2 at the base of free standing wind turbines
Generate H2 at the base of free standing solar panels
Generate H2 with off-peak hydro power
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