The hydrogen economy is still a long way from now. On top of the effectively non-existent hydrogen supply and distribution network, there are a lot of technological challenges that haven't been able to allow us to build an *affordable* hydrogen vehicle. Everything has to be made out of high quality stainless steel because hydrogen leaks easily, and need to be stored at 3 to 7 times the atmospheric pressure just to be on par with gasoline engines in terms of range, assuming you are going to burn hydrogen like natural gas or gasoline.

Fuel cell technologies are good for stationary appliations, but they are still not at the stage where it can be mass produced, let alone for vehicles. Parts are very expensive since they have to be made with very exotic materials. Practical concerns such as contamination by exhaust products also results in drastic decrease in power output. Not to mention, the current hydrogen supplies come from reformation of CNG or other fossil fuels. This in effect shifts the punishment from the cars to the H2 plants.

So, in short, we are not ready for the hydrogen economy, and it will be a long time before we see the light at the end of the tunnel.

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The world has been ready for a hydrogen car for years- the oil companies just aren't ready to go bankrupt.

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The "sell to select customers..." is inaccurate. Kindly read the BMW release.
The "...when the world is ready..." refers to the current lack of hydrogen infra-structure.
Car companies don't (yet?) provide energy.
"The world has been ready...." if only life and the laws of physics were that simple!

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Luckily for BMW, the public is ready for greenwashing now even though a hydrogen infrastructure may never be built.

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Matt, of course the oil companies aren't ready to go bankrupt - they are the main promoters of H2! The oil companies are the biggest producers of H2, they have the cheapest sources of H2, and they fully intend to be the biggest sellers of this expensive new H2 fuel.

The ad carefully failed to mention the high price of the liquid H2 fuel, or how the 30 gallon liquid H2 tank fills up the trunk space, or the lousy fuel milage (4 mpg H2, 15 mpg petrol), or the average performace from that big fuel guzzling V12 engine. There is so much wrong with this car that I suspect someone at BMW is deliberately trying to sabotage the plans for the H2 economy.

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About advertising in Norway.. maybe they will be concerned about the statement "without leaving a (water)mark.." We have a lot of below zero driving here in Norway, and maybe there will be some iced roads in its trail? I am trying to picture this animation in a 30 below setting :) But as others have pointed out, there is a lot of water vapor in normal exhaust too, so I am not sure there is such a big difference.

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Lascelles Linton
Not to beat a dead horse, but you're reading from Bruno's mistaken report.

deployed does not mean sell

"The car - a vehicle that has undergone the regular Product Development Process - will be built in a limited series and deployed to selected users in the U.S. and other countries in 2007. "

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