2008 Hydrogen Road Tour comes to an end in LA
Two weeks ago, the 2008 Hydrogen Road Tour started up in Maine. Today, the tour made its final stop in Los Angeles, following a cross-country tour that opened new hydrogen stations in Missouri and Massachusetts along the way. BMW's Hydrogen 7 was along for the ride and the Bavarians sent out a press release today announcing the completion of the 4,000-mile trip (read it after the jump). BMW sent along two dual-fuel Hydrogen 7 and two mono-fuel versions of the luxury sedan. The hydrogen-only version of the 7 has a range of 200 miles of hydrogen-only driving. This is just one more example of the many, many miles of PR BMW has gotten out of these vehicles and with the Hydrogen Road Tour now over, do you think this is all we've heard about the Hydrogen 7? Not very likely.
[Source: BMW]
PRESS RELEASE:
BMW HYDROGEN 7 ROLLS INTO LOS ANGELES TO COMPLETE THE 2008 HYDROGEN ROAD TOUR
08/22/2008
Los Angeles, CA –-August 23, 2008...The BMW Hydrogen 7 - the first hydrogen-powered luxury sedan - pulled into Los Angeles this morning to finish a more than 4,000 mile cross-country journey featuring hydrogen-powered cars by the world's leading automakers in the 2008 Hydrogen Road Tour. The purpose of the tour was to show that leading automakers and energy producers are doing their part to move away from fossil fuels to hydrogen, and showcase the cooperation among forward-thinking lawmakers, NGOs, the DOT, DOE and the industry.
Logging an unprecedented "strictly hydrogen" cruising range of over 200 miles, the BMW Hydrogen 7 mono-fuel completed the two-week, 31 city tour, tour with outstanding reliability, leaving only a trail of potable water vapor in its tracks. The 200-mile cruising range is equivalent to over 25mpg. In the BMW Hydrogen 7 bi-fuel vehicle, the cruising range topped 125 miles. By optimizing the combustion process in the mono-fuel Hydrogen 7, we achieved an increase in range of over 60% over the bi-fuel Hydrogen 7.
Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine kicked off the tour by driving a BMW Hydrogen 7 off the starting line when the tour began in Portland, ME on August 11.
BMW provided a fleet of four hydrogen-powered cars – two BMW Hydrogen 7 mono-fuel vehicles that use only liquid hydrogen and two BMW Hydrogen 7 bi-fuel vehicles that can switch from hydrogen to gasoline. The four BMW vehicles along with the core BMW CleanEnergy team were on the road for the entire two-week tour.
The Hydrogen Road Tour is a partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Energy, the California Fuel Cell Partnership and the National Hydrogen Association. In addition to BMW, participants included Daimler, GM, Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Nissan, Toyota, and VW. Providing clean, domestically produced hydrogen fuel for this tour were Linde, BMW's hydrogen fuel partner for the Tour, and Air Products.
"The miles covered on this tour are a highly valuable contribution to the nearly 2 million miles already logged by our global fleet of 100 BMW Hydrogen 7s. This tour has shown thousands of people that hydrogen is truly the best alternative transportation fuel, and hydrogen vehicles are approaching commercial availability. An internal combustion engine, powered by hydrogen should play an important role in the future of sustainable mobility," said Tom Baloga, BMW Vice President of Engineering, US. "What we have learned in these past two weeks is that there is intense enthusiasm, among the public and among our nation's legislators, in hydrogen as a viable alternative to fossil fuels. The next step is to extend the nation's hydrogen refueling infrastructure from coast to coast."
What was most noteworthy about the Hydrogen Road Tour was the partnership between the world's leading automakers, key federal departments, influential non-governmental organizations and hydrogen fuel providers to bring the reality of practical, clean energy to our nation's legislators and the public. The tour visited key members of Congress in their home states to allow them the opportunity to see and drive these vehicles.
BMW Hydrogen 7 was the only vehicle on the tour that stores liquid hydrogen to power an internal combustion engine. Hydrogen is one of the cleanest energy sources available. Essentially the only tailpipe emission is water vapor.
Mono-fuel Hydrogen 7 actually cleans the air
The tour fleet included the mono-fuel version of the BMW Hydrogen 7, equipped with a V12 internal combustion engine (ICE), which has been engineered to run exclusively on hydrogen. It was created to showcase the zero CO2 and low emissions potential and feasibility of a dedicated hydrogen internal combustion engine (ICE).
The Hydrogen 7's V12 mono-fuel ICE produces no CO2 and near-zero emissions, while not sacrificing performance. In fact, the tailpipe emissions are so infinitesimal they pushed the limits of current emission testing technology.
Independent authorities, including the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), have confirmed these results. ANL conducted emission tests on BMW Hydrogen 7 mono-fuel vehicles in early March 2008 and found that not only were the emissions infinitesimally small but when running, the vehicle actually cleaned the air.
Exhaust emissions clean enough to drink
Recent studies have also confirmed the water emitted by the Hydrogen 7 is potable, i.e., safe to drink.
Exhaust from the mono-fuel Hydrogen 7 tested by FGL Environmental was found to be well within the limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for safe drinking water standards. The Maximum Contaminant Limit, abbreviated MCL, is the maximum limit set by the EPA for chemicals found in drinking water. Results showed the MCL from mono-fuel H7 emissions to be in compliance with the health safety standards.
BMW Hydrogen 7 on the road
For more than a year, the BMW fleet of bi-fuel Hydrogen 7s has been an important milestone on the road to a hydrogen future, with more than 150 Pioneers driving nearly 2 million miles so far. The Pioneer Program, as it is called, has provided the flexibility of being able to gather real-world driving experience driving on hydrogen with the peace of mind that comes from knowing you won't run out of fuel. In addition to the BMW hydrogen pioneers, hundreds of people from academia, students, media, as well as the general public, have had the opportunity to experience the BMW Hydrogen 7.
See the Tour online at www.hydrogenroadtour.com. Check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE6-rlbeqlc. Learn more about the BMW Hydrogen 7 at http://bmwcleanenergy.com. With a nationwide hydrogen infrastructure in place – the goal of the Hydrogen Road Tour – the hydrogen future would be a reality.
BMW Group In America
BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, an industrial design firm in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group's global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all Z4 models, X5 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car centers, 335 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 142 BMW motorcycle retailers, 82 MINI passenger car dealers, and 30 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group's sales headquarters for North, Central and South America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TX CHL Instructor 10:22PM (8/23/2008)
Hydrogen: The Perfect Fuel for People who can Freely Spend Other People's Money.
Yet another H2 article that carefully avoids mentioning cost.
BTW, H2 itself *is* a pollutant. It is the most potent ozone-depletion agent ever produced by man. And H2 *cannot* be successfully 100% contained.
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Chris M 3:14AM (8/24/2008)
Of course the cost isn't mentioned, that would interfere with the H2 hype that keeps the government subsidies flowing. After all, if people realized that it could double their fuel cost, cut their range, that H2 storage tanks costs more than automotive LiIon battery packs, and driving electric is much cheaper, they'd realize that plug-ins are a much much better deal.
"And H2 *cannot* be successfully 100% contained."
Especially when the entire 32 gallons will boil away in just two weeks...
Paul Berg 7:45AM (8/24/2008)
Hello oil lovers. You guys know as well as many of us that hydrogen can be produced at home using solar power and wind very soon, and this is only the beginning of clean energy production. We have spent moore than 100 years of poluting the earth and NOT using solar, wind, waves, nuclear and soforth... That is what i call WASTE. And did i mension the cost? The cost has been huge in lives and invironment. So, oil lovers...dont waste your precious energy talking about cost and polution !!!
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Serge 10:39AM (8/25/2008)
Paul: just for the record, above two posters are not "oil lovers," but advocates for a much better solution: battery power.
Battery-powered car beats the fuel-cell-powered car in any category.
Gasoline burners are a waste? For sure. The only thing that's more wasteful is a hydrogen burner. There is a better solution and it's being put in place right now, unlike this hydrogenous pie in the sky.
gorr 12:08PM (8/24/2008)
Hydrogen is the only fuel that can be obtained free at home with a windmill, solar or even with electricity from the grid if you are more in a hurry. It's a endless solution renewable for 1000+ years. There is zero pollution and it can end 10 millions jobs in polution making and ruling, energy security , scientists, politicians, paid journalists, all of them searching for a solution that have the characteristic of ending their jobs if they find the solution because they are paid to find a solution.
Only private business can enter this new market but since 2001 there is a preventive war on any new thing. But im still shopping for a car that may have the characteristics im looking for.
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JamesWB 1:56PM (8/25/2008)
Hydrogen is not a fuel, it is a very inefficient energy storage medium. It will always take more energy to produce the H2 than you will get from burning it or using it in a fuel cell, this is the laws of physics.
As for making it at home from solar power - it's good to know that you a have a roof big enough for the acres of solar panels require, most of us don't.
Oh and regarding this comment:
''Not a lot of difference in driving one when comprared to petro powered vehicles...the power was amazingly strong.''
it makes 256hp and 290lbft compared to the standard 760s 445hp and 442lbft. Oh, and it gets a whopping 5mpg, only a third of what the standard car gets.
Chris M 1:29AM (8/27/2008)
Why bother with "fuel" at all, when you can use electricity?
Starting with electricity, going through electrolysis, compression of H2 for storage, then PEM fuel cell, the overall efficiency is just 24% (assuming high performance units, homebrew electrolysis is much less efficient!)
Starting with electricity, going through charger and batteries, overall efficiency is 85%. It takes 3X MORE electricty to go the same distance via the hydrogen route, and thats a big difference when you are relying on expensive renewable sources and want to reduce use of fossil fuels.
To make matters worse, H2 storage costs more than LiIon batteries, and then there is the rediculously high cost of H2 fuel cells, about a half million dollars per car!
Forget H2. The future is electric.
dausman 9:58AM (8/25/2008)
Was lucky enough to drive two of the hydrogen powered/fueled and ride in a third when the Tour stopped in Columbia , SC. Not a lot of difference in driving one when comprared to petro powered vehicles...the power was amazingly strong.
The auto manufactuer reps shared their knowledge and a one hour Hydrogen video provided a very good basic educational session...a fun learning afternoon to say the least.
Building the cars is the easy part........the fueling infrastructure will come slowly...one will be completed in Columbia,SC by early 2009 in time for a national Hydrogen organization meeting/convention that will take place in March 2009....just build at least one in each major city and go from there...enough to connect the dots on the map...the gasoline infrastructure was certainly not built overnight...nor will the H2 infrastructure.
Believe the "boiling off" issue is related to liquid hydrogen and those issues are being addressed as how to capture and store those gases.
The September 2008 issue of Popular Mechanics has a good article about seven alternative fuel sources...hydrogen is one of them....we will have numerous possible alternative fuels and combinations of those souces to power our vehicles.
I was highly skeptical about being able to use hydrogen as a fuel source but now there is no doubt in my mind that it will be here in the very near future...sooner than later I hope.
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Floorman56 4:17PM (8/25/2008)
Unfortunately it seems they had to be carried on a flatbed for almost 1000 miles of the trip
From Gizmodo
If you're going to heavily promote your cross-country trek as the "first ever" for hydrogen-powered vehicles, at least make sure large, 1,000-mile stretches of it did not involve having the vehicles carried along on flatbed trucks. This was the case today as the "Hydrogen Road Tour '08" wrapped up in Los Angeles after its 60-strong vehicle fleet entered the Los Angeles Coliseum. From Rolla, Missouri, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, the caravan was carried on the back of carbon-belching flat bed tractor trailer trucks. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of an alternative fuel road trip right then and there?
Part of the gaff was, of course, due to that fact that there are just 60 hydrogen stations in the U.S., and only two of those are open to the public "without prior arrangement," says Reuters
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Dr Energy 9:24PM (8/26/2008)
I want to mention that most reports about this tour cover up the fact that hydrogen cars have to be towed on tracks for significant distances. And not because of the lack of H2 stations along the roads but because of the technical failures. This tour was a FAILURE not a success.
Regarding fuel cells vs batteries... Gravimetric energy density even of the best possible battery is 5-10 times lower than that of a fuel cell plant. In other words, if you want to drive your car on a battery for 250 miles, the weight of the battery will be larger the rest of the propelled weight. Battery- powered cars may take over the commuter market. i.e. for people who drive 50 miles a day and have 8 h at night for recharge. For long -distance drives, battery rental/swap for charge batteries at fueling stations may be the ultimate solution.
H2 fuel cell cars now are comparable in terms of energy and power density to gasoline cars and theoretically can do even better. The cost of H2 produced in the US via methane reforming is equivalent per mile driven to 4.00 $/gal for gasoline. Of course, the higher demand for H2 in the fuel cell scenario will make H2 more expensive. The ultimate price of H2 is determined by the cost of the primary energy, for which solar is the only feasible option. Batteries are no better than fuel cells in this regard. It is true that based on the US average price for electricity now, battery powered cars make equivalent per mile driven of 0.75 $/gal for gasoline. This price will not stay the same as the demand for electricity doubles when we switch to battery cars. As in the case of fuel cells, this price will be determined by the cost of solar energy.
Batteries have another important advantage over fuel cells: they are closed systems and they will not get poisoned by contaminants from air. I think it is premature to make a final decision in fuel cells vs batteries race. Neither of this technologies meets the durability goals (5,000 h for FC and 500 cycles for B), and in both cases the cost of the power system to drive a car over 100 miles exceeds 30-50 k$. Batteries are not cheap either, especially Li.
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Mario 5:47PM (8/26/2008)
Dr. Energy you obviously are greatly misinformed, typical of an American. You must watch Fox news all day!
Chris M 2:14AM (8/27/2008)
By "gravimentric energy density", I presume you were referring to the fuel cell and the H2 storage tank as well. Problem is, efficiency also plays a role, and PEM fuel cells are only 50% efficient in converting that stored energy into electricity, whereas batteries are over 90% efficient, and that explains why the range of typical fuel cell cars isn't much greater than the range of typical battery electric cars. For example, the Honda FCX Clarity has a range of 250 mile per tank of H2, and the Tesla Roadster gets 220 miles per charge. Also, the current record for longest drive on a single charge (over a thousand miles) is greater than the longest drive on a single tank of H2 (over 350 miles)
Moreover, we are nowhere near the theoretical limits of energy density for batteries. Current high performance LiIon batteries used in the Tesla store 160 wh per Kg, but newer electrodes now under development could increase that by 5x to nearly 700 wh per Kg. Experimental Lithium air batteries have achieved 1,000 wh per Kg, and theoretically could hit 3 Kwh per Kg. Those high energy densities combined with lightweight efficient motors could give greater range with less weight than gasoline engines and tanks!
There is another energy density to be considered, volumetric energy density. Due to the extremely low density of H2 gas, the volumetric energy density is less than LiIon batteries. Even with high compression, the engineers are having a difficult challenge fitting enough H2 storage into the H2 cars to get reasonable ranges.
When it comes to electrical efficiency, batteries are considerably BETTER than H2 fuel cells. Overall efficiency of water electrolyzer, compression of H2 for storage, and fuel cell is only 24% at best. Overall efficiency of charger and battery is 85%, so batteries would use only 1/3 as much electricity - critical if you are trying to replace coal power with more expensive solar and wind. Also, newer nanotech batteries like those from A123 have achieved over 2,000 charge cycles, and AltairNano over 10,000 charge cycles, so reliability is no longer a battery issue.
As for cost, even the most expensive battery pack ($75 K) is a fraction of the cost of a fuel cell ($500 K). The Tesla Roadster battery pack cost about $20,000 for 220 mile range, and improvement under development promise to both reduce costs and increase range soon.
Debbie Downer 5:44PM (8/26/2008)
America is an evil country and if it wasn't for America and capitalism we would still have oil. America will be the death of the world! I hope that Iran and Russia soon conquer the Great Satan!!
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Chris M 1:16AM (8/27/2008)
If it wasn't for America and Capitalism, all that petroleum would still be underground untapped, and you'd be lighting your home with candles handmade of beeswax or beef fat.
It was Edwin Drake, an American, that figured out how to get useful fuel from deep underground, and Capitalists like Rockefeller that set up the oil industry to provide kerosene for lamps (saving the whales by ending the whale oil era) and other products, including useful fuels for another Capitalist imvention, the motor car.
Capitalism also developed the electrical lighting system, and is right now developing alternative fuels to replace petroleum fuels, just as petroleum replaced whale oil.
Nations are not evil, certain individuals and groups are evil, including certain dictatorial governments, but one individual or even one government group does not constitute an entire Nation.
If you really think Russia or Iran should conquer America, then by all means move there as soon as possible!
susan 3:45PM (8/29/2008)
It won't continue being so expensive though if it becomes more mainstream. I was just listening to someone talk about it on this podcast:
http://www.nyas.org/snc/podcastdetail.asp?id=1867
and it was pretty interesting. Hybrids started out pretty expensive too...
Although it is debatable whether or not hydrogen is truly the way for us to go in the future...
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JamesWB 8:37AM (8/31/2008)
It will get more efficient but you still won't be able to break the laws of physics. Sorry, but it's a scam.