» Get the best price on a new BMW 7 Series The concept of Hydrogen powered vehicles is far from new, but the arrival in Australia next January of a fleet of BMW Hydrogen 7 cars represents a first for the Australian auto industry.
The Hydrogen 7 (more here) is part of what BMW calls its CleanEnergy strategy and runs on either regular petrol or hydrogen. It is to be the centrepiece of a display that also embraces the company's EfficientDynamics technology at Melbourne's Federation Square from January 21 - 29 in 2008.
The Hydrogen 7 is a production-line special built by the German company to demonstrate that hydrogen power is now close to being a practical possibility and needs government commitment to establish a refuelling infrastructure that will close the gap to commercial reality.
The special 7 series limos will be used to "Provide real-time driving experiences for select political and business leaders, as well as a key environment and media opinion formers."
The Hydrogen 7's specially adapted V12 engine might develop a relatively meagre 191kW and 390 Nm of torque, and accelerate from 0-100 km/h in a leisurely 9.5 seconds, but it emits little else but water vapour while doing it, and has a range of 200km when running strictly on hydrogen. In petrol mode -- achieved by flicking a button on the steering wheel -- another 500km is added.
A crash-proof tank supplies 8kg of hydrogen to power the engine and is supplemented by a normal fuel tank.
The refuelling process has been designed, according to BMW, to "be as conventional as possible." The company says that, in Europe, "Plans are afoot to develop a hydrogen refuelling infrastructure within the current petrol and diesel filling station model."
BMW's Federation Square display will also showcase other technologies aimed at reducing dependency on fossil fuels, while also improving overall efficiency through a concept it calls "EfficientDynamics."
This is much closer to everyday reality, embracing systems already in use on BMW models sold in various markets around the world, including things like automatic engine stop/start, brake energy regeneration, electric power steering, aerodynamic air flap control and low rolling resistance tyres.
The company says that, in Europe, "around 40 percent of BMW Group sales are equipped with EfficientDynamics technology and register CO2 emissions below the 140 g/km benchmark."
Only 100 Hydrogen 7s will be built by BMW, most of them entrusted to high-profile personalities, politicians and bureaucrats. These include Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Richard Gere, Jay Leno, and Placido Domingo.
According to BMW Group Australia Managing Director, Guenther Seemann, the
Hydrogen 7 "Clearly proves liquid hydrogen may be used as a source of energy for production cars."
He described it as "A milestone en route to an era of mobility independent of fossil fuels not only for the BMW Group but also for the entire automotive and energy industry."
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