MUNICH (Reuters) - BMW will roll out the world's first hydrogen-burning car in serial production early next year, the German premium automaker said on Tuesday, eager to put its stamp on cars with green credentials.
ADVERTISEMENT
The specially equipped 7-Series executive cars emit only water vapor when running on hydrogen.
The car hits the market next April and will be shown at the Los Angeles car show in November, the company said. It had said in March the hydrogen cars would arrive within two years.
A spokesman said the car would be leased to selected customers rather than sold because of its high price. Leasing rates would be similar to those for a top-end BMW 760LI with a full-service package.
The BMW 7 Series Hydrogen 7 Saloon is powered by a 260 hp twelve-cylinder engine and accelerates from 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 9.5 seconds. Top speed is limited electronically to 230 km/h.
BMW has said it intends to build a few hundred such cars at first. They will be able to switch between burning standard petrol and hydrogen so that drivers will not be left stranded while the infrastructure to deliver hydrogen is built up.
"The integration of hydrogen drive in an existing vehicle concept which has already proven its merits in the market paves the way for an alternative to conventional drive concepts fully accepted in the market and with all the assets the customer is looking for in practice," BMW said.
The space that two fuel tanks take up means only the 7-Series will offer the hydrogen package at first. BMW's long-term goal is to offer hydrogen motors in all its cars.
BMW unveiled the world's fastest hydrogen-powered car at the 2004 Paris auto show. Dubbed the H2R, it can exceed 300 kilometers (185 miles) per hour and reaches 100 km per hour from a standing start in around six seconds.
While BMW is developing fuel-cell driven cars as well, it says it is concentrating on the combustion engine because the sum total of its features and characteristics offers the largest number of advantages and benefits all in one. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wrasse:
So I just got finished watching Glenn Back on the tele (yes, some may hate him here and, although I don't always agree with him, he is fun to watch at times)...seems Honda and BMW are racing to get their Hydrogen cars on the market.
He interviewed a guy who researched this heavily and wrote some book ('Internal Combustion' I think was the title)...basically this guy stated that the whole 'have to set up the infrastructure' line is BS. Essentially Honda is creating a home hydrogen unit that converts the fuel for you and can power your home. So you fill up AT your house (although you may also have to fill up on the road as I know nothing about these cars)...anyway...anyone hear about this?
I was introduced to the hydrogen industry for vehicles about 22 years ago when searching for a job. I was very intrigued and passed as I thought it was too soon. I expected things to pick up in 7-10 years but it really took 20.
1. Hydrogen is the only true GREEN vehicle, EVs are a pollution machine due to all the supporting infrastructure needed from materials extracted for the batteries to the electrical grid.
2. The first attempt at Hydrogen cars supported by Shell Oil failed fue to lack of filling stations and the cost of the hydrogen fuel cell.
3. The trucking industry, which is the sector I am involved with, is far ahead of the auto industry in working with hydrogen. They see hydrogen for the long haul as the bridge to zero emissions for pollution reduction.
Hyzon, Hyperion, Nikola, Hyundai, Volvo, many Chinese companies all have major initiatives with Hydrogen trucks. Seen some of these at recent trade shows.
4. Hydrogen fuel cell used to be about 4xs more expensive than gas combustion and now its about 1.85xs. There will be subsidies from the govt to get this moving forward in a big way.
5. Hydrogen is expensive to transfer and delivery and is stored under great pressure.
6. It is not a flammable fuel and would simply evaporate if it escapes but a puncture in a full fuel tank could launch the vehicle as the pressure is strong.
7. Hydrogen would require a massive education program in the US on how to fill the vehicle and it would be more costly than gas in the beginning.
8. Europe and the Scandinavian countries are far ahead of the US.
I firmly believe hydrogen will be the fuel of the future, not EVs. [Reply]
Originally Posted by scho63:
I was introduced to the hydrogen industry for vehicles about 22 years ago when searching for a job. I was very intrigued and passed as I thought it was too soon. I expected things to pick up in 7-10 years but it really took 20.
1. Hydrogen is the only true GREEN vehicle, EVs are a pollution machine due to all the supporting infrastructure needed from materials extracted for the batteries to the electrical grid.
2. The first attempt at Hydrogen cars supported by Shell Oil failed fue to lack of filling stations and the cost of the hydrogen fuel cell.
3. The trucking industry, which is the sector I am involved with, is far ahead of the auto industry in working with hydrogen. They see hydrogen for the long haul as the bridge to zero emissions for pollution reduction.
Hyzon, Hyperion, Nikola, Hyundai, Volvo, many Chinese companies all have major initiatives with Hydrogen trucks. Seen some of these at recent trade shows.
4. Hydrogen fuel cell used to be about 4xs more expensive than gas combustion and now its about 1.85xs. There will be subsidies from the govt to get this moving forward in a big way.
5. Hydrogen is expensive to transfer and delivery and is stored under great pressure.
6. It is not a flammable fuel and would simply evaporate if it escapes but a puncture in a full fuel tank could launch the vehicle as the pressure is strong.
7. Hydrogen would require a massive education program in the US on how to fill the vehicle and it would be more costly than gas in the beginning.
8. Europe and the Scandinavian countries are far ahead of the US.
I firmly believe hydrogen will be the fuel of the future, not EVs.
i don't know about the rest of what you posted but #6 is very much wrong. Hydrogen is highly flammable. [Reply]
Originally Posted by scho63:
I was introduced to the hydrogen industry for vehicles about 22 years ago when searching for a job. I was very intrigued and passed as I thought it was too soon. I expected things to pick up in 7-10 years but it really took 20.
1. Hydrogen is the only true GREEN vehicle, EVs are a pollution machine due to all the supporting infrastructure needed from materials extracted for the batteries to the electrical grid.
2. The first attempt at Hydrogen cars supported by Shell Oil failed fue to lack of filling stations and the cost of the hydrogen fuel cell.
3. The trucking industry, which is the sector I am involved with, is far ahead of the auto industry in working with hydrogen. They see hydrogen for the long haul as the bridge to zero emissions for pollution reduction.
Hyzon, Hyperion, Nikola, Hyundai, Volvo, many Chinese companies all have major initiatives with Hydrogen trucks. Seen some of these at recent trade shows.
4. Hydrogen fuel cell used to be about 4xs more expensive than gas combustion and now its about 1.85xs. There will be subsidies from the govt to get this moving forward in a big way.
5. Hydrogen is expensive to transfer and delivery and is stored under great pressure.
6. It is not a flammable fuel and would simply evaporate if it escapes but a puncture in a full fuel tank could launch the vehicle as the pressure is strong.
7. Hydrogen would require a massive education program in the US on how to fill the vehicle and it would be more costly than gas in the beginning.
8. Europe and the Scandinavian countries are far ahead of the US.
I firmly believe hydrogen will be the fuel of the future, not EVs.
Ever heard of the Hindenburg? Hydrogen is highly flammable and burns with an invisible flame. [Reply]
Originally Posted by scho63:
Either of you ever heard of blue hydrogen?
Read up, you might learn something.
It is NOT flammable in the same way pure hydrogen is. The hydrogen is created at the engine.
First thing I see when looking up Blue Hydrogen (which I will admit, I hadn't even heard of until you brought it up) is a report on the DoE website discussing how it's not clean, ineffective, and more pollutant than electric because of the process used in isolating it from CO2.
That being said, common sense states that burning fossil fuels is much more polluting, so it sounds like to me more that the US Automakers have invested so much into electric, that a shift to hydrogen would burn them up.
That being said (in my albeit limited knowledge on the matter), barring we can find an effective avenue of successfully gathering and harnessing Helium-3, it does seem Hydrogen is the best path in the status quo. [Reply]