Coming Soon: Hydrogen Powered BMW - 9/13/06

BMW is about to produce a limited number of hydrogen powered luxury performance cars in 2007.  The BMW Hydrogen 7 will have the capability of running on gasoline or hydrogen power.  When the liquid hydrogen tanks are empty it can automatically change over to gas power.  The operator may also switch this by using a button within the vehicle.  This will not affect performance.

This will provide a cruising range of 400+ miles.  The hydrogen tank may run for 125 miles and the gasoline for an additional 325 miles.  This range provides a solution when an operator cannot find a hydrogen fueling station, which is still hard to find. 

“Selected users” around the world will have access to these vehicles.  Only 25 out of 100 built will be available within the US.  They plan on charging a monthly fee for usage.  They are also making their decision on users by the availability of hydrogen fueling stations. 

This vehicle is based o the BMW 760Li, which is the largest and most expensive sedan.  The sticker price of this vehicle is $118,900.  The Hydrogen 7 has not had a price set for it yet.  They, also, haven’t announced if they plan on producing any large numbers of the car. 

Many companies are trying to produce a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle including Mazda, DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, and Honda.  These vehicles will use hydrogen in a chemical process that produces electricity for power.  Hydrogen powered vehicles give off only water vapor as exhaust.

CNN.com
September 12, 2006
Peter Valdes-Dapena:  author

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