BMW Hydrogen 7 trailblazes the future
American comedian and chat-show host, Jay Leno, is a fan of hydrogen cars — which are possibly the shape of motoring in the future.
The BMW Hydrogen 7 which costs a cool £5m ($10m)
Leno comments, “For the past few days I have been driving BMW’s latest 7-series hydrogen car. There is some terrific technology there. It makes plenty of power for its size; the only thing that has limited it is the choice of fuel. This is a flex-fuel vehicle. It runs on either hydrogen or petrol. If you run out of hydrogen you press a button and it goes to petrol.”
Model BMW Hydrogen 7
Engine 5972cc, 12 cylinders
Power 260bhp @ 5100rpm
Torque 287 lb ft @ 4300rpm
Transmission Six-speed automatic
Fuel 19.2mpg (hydrogen) / 20mpg (petrol)
CO2 5.2g/km (hydrogen) / 325g/km (petrol)
Performance 0-62mph: 9.5sec. Top speed: 143mph
Range 125 miles (hydrogen) 310 miles (petrol)
Price £5m (but not on sale)
Jay Leno helped BMW to introduce the hydrogen car seven or eight years ago. “We did a rather dramatic demonstration where I drove the car up onto a platform. I let it run and put an empty glass under the exhaust pipe. I spoke for about half an hour and when I finished I shut off the car and drank the water that was in the glass. It wasn’t the best-tasting water I’d ever had but it certainly wasn’t bad for me.”
The main disadvantage, he says, “is that there is always a certain amount of hydrogen bleed-off as the liquid turns to gas. That means that if you let the car sit for an extended period of time, eventually the hydrogen would run out because it escapes. It’s deliberate. The hydrogen, as it escapes, keeps everything cold.”
It seems you cannot tell the difference moving from gas (petrol) to hydrogen. “It’s viable but it’s expensive. I think you’ll see it in the years ahead. There’s no hydrogen infrastructure right now. It’s got to be one of those things like when John Kennedy said we’re going to the moon, long before 1969. Everybody works on it and gets it done.”
Is the age of hydrogen nearly upon us?
