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By
EWAN KENNEDY
4 February 2008
Australia got a look at the future of motoring when BMW
recently set up a demonstration display and organised test drives of its
Hydrogen 7 model in Melbourne. As befits the lifestyle image of the
prestigious German company, the event also saw cocktail parties for
invited guests and timed the showing of the car to coincide with the
Australian Open tennis.
On a more serious note, BMW Australia also held top level talks
with high-ranking Australian government officials and green
groups, as well as others who could sway public opinion towards
clean transport.
Selected motoring journalists were invited to take part in an
extended drive program of the Hydrogen 7, and also had the
opportunity to refuel the vehicles.
I attended a series of technical presentations in Berlin with
BMW last year, so it was good to be able to spend a day with the
company’s engineers in Australia on their first trip here.
BMW has been concerned about caring for the environment for
decades, but as a manufacturer of cars with a real sporting bent
it is keen to retain driving pleasure in even the cleanest of its
cars.
Hence the decision to use hydrogen as a fuel within what is
virtually a conventional engine. In this case a V12 6.0-litre unit
that can run on either hydrogen or petrol. Other makers are
talking about using hydrogen to run electric cars, but BMW doesn’t
feel its typical customers, as well as many other keen drivers,
will like this electric-car idea.
On hydrogen the BMW's engine produces no harmful emissions. All
that leaves the exhaust pipe is water in the form of steam.
There's noticeably less performance than you get from the same
engine when it’s running purely on petrol in its standard BMW
760iL guise. However, other than in pure urge the hydrogen engine
runs as smoothly and quietly as the pure petrol unit. Throttle
response is good and the engine idles beautifully. The engine note
is deeper than that of a petrol engine, coming aurally somewhere
between that of a petrol and a big diesel.
We defy the average driver or passenger to pick that the big
BMW is running on anything other than petrol unless they are
looking out for the minor differences. However, the passengers in
the back seat will note that their legroom has been cut down by
the installation of the big hydrogen tank between the seat and the
boot. The luggage area has been severely curtailled and struggles
to hold anything much larger than aircraft cabin bags.
But this is still an experimental vehicle, obviously production
models would be designed around the hydrogen tanks, rather than an
existing vehicle being modified to accept them.
Production models are still likely to be a long way off. Petrol
and diesel engines, possibly with assistance from hybrid systems,
are going to be with us for some time yet according to BMW.
Probably until oil supplies finally start to run low, though there
may be a decision to switch to hydrogen earlier than that and hold
onto existing oil reserves so they can be used for reasons other
than providing fuel.
Though the vehicle itself is clean, there are major energy
requirements to produce hydrogen. Unless this energy can be clean,
such as solar or nuclear, then hydrogen-fuelled cars don’t have
any real environmental benefit at the present. But it’s great
that BMW is thinking a long way into the future so that it will
have time to further improve its systems before they are
eventually required worldwide.
The infrastructure for hydrogen dissemination simply doesn’t
exist at this time. Though there are a few refuelling stations in
Europe, there are none in most other countries, including
Australia.
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Marque Publishing Company
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