The 2007 BMW Hydrogen 7 is a 7 Series sedan the automaker turned to run on liquid hydrogen. There is no intention to put this or any other hydrogen-fueled car into production yet. The point of the exercise is to gather experience with a hydrogen car in the real world.
The Hydrogen 7 is a perfectly normal luxury sedan. It is definitely not some weird science project that forces us to scale back our expectations about the personal automobile. “A vehicle that is not a BMW anymore is not acceptable to us,” says the company in contemplating the future of mobility.
And noting that the internal-combustion engine represents available and well-understood technology, BMW is placing a bet on adaptation of existing engines (the 6.0-liter V12 in this case) to burn liquid hydrogen as one way to move beyond fossil fuels.
From the driver seat, this is definitely still a BMW. The H-7 is smooth, polished, poised on the road, and still pretty spritely. Passing maneuvers and uphill on-ramps need a little more careful consideration than in a 760 because you don’t have as much sheer thrust. But the difference is not fatal. (BMW quotes 0-62 mph in 9.5 seconds: leisurely but livable.)
Furthermore, suspension calibration effectively hides the car’s extra mass, so this is another BMW 7 Series sedan that impresses you with how lithe and responsive a heavyweight luxocruiser can be. Overall, there is precious little to indicate that this 7 is running on that wondrously abundant fuel, the one that promises to rewrite all the rules of transportation, economics, energy and environmental stewardship.
At this moment, the production of hydrogen as a motor fuel typically begins with a petroleum resource such as natural gas and then requires massive amounts of electricity, which is often produced by burning coal. So looking at the entire energy cycle, it’s an environmental bust, and BMW fully acknowledges its Hydrogen 7 makes no commercial sense in the near term.
But the project is not about replacing gasoline any time soon. It is instead intended to start a dialog, to offer a vision of the future, to demonstrate some possibilities, to encourage development of an infrastructure, and to expand our knowledge about hydrogen as a fuel for vehicles that are otherwise just like what we’re used to.
Related Articles:
BMW Removes Gasoline From Hydrogen 7: When BMW debuted the Hydrogen 7 in 2006 we were excited to be seeing a new kind of car. The fact that it ran on
Inventive Hydrogen 7: Hydrogen technology dramatically reduces fuel emissions, which are generated by personal transport and, in particular, minimizes the emission of CO2. Running in the hydrogen mode,
Hydrogen 7: At first glance, it looks like any other 7 Series you might see around the upscale part of town. The trunk does seem smaller, however,