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New BMW to Burn Hydrogen and Gasoline

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 13, 2006

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BMW is planning a very limited edition of a hydrogen-powered luxury performance car in 2007, based on the company's high-end 7-series luxury sedan.

The BMW Hydrogen 7 will be powered by a 260-horsepower 12-cylinder internal combustion engine capable of running on either premium-grade gasoline or hydrogen, according to the company.

To offer the longest conceivable cruising range, the BMW Hydrogen 7 comes with both a conventional gasoline tank and an additional fuel tank for liquid hydrogen stored in a high tech container.

The car will be able to switch fuels automatically when the liquid hydrogen tank runs dry with no loss of performance. The driver can also switch fuel sources by pressing a button.

The car's dual-mode drive provides an overall cruising range of more than 400 miles. The car can run for 125 miles on just the hydrogen tank alone and another 325 miles on gasoline.

The BMW Hydrogen 7 cars will be driven by selected users, according to BMW. A total of 100 will be built with about 25 coming to the U.S.

The selected drivers will be charged a monthly rental fee for the use of the car. They will also need to live in an area with a reasonable number of available hydrogen fueling stations.

The Hydrogen 7 will be based on the BMW 760Li, BMW's largest and most expensive sedan. The 12-cylinder BMW 760Li has a base sticker price of $118,900. No price has been announced for the Hydrogen 7.

Whether used in fuel cell vehicles or in internal combustion engines hydrogen-powered vehicles emit only water vapor as exhaust.

Some critics have expressed concerns that the processes used to separate hydrogen from other substances may create significant pollution.

"Crude oil is a limited resource, and we need to prepare alternative sources of fuel," said Christoph Huss, senior vice president for science and traffic policies at BMW in Munich, Germany.

BMW has experimented with hydrogen technology since the 1970s and has considered producing hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars, the path chosen by most automakers.

Ford Motor Co. has designed a concept car using an internal combustion engine powered by hydrogen. General Motors Corp. is working on developing fuel-cell cars that run on hydrogen.

BMW hopes to stoke interest in hydrogen technology among federal and local governments as well as energy companies.

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