The BMW Group Forschung und Technik, in cooperation with researchers in Graz and Vienna, Austria, has succeeded in developing a dedicated hydrogen combustion engine with diesel-like geometry and progressive H2 high-pressure direct injection technology. The result is an efficiency level of up to 42 percent, on par with that of the best turbodiesel engines. Partners in the “H2BVplus” project, which is sponsored by Austria’s Federal Ministry for Transportation, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT), are the Institute for Internal Combustion Engines and Thermodynamics at Graz University of Technology, HyCentA Research GmbH in Graz, as well as HOERBIGER ValveTec GmbH in Vienna.
“In light of the limited availability of fossil fuels and the rising environmental impact from harmful emissions, we are convinced that the H2 combustion engine will assume an important position in the product portfolio of future alternative drive concepts. It will crucially contribute to safeguarding our individual mobility at the high level the customer expects,” said Professor Dr. Raymond Freymann, Managing Director of BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH. B The newly developed combustion system combines the strengths of spark-ignition and diesel concepts, while utilizing the favorable combustion properties of hydrogen, and thereby achieves efficiency values that easily bear comparison with even those of state-of-the-art turbodiesel engines. In the process, the engineers based their work on the joint EU “HylCE” project, during which maximum specific powers of up to 100 kilowatt per liter of displacement were demonstrated for a spark-ignition hydrogen combustion process.
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