BMW Hydrogen 7 reviewed by Edmunds.com

"The name tells you immediately what it is: The 2007 BMW Hydrogen 7 is a 7 Series sedan the automaker converted 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. So let's go straight to the experience.

If no one told you there was a fortune in advanced technology and ground-breaking engineering packed into this car, you might think you were motoring about in a perfectly normal 760Li. Indeed, while looking hard for distinguishing characteristics during our test-drive around greater Berlin, we came up with just three suspects: a slight metallic rattle from the engine when accelerating (sort of like a diesel but less pronounced), an occasional hesitation or engine-transmission miscue on tip-in and less energetic acceleration, thanks to a power cut from 438 horsepower to 260 and a weight gain of 440 pounds.

That's it. Otherwise, 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."
Read Article

synx - 11/27/2006 5:18:39 PM

+1 Boost

Go hydrogen...go BMW!!!
Hydrogen is the future and BMW and Honda are doing the right thing-researching and testing H powered cars.

but, hydrogen 7 is a dumb name. what about
760Li--->760LiH
BMW can use lower case h for hybrid.(760Lih)

but i guess that, because the 60 stands for 6 litres, that would be different in the case of Hydrogen powered cars. what about 7LiH???

synx - 11/27/2006 5:19:50 PM

+1 Boost

"but i guess THAT, because the 60 stands for 6 litres, THAT would be different in the case of Hydrogen powered cars. what about 7LiH???"

"that" is supposed to appear only once...oops.

truckmen - 12/12/2006 1:44:17 AM

+1 Boost

I wish hydrogen was a viable option! I hear it takes two gallons of gas to make the equivelant gallon of hydrogen.With the recent advancement in battery technology by Toshiba/Sony I think electric is the way to go.Aparently the batteries charge really fast compared to the old ones.Initially they will have to be a plug in hybred until they have charging stations.Until then I want a Hemi power wagon 4x4.