"Water is the coal of the future. The energy of tomorrow is water which has been broken down by electrical current. The elements of water thus released - hydrogen and oxygen - will secure the earth's energy supply indefinitely" - Jules Verne 1874.
All seems to have gone quiet on the 'Hydrogen for cars' front recently - well at least as far as the major Automobile manufacturers are concerned - So a little refresher on one of the more exciting developments is in order.
This 7-series BMW is a Bi-fuel car being able to use both petrol and liquid Hydrogen in it's Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). BMW did extensive research starting in the 1970's and culminating with a 12 cylinder test vehicle (which set 9 FIA sanctioned world records for Hydrogen powered cars!) called HR2, before committing to building this vehicle in series production in 2007.
It's 260HP V12 has been re-mapped from the standard petrol engine and configured to work with the Hydrogen fuel. Interesting to note that it produces significantly less power than it's petrol only counterpart, and significantly fewer emissions - in fact when running on Hydrogen it produces virtually zero emissions.
In 2007 the 100 or so produced were loaned to high profile individuals, and, as is the usual fate of this type of vehicle, it will probably be crushed when it is re-called by BMW.
View video of the Hydrogen 7 below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcsRk_gtO2U&feature=BFp&list=PL803B72149F6CF6FD
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