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2007 BMW Hydrogen 7 Preview

Discussion in 'Other Cars' started by Tideland Prius, Dec 20, 2006.

  1. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    BERLIN - It is the dawn of a new age. For more than a century, we have relied almost exclusively on the smelly, slimy and not-at-all-clean hydrocarbon for propulsion of our vehicles. As a result, we have pollution, smog and an ozone layer not nearly as healthy as it once was or should be.

    According to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, that's all about to change. By 2027, says the NAE, hydrogen-powered cars will represent a quarter of all new vehicle sales. By 2050, they should have completely supplanted gasoline-fuelled light-duty vehicles.

    The advantages of hydrogen are manifold: It's one of the most abundant elements on the planet; supplies are plentiful; it emits virtually no harmful pollutants and, perhaps more importantly now that even gasoline-fuelled engines have seen their emissions output tamed, its use does not produce the carbon dioxide blamed for global warming.

    Hydrogen's downsides are few and are mainly in the realm of practicality: How will it be produced economically, how will it be stored and, perhaps most importantly, how will it be distributed? This last, of course, will remain the main obstacle to more rapid adoption of hydrogen-fuelled automobiles. With just 80 H2 fuelling stations around the world, owners will be forced to both live and commute exclusively within an immediate range of those extremely rare facilities. That is, unless they own a BMW Hydrogen 7.

    Full Article
     
    #1 Tideland Prius, Dec 20, 2006
  2. clett

    clett New Member

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    The BMW hydrogen 7 is environmentally abysmal.

    They say their car can go 125 miles on the 8 kg of hydrogen stored in the tank. That's 15.6 miles per kg of hydrogen.

    But it takes 60 kWh of electricity to produce and compress 1 kg of hydrogen. So each mile requires 3.84 kWh of original electricity. That is *TEN TIMES* (yes, 10 times) more primary energy required per mile than the 2002 RAV4 SUV electric vehicle.

    However the CO2 situation is even worse. Given the mix of different forms of electricity generation in the US today, each kWh produced releases 700g of CO2 per kWh. When on H2 power this vehicle therefore releases AT LEAST 2.7 kg of CO2 per mile.

    That's the same CO2 emission as a gasoline vehicle that manages just 3.3 miles per gallon, or the same CO2 production as 14 Priuses! :eek:
     
    #2 clett, Dec 21, 2006
  3. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Read that other article I posted in this forum about the Honda FCX. That's starting to look better lol.
     
    #3 Tideland Prius, Dec 21, 2006
  4. Pinto Girl

    Pinto Girl New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Dec 20 2006, 07:47 PM) [snapback]364859[/snapback]</div>
    Poblems in the realm of practicality are usually the most difficult and costly to solve, aren't they? I'm not finding myself terribly (if you'll pardon the pun) moved by this article.
     
    #4 Pinto Girl, Dec 21, 2006
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