BMW Hydrogen 7: Test Drive - Josh Spear, Trendspotting

I had the opportunity to take the BMW Hydrogen 7 car for a spin yesterday afternoon with an engineer from BMW in Munich– something only open to TED attendees. While the experience wasn’t exactly life changing, essentially everything inside and out looks and feels the same as your normal 7 Series BMW– the realization that I was driving a car which exhaust was nothing more than water was wonderfully fascinating. There’s literally a button on the steering wheel titled H2 that you can press to seamlessly switch between gasoline and H2– I tried it at full throttle and although the engine sound drastically changed, I felt little difference in acceleration (apparently there is almost no change in performance). The hard lesson BMW is facing (or perhaps denying) is that basically the energy outlay to create hydrogen is more than the use of hydrogen itself saves. With that said it was definitely a blast to drive!

Also see: BMW H2R, September 24th 2004

Tags: cars, Eco, reviews, science

tommi

Friday, 03.09.07 @ 7:15 am

“The hard lesson BMW is facing (or perhaps denying) is that basically the energy outlay to create hydrogen is more than the use of hydrogen itself saves.”

Good point. Apart from the fact that no one ever takes the amount of energy needed to make fuel from raw oil into the equation. I’m no specialist but I would like to know, what is better in the end.

BTW: I’m gonna test drive a Dacia today …

Michael

Friday, 03.09.07 @ 5:05 pm

Although hydrogen currently requires a lot of energy to produce (from burning coal), it has the potential to be more renewable and autonomous (like from wind power).

If society can accept hydrogen as a fuel now, it will help motivate companies to finding better solutions for creating it. As for oil, it won’t be making any progress towards becoming more sustainable.

Mohad J. Timory	Friday, 03.16.07 @ 4:54 pm
as we experience, germany is showing the world that it can change the world dramatically, from every aspect. like the atomic bomb which everybody claims that it was an american discovery, the first rover or drone on the moon. but i wonder when U.S. will learn, that germany can lead the world better than anyone else, and will make our lives better and more comfortable

Atanas	Wednesday, 12.05.07 @ 9:55 am
Have anybody considered the idea of making hydrogen out of water trough electrolysis.Can someone tell me how much energy is needed to do that.That is a matter of a few calculations and i seriosly doubt that this way of making fuel is much less efficient than extraction and refining oil.We must consider the oil transportation cost aswell.