I sincerely hope this isn't true and is just media misinterpretation, but
Edmunds InsideLine is reporting today that it believes the program is getting some major cuts. Why? BMW is looking to concentrate its engineering resources toward electric and hybrid vehicles. BMW's Hydrogen program has mainly been centered around a highly modified E65 7-Series running on liquid hydrogen fuel.
What is the BMW Hydrogen 7?
BMWs goal in making this car was to produce an alternative fuel vehicle that was not only 100% production ready, but one that still maintained the internal combustion engine. Unlike an electric car, this car still gives you similar power, torque and acceleration characteristics of today's car while running on a fuel supply that has no pollutants. The sticking point of this car was the fuel supply itself.
While there are companies out there and research is ongoing into the production and deployment of Hydrogen as a fuel supply it still is not cost effective on a large scale. Hydrogen has to first be captured which is an energy intensive process. Then of course, if the fuel is not immediately used it must be stored which required further energy in order to keep the Hydrogen in either a compressed gas or nearly frozen liquid.
The BMW Hydrogen 7 does not use highly compressed Hydrogen air as is conventional wisdom. (I assume due to safety concerns with driving around with a highly combustible gas behind your back). Instead, BMW went toward the cooled liquid route. The problem here being that the liquid must be converted before combustion and this introduced further energy loss into the cycle. (Many companies such as Gm/Ford who experimented with Hydrogen were actually using fuel cells-- don't confuse them because that is not a true combustion engine).
In the end, BMW build the hydrogen system ontop of its conventional 760i gasoline engine. The car was simply too thirsty to run on Hydrogen alone. This of course added weight and further hurt the efficiency of the car. The final configuration was a 12-cylinder engine converted to be able to run on both Hydrogen and conventional gasoline. Achieving 17mpg on gasoline and 50mpg on Hydrogen, with an output of 256HP and 290 lb-ft of torque. The car ran up to 60mph in 9.3s.
Why the demise?
None of this is new information. If and when BMW confirms or denies this report, we can only make a few guesses. Perhaps BMW saw the end to this technology and felt it couldn't take it any further until the fuel cycle and storage obstacles were overcome. Or maybe it is the fact that the US is consumed with the electric motor as the only viable alternative powertrain at the moment. Audi of America president Johan de Nysschen
recently bemoaned the countries obsession with EVs. Living in the US its hard to ignore the amount of energy being put behind EVs and perhaps BMW decided to get on board?
Although the reality of the car was not quite there yet, BMW put up a good fight and advocated the concept across the globe. BMW insisted that further research could take this model to the point where the car would be viable. Much of BMWs push was through marketing that tried to bring mainstream awareness to the car. BMW tried giving the car out to celebrities in different countries. It tried establishing
new speed records in the form of the H2R. It even converted the car into one of its famed
Art cars.
In the end, I understand the technology is still not there yet; however, I think BMWs concept of what the car of the future will be is squarely with the enthusiasts. We want a combustion engine, not an electric one. And its a sad day to see this car shelved. InsideLine believes the car's entire strategy is flawed and the program will die a quiet death. I think its the complete opposite, I think the idea is to maintain all the positive qualities of the present day car and move it into a green and energy independent new world. Sure the technology isn't there, but hopefully this car is not lost or forgotten and the program is revived with new advances.