2007 BMW Hydrogen 7

[vexor]

BMW today unveiled the Hydrogen 7, a production-ready version of the 7-Series sedan. The car is powered by a 260 hp twelve-cylinder hydrogen combustion engine and accelerates from 0-62 mph in 9.5 seconds. Top speed is limited electronically to 143 mph. The vehicle runs on liquid hydrogen and, when needed, the dual-mode power unit switches over to conventional premium gasoline. The car is one of the first hydrogen combustion cars, and most certainly the first production-ready one. The cruising range in the hydrogen mode is more than 125 miles, with another 300 miles in the gasoline mode. If there was no gasoline storage, hydrogen mode range could be significantly greater. The car will be built in a limited series in Europe and driven in the U.S. and other countries by selected users in 2007. Previous rumors have indicated the general public might have a chance to buy the vehicle in two years. Given the car's ability to run on gasoline, it could go on sale immediately without requiring an existing infrastructure.

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[Sir_GT]

Actually... IIRC, there ARE hydrogen stations in Germany and France now. Airliquide and Total (the one in the photo) are french companies. I forgot the German one.

[Shinigami]

Originally Posted by bmw06m6 BMW and GM building these Hydrogen cars

Actually, isn't that a trio of car makers?

BMW, GM and Mercedes-Benz?

Still, good to see someone is finally making it a reality.

[RC45]

widespread largescale liquid hydrogen storage... now there is a huge recipe for disaster waiting to happen.

[RC45]

except gas is not stored under high pressure in an altered natural state.

even a flaming liberal has nothing on a bleved liquid hydrogen tank...

[dutchmasterflex]

Yeah.. I was wondering what would happen if this car got rear ended.

[Wutputt]

Originally Posted by dutchmasterflex Yeah.. I was wondering what would happen if this car got rear ended.

I think these tanks will be designed to handle such situations. Beside it's very hard to achieve flammable air/hydrogen mixtures in an open area, because hydrogen is so volatile.

Though in a closed not well vented space, it's a lot easier to achieve flammable air/hydrogen mixtures. In this case the hydrogen can't escape fast enough and the explosion barriers of a hydrogen/air mixture are wider than most other gasses. So it isn't that hard to achieve a flammable mixture. And than there's the biggest problem in such a situation, if it ignites, the hydrogen/air mixture will most of the time detonate instead of explode. And the pressure rise of detonation is a lot worse as with an explosion. On the other hand it's quite hard to realize such a bad situation, a lot of things have to go wrong in this case.

[Global Douchebag]

I would love to know the weight of this car!!