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Will manufacture a version of BMW 7 Series with an engine that can run on hydrogen or gasoline. According to BMW, will be the first car series production of hydrogen combustion engine.
The Hydrogen 7 is not a car functionally equivalent to one of gasoline, has several limitations, some of them severe. However, it is a very interesting first step as an alternative to fossil fuel.

The V12 engine is a 6.0-litre engine capacity. When working with gasoline is equivalent to a BMW 7 Series its normal power, which has been reduced to 260 hp (760il gives 445). When working with hydrogen, benefits are the same as with gasoline, but pollutant emissions are virtually nil.

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When working with hydrogen, the only emissions of carbon that have Hydrogen 7 (CO2 or oil) come from the lubricant; constitute a negligible quantity compared to the emissions produced by burning any fuel (hydrogen is a fuel but not a fuel).

Unlike other cars that can use more than one fuel, the Hydrogen 7 in the driver must select which of the two want to use. This operation is done through a button on the dashboard.

There is also a small emission of nitrogen oxides, which is not a product of combustion gases but which are formed by heat and pressure is on the camera. The emission of nitrogen oxides in the Hydrogen 7, powered by hydrogen when it is also lower than gasoline or diesel engines.

The engine of the Hydrogen 7 has the same power curve with either fuel, the maximum output is 260 hp and maximum torque, 390 Nm at 4,300 rpm.




It accelerates from 0 to 100 kph in 9.5 s and reaches 230 km / h speed limit. There is a big difference in performance compared to a 760i, although not as big as what's emissions, which in the case of the Hydrogen 7 is practically water.

As in the 750h (a fleet of hydrogen demonstration cars that BMW had circulating) and the prototype H2R, BMW considers more appropriate storing hydrogen cooled until it is in liquid form, rather than store it in a gaseous state to high blood pressure. Since 2003, BMW has an agreement with General Motors to develop a system of hydrogen refueling fluid pressure low.

Other brands which provide for the production of cars that consume hydrogen, such as Honda, rely more on hydrogen gas at high pressure. According to BMW, the advantage is that liquid hydrogen, at equal volume, a reservoir of hydrogen at -250 ° C contains 75 percent more energy than one with hydrogen at 700 bar.

The advantage of a pressurized tank is allowing contain hydrogen more easily than the liquefied deposit, which inevitably just escaping hydrogen as it heats.




To refuel hydrogen must fix the hose in his mouth and, from there, the process is automatic and lasts eight minutes, provided the tank is cold. With a full tank of hydrogen, the car has a range of 200 km. It also has another 500 km of autonomy with the fuel tank.

In Germany there at the end of year two service stations to dispense hydrogen to the public, one in Berlin and another in Munich. The price of hydrogen is 8 € / kg, at that price, fill the tank of Hydrogen costs € 64. The cost per kilometer when the car consumes hydrogen is 0.32 € / km.

After taking a fleet of hydrogen cars circulating (750hL model), BMW has taken this initiative to take the market a vehicle forerunner in the transport system where he has more confidence for the near future.

In the long run, hopes to develop properly hydrogen fuel cell, which will benefit from an eventual distribution network made for cars that have hydrogen combustion engines.