Have you seen a sci-fi flick lately? It’s a bothering sight to see that every director’s notion of a ‘futuristic car’ is a levitating suppository—a white, cigar-shaped blob that accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in a heartbeat and can rise a thousand meters up in the air. Now, either it’s because Hollywood is beginning to lose their sense of imagination or they don’t want anything distracting the viewers from their multi-million dollar super stars; but one thing’s for certain: you won’t see flying DeLoreans anytime soon. Oddly enough, after all the mad scientist routine of Doc Brown in the Back to the Future movies, there’s something in the DeLorean that actually makes sense and it’s not the flux capacitor. In fact, you have to look carefully and notice the words: “Mr. Fusion”.
If you remember your physics, ‘fusion’ refers to the use of hydrogen atoms and combining them together creating heavier elements and release a large amount of energy in the process. In a broad sense, Hollywood got things right this time. Although fusion power is certainly something we won’t see in the near future, the use of hydrogen as a source of fuel certainly holds great potential. Since hydrogen is present in just about everything in nature, there’s no need to drill holes or conquer some Middle Eastern country just to juice up your car. Wind power, steam regeneration (the most common way to generate hydrogen in commercial quantities) and even the farming of algae can all produce hydrogen. It’s easy to see why people see hydrogen as the fuel of the future—something we can harvest infinitely after all the oil wells have run dry and the sheikhs end up with a desk job.
At the forefront of such startling development is the new BMW Hydrogen 7. We were in Berlin to sample this amazing piece of technology, and let us tell you, if this is the car of the future then things look clean and bright. What shocked everyone, upon seeing the Hydrogen 7, is how much like a normal car it looked: it doesn’t hover, the tires are round and it doesn’t even fold into a suit case. Granted it has a unique ‘Blue Water Metallic’ paint scheme, it looks every bit like a typical long wheelbase 7 Series. It’s nicer and statelier than anything out of George Lucas’s imagination. Looking normal is part of the Hydrogen 7’s job since this is the first hydrogen-powered car to complete the entire development process. It’s a bona fides production car which means it can be registered, driven, serviced and sadly, be issued a traffic citation for.
More on the traffic citation later, in the mean time, let’s discuss where the Hydrogen 7 fits in BMW’s corporate strategy. Hydrogen 7 is a part of BMW’s CleanEnergy effort. As its name suggests, CleanEnergy is a vision of sustained mobility free from harmful emissions (both on the operation of the vehicle as well as the generation of the drive energy). It’s a three-prong approach with short, medium and long-term components. The short term comprises the current BMW range which all achieves better mileage and emission figures even with the bump in power and torque. The manufacturing process has also been cleaned up by using more recyclable and earth-friendly components in the cars. The medium term approach has to do with Efficient Dynamics or the use of hybrid drivetrains such as gasoline-electric or diesel-electric. BMW is already part of a much larger consortium of automotive makers all developing and improving the hybrid drivetrain. Lastly is the long-term component, which BMW believes to be a move away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources of energy such as hydrogen. Although part of BMW’s long-term CleanEnergy plans, the mere existence of the Hydrogen 7 proves that hydrogen power is indeed possible even with today’s technology.
There are two types of hydrogen fuel available: compressed gaseous and cryogenic liquid. The former is already powering numerous city buses in Germany. However because of its gaseous nature, the power produced by volume isn’t much. In fact, they require large fuel tanks (usually running the entire length of the bus’s roof) for a modest range. On the other hand, cryogenic liquid hydrogen is more compressed and offers much more punch per volume. BMW says 75 percent more energy is possible with the same volume and thus, liquid hydrogen can provide longer cruising range than compressed gaseous hydrogen.
So when we talk about what powers the regular looking Hydrogen 7, the answer is liquid hydrogen. But since hydrogen filling stations are still scarce, BMW added something extra-special to make the Hydrogen 7 much friendlier as an everyday luxury science project on wheels: dual-fuel technology. Based off the 760Li’s 6.0-liter unit, the Hydrogen 7’s V12 engine can run on either Super Premium (98 octane petrol) or liquid hydrogen. The secret of the Hydrogen 7’s dual fuel capability lies in the modifications done to the injection valves and intake. Aside from the hydrogen piping system, the engine’s brain has been optimized for combusting both types of fuel since hydrogen burns ten times faster than gasoline. Since the modifications are mostly limited to fuel delivery and software; and the engine block being off-the-shelf, it means that the development time is shorter and production costs are lower than say, a fuel-cell car. In fact, the Hydrogen 7’s engine is already produced in parallel with other petrol engines in the 5, 6 and 7 Series range at BMW’s Dingolfing engine plant.
BMW has already proven that a car running completely on an internal combustion hydrogen engine is possible with their H2R concept. But again, since there are not much hydrogen stations worldwide, this move isn’t practical. On the other hand, the dual-fuel Hydrogen 7 can cruise 200 kilometers on pure hydrogen and an additional 500 kilometers on petrol. For power junkies who must know, the Hydrogen 7 pushes out 260 horsepower and 390 Nm of torque enough to propel this 2 ton machine from 0-100 km/h in 9.5 seconds and to a top speed of 230 km/h. The power figures may seem modest at best, but remember the first V12 7 Series? Its engine has similar power figures, but the Hydrogen 7 emits nothing but water vapor!
Back to the subject of traffic citations, according to the marketing folks at BMW, they’ve already received a couple. And who could blame them? We had the chance to sample the Hydrogen 7 ourselves for a good 240 kilometers, and it feels and accelerates like a regular autobahn stormer.
Starting up the car is a drama-free affair. Simply insert the key and push the engine start button. There’s a couple of seconds before the engine breathes to life. It doesn’t have the best ignition sound as there’s some heavy crackling (like a deep fryer), but it must be noted that the Hydrogen 7 can only be started in hydrogen mode (better emissions versus petrol). After everything settles in though, the V12 rests up and purrs into a nicely balanced whine. Flick the steering-mounted gear lever and you’re off.
On the streets of Berlin, it’s impossible to fault the Hydrogen 7. We’ve driven our fair share of 7 Series in the past, and this one behaves no differently. “The unspectacular spectacular” as the Germans call it. In terms of equipment level, BMW spared no expense as it’s fully loaded inside: leather-lined dash, piano lacquer trimmings, satellite navigation, double-paned glass and even the soft-close mechanism on the doors. In fact, to tell this apart from the regular 760Li, you have to look carefully. The only changes are a button on the steering wheel to switch fuel source, a button to open the hydrogen filler cap and the door sill plate that reads “BMW Hydrogen Power”. It seems that clients of the Hydrogen 7 want to save the environment without sacrificing their own comfort.
The rear occupants will tell a different story though. Since the Hydrogen 7 has two separate fuel tanks, engineers positioned the hydrogen system on top of the rear axle. This means that some leg room was robbed from the back, making the accommodations a bit tighter, but still larger compared to a regular wheelbase 7 Series. The rear armrest is also fixed making the Hydrogen 7 a strict four-seater car. The position of the hydrogen tank also means that some rear visibility has been sacrificed, but not to the extent of being distracting or discontenting. The luggage space has also been reduced to around 225 liters—or just barely enough for a round of golf.
Exiting the tight city streets, we hit the autobahn—time to stretch the Hydrogen 7’s legs and nail the accelerator. From a ‘purr’, the engine opens to a resounding ‘whoosh’, not exactly the kind of aural feast you’d expect from a V12. Nonetheless, acceleration feels like the Starship Enterprise in warp speed until you reach about 215 km/h. At those speeds, the additional weight of the Hydrogen 7 (around 200 kilos) makes itself evident. Switching to petrol mode via the steering wheel switch will deliver some additional grunt, but nothing to really set it apart from the primary hydrogen mode. During cornering, the Hydrogen 7 feels planted and secure, probably because of the additional weight placed on the rear axle. The additional supports on the door frames and pillars, made of carbon fiber composites, help too. As expected from a flagship BMW, the Hydrogen 7 comes with all the safety systems known to man including standard issue run-flat tires in either 18- or 19-inches.
After we’ve had enough fun gallivanting around the German countryside and rocketing through the autobahn, we had to do our duty and head off to a TOTAL station near Berlin to top up the hydrogen fuel we’ve consumed. Like the driving experience, refueling the Hydrogen 7 is completely fuss-free. Push the hydrogen tank release button near the steering wheel to open the cap and fill it up. At first, the hydrogen fuel hose looks imposing since it looks similar to what we see in Formula One (complete with one-touch latches), but once it locks onto car, it’s straight forward. The system seen at the TOTAL station is the world standard adapted for liquid hydrogen stations, so there’s no worries loading up elsewhere. Now, since hydrogen is a lot more combustible than petrol, several safety checks happen, albeit transparently. Overall, the process take about 8 minutes, with half the time dedicated to sensor checks and re-checks.
When the Hydrogen 7 was filled up, we headed straight back into Berlin’s roads just in time for rush hour traffic. As we hit red lights, it’s noticeable that people keep on doing double takes on the car. Undoubtedly, they’ve seen countless 7 Series before, but they just can’t believe they’re actually seeing a real, hydrogen-powered production car. One young man on his bicycle actually flashed a thumbs up, an indication that our pollution-free, atmosphere-friendly mode of transport is agreeable. You’re probably asking, if the young man wanted to purchase the Hydrogen 7, how much will that cost?
The answer is: you can’t buy one. Even if the BMW Hydrogen 7 is a production series car, BMW said that only 100 units will be made and all of them are on a two-year basis to individuals invited to participate in BMW’s CleanEnergy initiative. We’ve tried our best to coax out potential clients, but BMW didn’t want to name specifics. They did say the 100 lucky individuals will come from the areas of politics, the academe, celebrities and media personalities. The choice of leasers depends greatly on the availability of hydrogen refueling stations in their respective areas (which scratches the Philippines out). During the lease term, the lucky 100 will receive specialty trained service personnel to handle the hydrogen system as well as a direct computer link with BMW’s headquarters for quick diagnosis.
So now the question beckons: if only 100 will get the chance to lease a Hydrogen 7, what does it mean for the rest of us 9 billion earthlings? Simply put, the 100 individuals, like BMW itself, will spearhead the campaign for alternative fuel awareness and hope that legislators and consumers alike will embrace a cleaner future. Personally, I think the Hydrogen 7 is a testament that we don’t have to look like George Jetson to drive the future. We can look good and drive well while saving the earth.
By Ulysses Ang | Photos By Ulysses Ang
Originally Published in January/February Top Gear Philippines
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