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BMW to Introduce Hydrogen-Burning Model Next Year
German automaker BMW has announced that it will start selling hydrogen-burning cars starting in April 2007. However, it will not be for sale, only for lease because of the high price. Hydrogen, however, is not the only green technology BMW backs; it is working on fuel cell cars as well. Nonetheless, it remains committed to the internal combustion engine “because the sum total of its features and characteristics offers the largest number of advantages and benefits all in one.” Moving to another technology is rife with problems, mostly in the minds of corporate management, but BMW is thinking bigger than most.
On the surface, hydrogen is the solution. The chemistry is simple:
2H2 + O2 ==> 2 H2O
In words, that means burning hydrogen results in water vapor and nothing else. However, getting the hydrogen is tricky. The best way is to split up the atoms in water using solar-generated electricity. That particular technology is not quite ready, it seems, so the current method is to burn natural gas, oil or coal to generate the electricity to create the hydrogen. In short, the method pollutes, and it does little to end reliance on fossil fuels.
Then, there is the entire issue of fueling stations. Getting diesel at US filling stations is hard enough. Building the infrastructure to sell hydrogen continent-wide is an awesome chore. In China, where there isn’t as much oil infrastructure, this may be the way to go, but in North America, there is far too much inertia to make this easy. On the other hand, it must be built if hydrogen is to be available, and whoever makes the investment gets a virtual monopoly on the delivery.
One of the complaints auto enthusiasts have against non-gasoline powered cars is their “sluggish” performance; a driver can’t “peel out” and leave 100 meters of tire on the road. BMW has solved that. It reports “The BMW 7 Series Hydrogen 7 Saloon is powered by a 260 hp twelve-cylinder engine and accelerates from 0-100 km/h [62 mph] in 9.5 seconds. Top speed is limited electronically to 230 km/h.” The company also showcased a car in Paris 2004 called the H2R that could go 300 km/h and could reach 100 km/h in about 6 seconds.
What is annoying about BMW’s announcement is that BMW is the company making it. As GM and Ford are struggling to stay alive, they have been beaten soundly on the hybrid front by Toyota. Now, it looks like the Bavarians have stolen a march on them in hydrogen technology as well. Cars will always be made in America; the market is too big to ignore. But the companies that operate factories in the US need not be American. If GM and Ford’s management keep this non-thinking up, they will find themselves in the same boat as Chrysler – linked to a non-American company by a hyphen without the benefit of top billing.
© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.
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