Coming soon: Hydrogen-powered BMW (CNNMoney.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

Luxury sedan will burn both hydrogen and gasoline. It will be
provided to selected drivers.

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- BMW has
announced that it will produce a limited number
of hydrogen-powered luxury performance cars
in 2007.

The BMW Hydrogen 7, based on the company's high-end
7-series luxury sedan, will be powered by a
260-horsepower 12-cylinder internal combustion engine
capable of running on either premium-grade gasoline or
hydrogen, the company said. The car will be able to
switch fuels automatically when the liquid hydrogen tank
runs dry, BMW said, with no change in performance. The
driver can also switch fuel sources by pressing a button.

The dual-mode system provides the car with a cruising
range of more than 400 miles, according to BMW. The
car can run for 125 miles on just the hydrogen tank alone
and another 325 miles on gasoline. The long cruising
range and the ability to burn gasoline are important
because hydrogen fueling stations are still difficult to
find.

The cars will be driven by "selected users" in the United
States and other countries, BMW said. A total of 100 will
be built with about 25 going to the U.S., said BMW
spokesman Andreas Klugescheid.
***
more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/09/12/bmw_hydrogen/index.html

"12-cylinder"? Um, I know one way to make that car greener ...

[Champion Jack]

1. Where's the nearest hydrogen re-fueling station?

I've never seen one

[3waygeek]

2. About time...

BMW had a hydrogen-powered 750 concept 5-6 years ago; I remember seeing it in LA.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Wow. It could turn into a multi-fuel world.

Now we just have gas & diesel, but imagine trying to drive around in a world with alcohol, e85, methane, diesel, gasoline, H2, various kinds of exotic fuel cells & electric battery power.

[skids]

4. Easy...

Use an electric, with a tack-on multi-fuel burner with solid state quantum well TEG (or a stirling engine if you like). Then you'll be able to backup your prime mover with any fuel that can burn at any respectable temperature, if you need to and cannot get by on solar intake.

[bananas]

5. Rich toys for rich boys.

Wealthy Hollywood liberals can cruise around in their H2 BMW's,
but what about starving Ethiopians living on 8 Watts of energy per day?
They need nuclear powered BMW's!

(filling in for NNadir til he comes back)