GOOD TO THE ENVIRONMENT Hydrogen 7 is a really clean car

By Justin Lee

SINGAPORE IS THE only South-East Asian country chosen for BMW’s Hydrogen 7 showcase. The fleet of five Hydrogen 7 cars will form the basis of an educational presentation on sustainable mobility for Singaporeans.

This event will be held at a specially constructed steel and glass CleanEnergy Pavilion from the 6th to the 23rd of March at the corner of Beach and Ophir Road. The public can visit the exhibition from 7th March onwards between the hours of 9am to 6pm daily.

Four of these Hydrogen 7 vehicles will provide chauffeured rides to key VIPs and the media, while the fifth will be showcased at the CleanEnergy Pavilion.

These environmentally friendly Hydrogen 7 cars along with a mobile refuelling station show BMW’s commitment to developing and pioneering hydrogen combustion technology.

CarBuyer spoke to Mr Michael Meurer, project manager of the BMW Hydrogen 7, on the future of hydrogen combustion technology.

“It will take around two generations of BMW vehicles to be produced before it would be able to bring costs down.

“This technology is adaptable and can be implemented on smaller cars, even those with 4 cylinder engines.

“The hydrogen fuel tank in future models would be smaller also,” he said.

The Hydrogen 7 is the world’s only liquid hydrogen powered car with an internal combustion engine. The only emission from this vehicle is water vapour. BMW believes that such technology will be affordable enough to place in mainstream cars in about 15 years.

A modified and detuned version of the 6.0-litre V12 engine found in the 760i powers the Hydrogen 7. The car is able to run on both hydrogen and petrol. The differences over the normal 760i are two liquid hydrogen fuel tanks in the boot and a dedicated hydrogen refuelling cap. There is also a button on the steering wheel to change between hydrogen and petrol modes.

The Hydrogen 7 produces a maximum of 256bhp and accelerates from 0-100km/h in 9.5 seconds. It has a range of approximately 200km in hydrogen mode and 500km in petrol mode.