Green

Anyone who loves cars knows that concept cars are the biggest tease ever.  When a manufacturer unveils something, don’t expect to see it for about ten years.  Also, don’t expect it to roll off production looking anything like the original concept car.  As for the promises of what the car is supposed to accomplish, those generally get left on the drawing board and out of production.  So when BMW released its latest version of the BMW 7 Hydrogen concept car, the reaction was was ho-hum.  That is, until an independent report by Argonne National Laboratory stated the BMW7 actually emits less carbon monoxide than the air it uses.

This is not the first version of the BMW 7 Hydrogen concept car.  The first car was designed as a dual fuel source model.  Two tanks resided within the car to offer both hydrogen and gasoline as fuel sources.  Since the infrastructure for liquid hydrogen fuel stations was not prevalent, BMW chose to make sure it wouldn’t leave its drivers stranded.  The liquid hydrogen tank would power the V12 internal combustion engine for 125 miles while the gasoline tank would be available for 300 miles of travel.  What makes this most recent announcement so special is that the BMW7 is designed to run solely on hydrogen.  The engineers were able to improve efficiencies in the engine and the results are getting some serious attention.

BMW released Argonne’s findings at the 2008 SAE World Congress.  As Dr. Thomas Wallner, lead engineer in Argonne’s hydrogen vehicle testing activities, stated for BMW’s press release, “The BMW Hydrogen 7’s emissions were only a fraction of SULEV level, making it one of the lowest emitting combustion engine vehicles that have been manufactured.  Moreover, the car’s engine actively cleans the air. Argonne’s testing shows that the Hydrogen 7’s engine actually shows emissions levels that, for certain components, such as Non Methane Organic Gases (NMOG’s) and Carbon Monoxides (CO’s), are cleaner than the ambient air that comes into the car’s engine.”  So, does the world have its answer to zero emissions vehicles and dependency on foreign oil?  Not quite yet.

There are many in the automotive field who are not so enamored with the BMW 7 Hydrogen that they can’t see a few problems with the design.  First, the hydrogen required to fuel the car must be liquid.  In order for hydrogen to be changed from gas to liquid, it takes a serious amount of energy.  The liquid fuel must be kept at -253°C/423°F.  Unfortunately, that can only be done for up to 17 hours in the car’s fuel tank before it starts to off-vent.  Don’t plan on leaving your car in the airport parking lot over vacation.  Also, while the car doesn’t emit measurable levels of CO, it is releasing hydrogen, which is not currently measured as a pollutant for internal combustion engines.  An increase in hydrogen gas could have equally deleterious effects on the stratosphere as carbon monoxide has on the atmosphere.  While the hydrogen used as fuel and the engine used to run it may be clean, it is only a small part of the energy equation.  The energy costs of liquid hydrogen manufacture, distribution, and storage must also be factored in, and experts agree they set the overall equation into the negative.

There are claims that BMW is “greenwashing” the latest findings for their BMW 7 Hydrogen car.  This may be a bit cynical.  To claim that the BMW 7 Hydrogen is just a public relations move is harsh.  According to the BMW site, the three main goals for the project were to create an automobile that was powered by renewable resources, created lower CO2 emissions, and granted buyers freedom from dependence on fossil fuels.  BMW has definitely succeeded on one of their targets, but there’s still a long road ahead before they can live up to the other two.

By Alicen Hogan