When we first heard about the new mono-fuel BMW Hydrogen 7, we were rather impressed by the extremely low emissions numbers posted by the model when tested at Argonne National Laboratory. The fact that BMW was able to reduce the emissions, boast better range and make more power as compared to their previous-generation Hydrogen 7 was pretty cool. According to Dr. Thomas Wallner, lead engineer in Argonne's hydrogen vehicle testing activities, "[The Hydrogen 7'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, because air is required for the hydrogen combustion, and there are pollutants already present in the air, at times the exhaust from the BMW is cleaner than the air it took in. Does that warrant BMW referring to their hydrogen-burner as a "pollution-consuming internal combustion engine?" Perhaps we're just picking nits, but that sounds a wee bit like greenwashing. It's not like the overall air is cleaner after going through the system, after all. Read their entire press release after the break.

So far all the Hydrogen 7s that BMW has produced and distributed have been dual fuel vehicles that are capable of running on either hydrogen or gasoline. This is helpful since the H7 only has a range of about 100 miles from its tank of liquid hydrogen. BMW has now built a mono-fuel hydrogen only version of the H7 that has been optimized for running on the alternative fuel. By not having to compromise the engine to run on gasoline, BMW has been able to improve performance, reduce fuel consumption and extend the range. The mono-fuel H7 was recently tested at the Argonne National Lab which found out the exhaust gases were actually cleaner than the ambient air going into the engine. BMW will release more specifics about the mono-fuel H7 in two weeks at the SAE World Congress. For now, the mono-fuel H7 is just a tech demonstrator with no production plans.

[Source: BMW]

There are many hurdles standing in the way of hydrogen becoming widespread as an energy carrier for our vehicles, either by the direct burning of it in internal combustion engines or in fuel cells. Very few hydrogen refueling centers exist today, and the gas is difficult to capture, transport and store. One thing is certain regarding hydrogen, though: it can offer extremely low emissions, as it does in BMW's hydrogen-burning V12 engine.

BMW's Hydrogen 7 had to be tested at Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Transportation Research because the emissions are so minute that most test-beds would not be able to detect them at all. "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," said Thomas Wallner, a mechanical engineer at Argonne. In fact, Wallner adds, "the car's engine actively cleans the air. Argonne's testing shows that the Hydrogen 7's 12-cylinder engine actually shows emissions levels that, for certain components, are cleaner than the ambient air that comes into the car's engine."

The emissions from a hydrogen car have never been the problem. The problem is getting the hydrogen. The hope is that as technology continues advancing forward, new ways to capture, store and distribute hydrogen will make it cheaper and more environmentally friendly, allowing the world to consider hydrogen as one method of reducing our oil dependence. Details after the jump.

TMZ has a video of Entourage star Jeremy Piven getting into a BMW Hydrogen 7. Jeremy said a few words to the paparazzi encouraging the use of hydrogen and they noticed he was parked illegally in the red zone. Here is exactly what Jeremy said when asked to talk about the hydrogen-powered car:

If you get more hydrogen stations and you tell the governor like Schwarzenegger to put more hydrogen stations, we can have cars like this, ultimately. They will probably be ready in like ten years.

Jeremy tried to avoid the paparazzi at first but they did give him an encouraging "you can do it" as he unparked after the impromptu press conference. Below the fold is a video of an almost identical scene, jackals and vultures fighting over a carcass in the wild.

[Source: TMZ via Plug and Cars]

A few weeks ago we told you about the BMW Hydrogen 7 being the official limo for the Rome International Film Festival. So far, the hydrogen-powered luxury sedan has had some A-List passengers during the event: actors Gérard Depardieu, Jane Fonda, Greta Scacchi and Cate Blanchett and film directors such as Mazzacurati and Francis Ford Coppola.

Perhaps they're giving ideas for next year's Academy award ceremony...

Related:

• Plácido Domingo next in line to get a BMW Hydrogen 7
• Glamor post of the week: BMW Hydrogen 7 is official limo for Rome Film Festival
• Terry Tamminen will take BMW Hydrogen 7 for a long ride

[Source: BMW Italia]

Lights, camera, action! A small fleet of BMW 7-Series Hydrogen will be used by the Rome Film Festival organisation to move VIP guests to the red carpet.

BMW will be present at the second edition of the Cinema Festa Internazionale di Roma, as "ecomobility provider" for the event. The Bavarian marque will supply the fleet to the organisation so they can provide transportation to both cinema stars and personalities from the institutional world (read: politicians). I just hope that the hotel is near enough the theaters: the Hydrogen 7 can only run 200 km (about 120 miles) on a single tank/charge of hydrogen. When the H2 runs out, they can always switch to the gasoline tank, I suppose.

It's obvious that BMW is investing a lot of money promoting its Hydrogen 7 with celebrities. I'm no celebrity, but I'll admit it: if it fit in my garage, I'd like to try one as well.

Related:

• Terry Tamminen will take BMW Hydrogen 7 for a long ride
• Video: TV ad for Hydrogen 7 BMW
• Jay Leno adds a BMW Hydrogen 7 to his mega-garage

[Source: BMW Italia]

When Margo Oge, director of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, mentioned that ethanol production is way past the governments mandates, this article says that Cristoph Huss, BMW senior vice president for science and traffic policy, shook his head. He suggests that BMW still sees hydrogen as the long-term answer to the automotive problems of emissions and energy needs. This, despite the fact that U.S. consumers are shifting more towards renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Perhaps this is because the hydrogen economy is very far off, while biofuels are here and now. The question could be asked, how long should we wait for hydrogen before exploring our other options? Even if hydrogen does emerge as the best option long-term, should the short-term solutions be ignored?

It should be noted that BMW is working with DaimlerChrysler and GM on hybrid technology and could possibly bring some of their high-output diesels to the U.S. market. Remember, too, that BMW currently offers their dual-fuel Hydrogen 7 which is capable of running its ICE on hydrogen or gasoline.

[Source: Detroit News]

Sometimes being a slave to fashion, such as myself (cough cough... ahem. "Yeah right", my wife mutters) has its disadvantages. I mean, knowing what clothing to purchase, what kinds of shoes to wear, how to get my hair styled (towel-dried) and what magazines to read takes a whole heap of time! Or, I suppose I could just read wallpaper.com, where they will just let me know and I won't need to do the research myself. Let's give them a trial run, shall we?

Click here to see their showcase of "101 beautiful, innovative but environmentally friendly designs - from the worlds of architecture, beauty, fashion, food, packaging, product design, transport and travel - from all over the world." What have they chosen for their transportation choices? None other than the BMW Hydrogen 7 and the ENV fuel cell motorcycle. Now, remember when rating these choices, they are going for good design, not what they think will turn out to be successful. So, no matter what you think of hydrogen as a fuel carrier, what do you think of the Hydrogen 7's design? Or, what about the ENV? I'll cast my vote for the ENV personally, as I think they did a very good job on the design of the bike, regardless of what it is powered by. Feel free to comment yourself if you think you can do better.

[Source: Wallpaper magazine via Treehugger]

My friend John over at Autoblog did a good job of highlighting the fact that the German automakers cleaned up when it comes to the World Car of the Year finalists. Speaking of cleaning up, (haha) a subcategory of the competition offers up some choices of the "World Green Car", also all from Germany. The finalists are... in no particular order...

• BMW Hydrogen 7
• Mercedes-Benz E320 BLUETEC
• Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion
  

Cast your unofficial vote here or submit your own choices in the comments. The cars in the poll only include models that can currently be purchased somewhere, hence no Tesla or ZAP-X.

Which car would you select as World Green COTY?
	BMW Hydrogen 7
	Mercedes-Benz E320 BLUETEC
	Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion
	Smart ForTwo
	Toyota Prius
Free polls from Pollhost.com

[Source: WCOTY.com via Autoblog via Winding Road]

We brought you news of the Giugiaro VAD.HO concept which was shown in Geneva at the Motor Show, and now we have some live pictures of the machine from the show floor.

What makes this concept vehicle worthy of carrying the green image? None other than the BMW Hydrogen 7's V12 engine, mounted on the side of the vehicle normally occupied by the passenger. So... where is the passenger? Right behind the driver, fighter jet style. Pretty cool stuff, which is good since this is a concept vehicle, and that is what they are supposed to be. While I'm not holding my breath to see if this vehicle makes it into production, I can at least view the pictures of the only one in existence at the moment. You can too.

Related:

• Geneva preview: Giugiaro Vadho uses BMW hydrogen V12 engine

[Source: Autoblog]

"Hydrogen: Here And Now!" This is theme of the upcoming Hydrogen Expo in San Antonio, Texas, to be held March 19-21. The question is, should it be "Hydrogen: Here And Now? And, if not now, when?" To get a sneak peek at the possible answers to these questions, perhaps you should attend the expo. At the very least, you will have a chance to sit behind the wheel and even drive one of the fuel cell vehicles that will be there, including the BMW Hydrogen 7.

In addition to the cars, there will be examples of hydrogen fueling for your home, your portable electronics and generators. Will any of these technologies become commonplace in the future? Nobody really knows for sure. Judging from comments on our site, there are doubters. However, there are some very smart people working on how to make the "hydrogen economy" a reality. Why not go to the expo and find out yourself?

[Source: Hydrogen Expo via Earthtoys]

As promised earlier, here is the second of the super high performance cars that will be shown at the upcoming Auto Show in Geneva. As I said earlier, each of these vehicles was previewed on Autoblog yesterday, and you can find the link to their coverage here. So, without further ado, I present the Giugiaro Vadho concept. This machine does not run on ethanol, as does the Koenigsegg CCXR we showed you earlier; instead it relys on hydrogen. While ethanol's contribution to alternative fuels is debatable, it's power output is not, which is why there is increased interest in its use as a racing or high performance fuel. Hydrogen, on the other hand, has debatable merit on both counts. A hydrogen based engine makes much less power than it's gasoline-fueled sibling does. This fact is evident when you consider that this vehicle uses the same engine as the V12 BMW Hydrogen 7, which makes 260 HP as compared to the 438 HP it makes running on gasoline. The upside is that you can switch to gasoline at the flick of a switch in the Hydrogen 7. There was no mention made of whether this option is available on the Giugiaro Vadho. The downside is that you will be emitting much more harmful exhaust while running the engine on the higher power of gasoline. So, if you were able to buy the Vadho, which you currently cannot, and you lived near a hydrogen filling station like this one, then you can do your part to help the environment.

Other interesting features of the concept Vadho include the seating arrangement. The driver sits in front of the passenger as in a jet fighter. The engine sits to the right of the occupants. Watch for further coverage of this vehicle when our friends from Autoblog visit Geneva.

[Source: Autoblog]

There are multiple issues waiting to be addressed if the hydrogen economy is ever to come about. So many, in fact, that many don't believe that it will EVER come about. Like I said in my editorial the other day, I am not writing anything off, and I think that it is safe to say that with all the research and development and money being spent on hydrogen, something will come of it. If that includes powering our cars by it, one such stumbling block is where to get the hydrogen from. How about your garage?

A company in Australia, CSIRO, has created a cabinet-sized hydrogen refueling station that is designed to fit in a corner of your garage. It would include solar panels to power the unit, and would not produce any emissions at all. The technology behind it, using electricity to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen in water, is not new. As a matter of fact, Honda uses such a system in their hydrogen fuel stations in California. But I am not aware of any commercial units currently available for sale. I imagine an enterprising person could do it himself, but there are less and less enterprising types around these days. A question that is sure to be on the minds of many readers here is this: Why not use the solar panels on the roof to charge an electric car? Options people, options. The company suggests that wind-power is also being considered.

The unit is undergoing testing in Australia as we speak, and commercial tests are to start in two years. Will that coincide at all with the availability of more cars to use it with, or will the only choice be from BMW?

[Source: Green Wombat via Treehugger]

The Club of Pioneers website, "enabled" and founded by BMW, opened for business on December 19th. The dramatic name matches the vision of the site, which focuses on clean energy (and a lot of hydrogen). Right now one of the main features is the chance to submit text to the site, which will then be projected on a bit of 1,000-year-old ice in a cave in Austria (and a World Heritage Site). Anyone can submit a message, and if you get yours displayed on the ice, let us know.

While anyone can sign up to join the Club, the site is also taking applications for bloggers. One of the folks they took on wrote a post about his trip to the North Pole and the Original Pioneer, Santa Claus. There's obviously more to come from the Club. Let's see if they can talk about vehicles other than the Hydrogen 7.

[Source: Club of Pioneers]

The few lucky ones who will get to drive the new BMW Hydrogen 7 next year can mark today down on the calendar as the car's birthday. The limited edition clean car entered production today, with an initial set of 100 being made. We won't get to see the Hydrogen 7 until the end of the month (the 28th of November, if you've still got your calendar out) at the Los Angeles Motor Show. Touted as "the world's first hydrogen-powered, emission-free, luxury car," the Hydrogen 7 features an internal combustion engine that can burn either gasoline or liquid hydrogen up to an electronically limited 143 mph top speed. The choice of fuel is left to the driver, who switches between the two using a button in the steering wheel. The car performs the same no matter what fuel is being burned, BMW says. You can read BMW's press release announcing production today after the jump or see AutoblogGreen's previous coverage of the Hydrogen 7 at these links:

• Videos explain BMW 7 Series hydrogen car tech
• More photos of the BMW Hydrogen 7
• BMW officially announces the BMW Hydrogen 7

[Source: BMW]