BMW must think that people who spend their days planning how to leave this earth are the right target for the Hydrogen 7 hype. Last fall, a fleet of the dual-fuel cars spent two months at NASA; this month the Atlantis Space Shuttle crew chilling in Munich (visiting the BMW Group as part of a tour of Germany) got a chance to test out the luxury vehicle. It worked, as Space Shuttle Commander Stephen Frick is now a fan. In a statement (available after the jump) he said, "It's impressive to see hydrogen functioning so smoothly in cars as well. What I find most striking is that a car running on hydrogen performs just as well as a petrol-driven model." It's always good to remember at times like this that the H7 can run on hydrogen or petrol, and there's nothing in BMW's media release that says the car was running on H2 when Frick was on board.

In the race to bring hydrogen-fueled cars to market, virtually every manufacturer has settled on the compressed gaseous form with one notable exception. BMW has been the lone holdout for the use of liquid hydrogen. BMW's rationale is that liquid hydrogen is more dense than hydrogen gas, even when compressed to 10,000psi. Unfortunately getting hydrogen into liquid form, requires chilling it down to -282.57C -252.87C. Keeping it at that temperature requires a lot of insulation and hence a very bulky storage tank. Nonetheless, insulation is not perfect and the liquid hydrogen still warms up over time and boils. The vapor hydrogen then has to be vented to atmosphere. A BMW Hydrogen 7 left sitting for a week will end up with an empty hydrogen tank.

BMW has been working with a consortium of 34 automakers, aerospace, fuel companies, and universities for the past four and a half years to develop a new storage system for liquid hydrogen. The current cylindrical steel tanks are both heavy and challenging to package in a car and end up absorbing most of the trunk space. BMW's research and development arm Forschung und Technik, along with the consortium, has developed a new composite modular design that can be formed into different shapes allowing greater packaging flexibility. The new tank is claimed to be one third of the weight of the current tank design. It's not known if the new tank does anything to address the issue of fluid boiling. BMW will display the new tank at the StorHy conference in Poissy, France this week.

[Source: BMW]

Photo credit: Vince Bucci/Getty Images. Click to enlarge.

Last night, for a special screening of the movie version of "Sex and the City," star Kristen Davis got a ride in the dual-fuel BMW Hydrogen 7. Davis rode the car to the Arclight Cinema in Hollywood, California. While I'm sure the drama was kept on-screen, let's not forget that co-star Kim Cattrall is really more into the Mercedes GLK Freeside, as she proved with her appearance at the Detroit Auto Show in January. In fact, the GLK Freeside is featured in the movie, if preview materials are to be believed. In any case, the movie opens nationwide today. That hydrogen-powered car? Not quite as available.


[Source: Rubenstein Communications, Inc.]

Pretty soon, we're going to have to list the people who aren't driving a BMW Hydrogen 7. BMW is offering the car to celebrities, average citizens and politicians the world over. Some of us get to drive it around the block, others get to keep it for a week or two. The latest to be handed the keys is EU Parliamentary president Hans-Gert Pöttering (pictured), who stepped into the car yesterday in Strasburg. BMW says (after the jump) that this move was "In line with the European Parliament's efforts to take measures to reduce its own CO₂ emissions." Pöttering will use the car for work-related trips. For his part, Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of BMW AG, said the Hydrogen 7 "shows that we have initial solutions and are on the right track" and that for "regeneratively produced hydrogen has the most potential to secure our mobility in the future." Potential, always with the potential.

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A lot of green cars have made their way to the EVER MONACO exhibit: the Th!nk City, the Citroën Berlingo Venturi, the Venturi Astrolab and the Citroën C5 Airdream. You don't think BMW would let a chance like this slip by without trotting out the Hydrogen 7, do you?

They didn't. BMW handed over the keys to a dual-fuel-powered 7 series to Monaco's Prince Albert II (left in the picture above) yesterday, calling the vehicle's use part of the Principality's "Sustainable Environmental Protection" program. The prince said in a statement (pasted after the jump) that he looked forward to "discovering the advantages of the BMW Hydrogen 7 with interest over the coming weeks," and said he was keen on technologies that reduce people's environmental impact. Hopefully, he'll let everyone know just what those advantages are. Does Monaco even have a hydrogen filling station? Green Car Advisor says no, and that the car comes with its own tanker for the prince to use.

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.

The BMW Hydrogen 7 "green" message is going to Asia. While many of the cars are still tooling around Hollywood with various celebrities at the wheel (who's the latest? check back in a few hours), five have been sent to Singapore for a two-and-a-half-week promotion. Two government representatives, the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, and the chief of Singapore's national environment agency, Mr. Lee Yuen Hee, came to the BMW CleanEnergy pavilion a week ago to kick off the event. Like the celebrity vehicles here in the U.S. and Europe, the dual-fueled 7 Series will be used to ferry VIPs around Singapore. One, though, will remain on display "in a futuristic, glass-and-steel pavilion located on state land in the heart of Singapore," to make sure everyone gets a chance to be awed at just how unavailable the hydrogen economy is. The vehicles will be in Singapore until the 23rd. There's more after the jump.

If you wanted to see more footage of the BMW Hydrogen 7, here's a nice video showing it on Hong Kong's old runway (Kai Tak). An editor from the Southern China Morning Post was taken for a ride and got a small lesson on how the BMW Hydrogen 7 works, its mileage, the different performance levels when running on gasoline or hydrogen and the unavailability and high cost of filling it up with the latter. Don't miss the segment on safety measures at the filling station.

Related:

• The BMW Hydrogen 7 on display in Australia early next year
• Video: Entourage star Jeremy Piven drives BMW Hydrogen 7
• Video: Jay Leno speaking about the goodness of the BMW Hydrogen 7

[Source: YouTube, h/t to James for the link]

BMW is happy displaying its array of pollution-reducing technologies and is taking them and the Hydrogen 7 to Australia. So if you happen to be in Melbourne's Federation Square from 21 - 29 January, you will be able to see them in person. The exhibition will be placed inside a specific pavilion with information panels about BMW's achievements.

As in other countries, the BMW Hydrogen 7 will be used to give a rides to political and business leaders, as well as members from media and the environment protection. BMW states that the Hydrogen 7 tour is set to demonstrate the "practicality of the technology and expose it as widely as possible."

Related:

• BMW announces sale of the 2.0d engine in Australia
• Video: Entourage star Jeremy Piven drives BMW Hydrogen 7
• Now it's time for high-end politicians: BMW Hydrogen 7 at the Quirinale

[Source: BMW]

A small fleet of BMW Hydrogen 7s was introduced to the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, whose official site is the Palazzo dil Quirinale, and the delegations for the World Energy Congress (WEC) which was held in Rome last week.

The fleet was presented to the President at the Quirinale during a summit with a delegation of the WEC led by Chicco Testa, President of the WEC. Also on hand was Andrea Castronovo, BMW Italia's CEO. The WEC was celebrating its 20th Congress, a world-wide energy-related event, since 1924.

Related:

• Wired LivingHome gets a BMW Hydrogen 7 in the garage
• BMW Hydrogen 7 transporting celebrities during Rome Film Festival
• Plácido Domingo next in line to get a BMW Hydrogen 7

[Source: BMW Italia]

It's not only the A-listers (Brad Pitt, Jay Leno and Will Ferrell) that BMW is milking for some Hydrogen 7 publicity. The automaker has given the author of Lives Per Gallon (and strong hydrogen advocate) Terry Tamminen a BMW Hydrogen 7 to drive on public roads for a while. From the announcement (pasted after the jump), it seems that Tamminen will get the car for a longer time than the big celebs did. And, hey, look, his Hydrogen 7 is a black one, not silver like all the others we've seen.

If you're unfamiliar with Tamminen, I recommend taking the time to listed in a speech he gave at last year's Alt Car Expo, which we have archived here (scroll down). Tamminen has advised Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on energy and environmental issues and supports California's H2 highway proposal.

Related:

• Alt Car Expo: Ed Begley and Terry Tamminen on Ending our Addiction to Oil Now
• AFVI Show: Luncheon speech by Lives per Gallon author Terry Tamminen

[Source: BMW]