Press Release
Short Version (I)
Introducing BMW Hydrogen 7, BMW is presenting the first virtually emission-free hydrogen-powered luxury saloon in the world suitable for everyday use, this new model thus setting a milestone in entering a new era of sustained mobility.
BMW Hydrogen 7 is powered by a hydrogen combustion engine and has gone through the complete process of series development, at the same time reflecting the consistent strategy of the BMW Group using hydrogen as the ideal source of energy for the future suitable for everyday motoring already in our day and age.
BMW Hydrogen 7 is a revolutionary development within the BMW 7 Series as a whole: The engine, suspension and body of this new model are based on the overall vehicle concept carried over from the BMW 760i and BMW 760Li Saloons. At the same time BMW Hydrogen 7 features a dual-mode twelve-cylinder combustion power unit able to run on both hydrogen and conventional gasoline. Maximum output is 191 kW/260 hp, accelerating BMW's Hydrogen Saloon to 100 km/h in 9.5 seconds. Top speed of BMW Hydrogen 7, in turn, is limited electronically to 230 km/h or 143 mph.
Progress without compromises.
The dual-mode combustion engine impressively proves the BMW Group's truly supreme engineering skills. Without the slightest delay or change in driving behaviour, the innovative V12 switches over from hydrogen to gasoline drive. This is made possible by high-precision control technology regulating the engine with truly outstanding precision to ensure identical power and performance in both operating modes despite the different combustion qualities of the various fuels.
Introducing this trendsetting innovation in engine technology, the BMW Group offers a practical and attractive solution for switching over to hydrogen as the drive energy of the future, setting a milestone en route to a world of individual mobility independent of fossil fuels and free of pollutants.
In terms of power and performance, motoring refinement and all-round comfort, BMW Hydrogen 7 comes on the same level as the most demanding automobiles ever built with either a gasoline or diesel engine. Hence, driving this innovative Hydrogen Saloon with virtually zero emissions offers all the unique pleasure so typical of a top end BMW. And apart from its future-oriented drive concept, this dynamic premium saloon stands out in particular through an exceptionally wide range of features and equipment.
Hydrogen - the energy of the future.
Experts agree that hydrogen is the only source of energy with the potential in the long run to replace fossil fuels in road traffic. With its chemical symbol H, hydrogen is one of the components that makes up water and nearly all organic compounds, meaning that it is part of the biological cycle and therefore fully compatible with the environment. And as the most common element in the universe, hydrogen is available for all practical purposes in virtually unlimited quantities.
Hydrogen can be stored either in its cryogenic state as a fluid or in its gaseous state, and is relatively easy to transport. As a gas hydrogen is non-toxic, colour- and odourless. In its liquid state, measured by weight, it contains three times the energy to be found in gasoline.
While the use of fossil fuels inevitabl results in carbon dioxide emissions, hydrogen as an alternative source of drive energy is extremely friendly to the environment, developing nothing but vapour in its process of combustion.
And recovered in a regenerating process, hydrogen, as opposed to other alternative fuels, is the only source of energy allowing ongoing, sustainable use pointing into the future.
Liquid hydrogen for superior everyday driving qualities.
The BMW Group focuses consistently on liquid hydrogen as the appropriate source of drive energy. This clear preference results from the fact that liquid hydrogen, in terms of its volume-related energy density, by far exceeds the energy density of gaseous hydrogen. With a fuel tank taking up the same space and providing the same capacity, the amount of energy contained within cryogenic liquid hydrogen exceeds that of hydrogen stored in compressed gaseous state at 700 bar by more than 75 per cent. Clearly, this gives a vehicle running on liquid hydrogen a correspondingly longer cruising range.
A further point to be considered as long as the infrastructure for hydrogen is still being expanded is the cumulative range a hydrogen car is able to cover - indeed, this criterion is crucial to the car's everyday use and driving qualities. Hence, BMW Hydrogen 7 offers a long cruising range first through the use of liquid hydrogen as its source of energy and second through the dual-mode combustion engine: In the hydrogen mode BMW Hydrogen 7 is able to cover a distance of more than 200 kilometres or 125 miles, with another 500 kilometres or 310 miles in the conventional gasoline mode.
User friendliness is particularly crucial to the appeal and, accordingly, acceptance of hydrogen as a new source of drive energy. Indeed, the criterion of everyday use was highly relevant in developing the concept of BMW Hydrogen 7: Introducing this first-ever hydrogen-powered luxury saloon built in series production, the BMW Group is setting a most significant milestone within the global automotive industry. The car proves that alternative drive energy may also fulfil the greatest demands in terms of driving dynamics and motoring comfort alike.
All the maturity and reliability of a production car.
The world's first hydrogen-powered luxury saloon to enter series production is not the result of a research project. Rather, the development of BMW Hydrogen 7 marks the beginning of the industrialisation process, meaning that BMW Hydrogen 7 now comes with the same standards and levels of perfection as any other new BMW entering the market.
BMW Hydrogen 7 has gone through exactly the same all-round series development process as every new model from BMW. New components such as engine technology, the tank system and vehicle electronics for hydrogen drive have all been developed in and through BMW's usual Product Creation Process, each and every component therefore having been examined and verified with utmost precision, ensuring that it meets all the requirements of series development.
Given this concept, BMW Hydrogen 7 is able to combine truly innovative, future-oriented drive technology with the high quality standards of the BMW Group in terms of reliability, safety, and motoring pleasure established throughout decades of automobile and engine development. So through its mature vehicle concept alone, BMW Hydrogen 7 goes far beyond the status of previous hydrogen prototypes and demonstration models, qualifying for full homologation and type approval according to both German and ECE standards. In the United States of America, the BMW Hydrogen 7 will be deployed to selected users for testing.
Comfort of premium calibre.
The premium quality of BMW Hydrogen 7 is further confirmed and born out by an exceptional standard of comfort. This superiority is ensured by doors with automatic Soft Close function, laminated climate comfort glass, BMW's high-end automatic air conditioning, electric seat adjustment complete with memory function, auxiliary heating including remote control, BMW's high-beam assistant, a TV function with DVB-T reception and a monitor at the rear, the BMW Assist and BMW Online telematics services, a separate car telephone at the rear, full preparation for BMW Teleservice, a CD changer for six CDs, a DVD changer for six DVDs, a smoker package as well as cupholders both front and rear.
Head and side airbags front and rear, interior and exterior mirrors with automatic anti-dazzle control, as well as BMW's Park Distance Control (PDC), a rain sensor, BMW's navigation system Professional and HiFi system Professional, lumbar supports for the driver and front passenger, as well as seat heating both front and rear all come in the car's broad range of equipment.
Further technical highlights to be enjoyed in BMW Hydrogen 7 are comfort access, BMW Online, voice recognition for controlling the navigation system as well as the telephone and audio units, steering wheel heating, electrically adjustable comfort seats, BMW Night Vision, and Adaptive Headlights. Added to this there are 19-inch light-alloy wheels together with the BMW Mobility Set.
The world's first hydrogen-powered premium automobile for everyday use to enter series production comes as standard with highly attractive metallic paintwork, particularly the special Blue Water Metallic colour available exclusively on this model accentuating the unique character of this unique car.
Dual-mode combustion engine for maximum range.
The dual-mode combustion engine powering the first series production luxury hydrogen saloon is the decisive, revolutionary new development in BMW Hydrogen 7: This muscular engine is based on the twelve-cylinder gasoline power unit displacing 6.0 litres and featuring VALVETRONIC technology in the BMW 7 Series. Maximum torque is 390 Newton-metres/287 lb-ft and comes at an engine speed of 4,300 rpm.
The V12 power unit in BMW Hydrogen 7 operates in two modes, meaning that the engine is able to burn either hydrogen or gasoline in the same cylinders.
Offering an overall cruising range of approximately 700 kilometres or 435 miles, BMW's hydrogen car with its dual-mode combustion engine has an even longer range than the BMW 760i. This enables the driver of BMW Hydrogen 7 to enjoy virtually unlimited mobility, using his car without problems even when covering a long distance before reaching the nearest hydrogen fuel filling station. Everyday use and driving quality, practical value and the driving experience as such therefore remain as great as before, even where hydrogen is not available.
Combustion engine for enhanced reliability.
The BMW Group has intentionally opted for a combustion engine in BMW Hydrogen 7, establishing the foundation for even greater acceptance and use of hydrogen as drive energy. The hydrogen engine uses mature and proven technology based on thorough know-how gained in decades of engine development. As a result, this engine concept meets all the requirements made of a typical BMW with its superior driving dynamics and agility also when running on hydrogen as the source of energy.
And last but certainly not least, only the combustion engine offers the advantage of being able to run in two modes, that is on two different types of fuel.
Gas injection valves serving as the key technology.
Running on gasoline, the engine operates with direct fuel injection, while in the hydrogen mode the fuel/air mixture is formed in the intake manifolds. The new injection valves developed for this purpose make the greatest conceivable demands in engine development in terms of their construction and integration. Conceived and designed for gaseous hydrogen, the valves are not only larger than conventional gasoline injection valves, but also cover a far wider variation in size and range in terms of their volume flow, operating at different levels of system pressure and at the same time with both very short and longer gas injection times required for hydrogen gas. Even so, they reliably inject exactly the right amount of hydrogen into the intake air at all times within hundredths of a second.
Since hydrogen burns up to ten times faster than conventional fuel, management of the dual-mode combustion engine requires specific functions and operations. Using fully variable VALVETRONIC valve management exclusive to BMW as well as BMW's variable double-VANOS camshaft adjustment, the engineers responsible for developing BMW Hydrogen 7 had ideal tools from the start for optimising the hydrogen combustion process, gearing the gas cycle and mixture formation process specifically to the individual properties and features of the hydrogen/air mixture.
Practical solution reducing CO2 emissions.
For all practical purposes, BMW Hydrogen 7 emits nothing but vapour while running in the hydrogen mode. Hence, the new model makes a very significant contribution to the drastic reduction of emissions in individual transport, helping in particular to reduce CO2 emissions to a minimum.
The plan for the future is to introduce a car running exclusively on hydrogen (single-fuel). And at the same time researchers at the BMW Group are working on fuel cell technology, seeking to create a highly practical solution for the automobile in the guise of the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), thus introducing a far more efficient and powerful replacement taking the place of the conventional car battery.
Introducing BMW Hydrogen 7, the BMW Group is taking a practical and feasible approach towards the future of motoring fully compatible with the environment. The integration of hydrogen in proven development, production and sales processes is the most efficient method for establishing hydrogen as a genuine alternative to conventional fuels.
The BMW Group therefore sees itself as a pacemaker in driving progress and striving into the future. In this way BMW is strengthening the good faith and confidence of customers in this new technology, at the same time boosting the appeal and attractiveness of the hydrogen car.
Fuel tank with vacuum super-insulation.
With its dual-mode drive concept, BMW Hydrogen 7 requires not only a special system of engine management and fuel supply, but also two different fuel tanks integrated into the car: The hydrogen tank in BMW Hydrogen 7 takes up approximately 8 kilos (about 170 litres or 45 Imp gals) of liquid hydrogen, the conventional gasoline tank has a volume of 74 litres or 16.3 Imp gals.
Used as drive energy, liquid hydrogen involves a particular technical challenge in the construction of the tank: Since hydrogen under normal ambient pressure has to be cooled to - 253 °Celsius in order to turn into a liquid, innovative vacuum super-insulation is required to store hydrogen fuel in the car over lengthy periods. Hence, the hydrogen tank in BMW Hydrogen 7 has double walls with several layers of aluminium and glass-fibre in the space in between measuring 30 millimetres or almost 1.2 inches in thickness in order to avoid higher temperatures entering the tank.
The highly efficient insulating effect offered by the tank is also ensured by a vacuum in the intermediate section between the two walls avoiding any kind of airborne heat transfer. And last but not least, the mounts holding the inner tank in position are made of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic bands reducing thermal conductivity to a minimum.
Super-insulation is a very effective way to minimise the intrusion of higher temperatures and equals a 17-metre thick layer (56 feet) of styrofoam in its insulating effect. Filling hot coffee into the tank, for example, you would have to wait approximately 80 days until the coffee has dropped to a temperature suitable for drinking.
Boil-off management for controlled evaporation.
For physical reasons alone even vacuum super-insulation cannot totally avoid a certain intrusion of higher temperatures, meaning that a small amount of liquid hydrogen would inevitably boil off in the course of time.
However, this minor evaporation effect only starts after the vehicle has been parked for at least 17 hours, whereupon the pressure inside the fuel tank will increase to a level requiring boil-off management of the gaseous fuel.
Boil-off management limits the inner pressure inside the tank and, when exceeding a defined level of ideal pressure, ensures controlled removal and conversion of hydrogen. Gaseous hydrogen released in this way is mixed with air in a venturi pipe and oxidised into water in a catalytic converter.
The period required for purging a hydrogen tank half full in a controlled process is approximately 9 days, the hydrogen then remaining in the tank still be sufficient to cover approximately 20 kilometres in the hydrogen mode.
And should BMW Hydrogen 7 be driven in the meantime in the hydrogen mode, the level of pressure inside the tank will decrease again due to the consumption of hydrogen serving to drive the engine. Then, when parking the vehicle again, the 17-hour parking period without any loss of energy will start all over again from the beginning.
Filling the tank is easy.
The concept for filling the hydrogen tank is likewise easy to handle in everyday use and, in principle, hardly differs from the usual way a motorist fills up a gasoline tank. Basically the only new feature is the pressure-tight and low temperature-proof tank connection for liquid hydrogen placed by the driver in the liquid hydrogen filler manifold of BMW Hydrogen 7 like a regular fuel pump and then connected by manual pressure. Then the connection is fastened fully in position and the tank is filled in a process controlled by the system.
To open and close the tank filler flap, all the driver has to do is press a button in the cockpit next to the steering wheel, the entire process of filling the tank then taking less than 8 minutes.
Given the simple handling procedure and system control in filling the tank, the process of filling hydrogen into BMW Hydrogen 7 is just as easy, straightforward and harmless as filling a tank with conventional gasoline fuel, and is in fact even cleaner.
To establish the right technology for the automobile in this area at the earliest possible point for standard worldwide use, the BMW Group has developed a standardised liquid hydrogen tank filling connector in cooperation with international partner companies, and now seeks to establish this connector as a worldwide standard.
