Daisuke Papipupipu’s Technology Guide

Everybody has heard of the luxury of BMW and other famous makers like Audi and Mercedes-Benz. But many of the cars in this luxury lineup have huge and powerful engines that destroy our environment. In this case, their problems will be further intensified from the higher oil prices and the low numbers of oil reserves in the future. It is said that there are only 40 years of oil production left (according to USA Today news paper in 2004) since the amount of this source is going down in a rapid pace. For this reason, car manufacturers with vehicles that consume high amounts of oil would fail in the future if the companies continue in the same way. In response, the reputable German auto maker BMW decided to introduce the technology of hydrogen energy in the 7 series, the flagship line of automobiles in the company.

From this, the Hydrogen 7 was produced involving many new technologies. According to BMW, the Hydrogen 7 was the “world’s first production-ready hydrogen vehicle.” The car boasts an internal combustion engine (ICE) with a double engine that allows the driver to switch between a more traditional gasoline fuel from a hydrogen fuel. When the automobile is in hydrogen mode, the car could drive distances up to125 miles which is sufficient enough for many cases. Even more incredible is the fact that this car rates “well-below super-ultra low emission vehicle standards.” According to Science Daily news website, the car actually cleans the air by burning harmful gases in our atmosphere. This is possible since the car uses a more conventional engine that uses ICE, while other hydrogen vehicles in testing uses FCEV, which is a type of engine that has no burning in the process. By simply hearing that the car uses burning, people will assume and question the truth of this research. However, the burning of hydrogen only creates water vapor, which certainly does not harm the environment. After the car test was taken, one of the mechanical engineers involved in the testing commented, “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.” In my opinion this will be a great help on alleviating our environmental problems if people start to buy it. Sadly, BMW is currently not planning to mass produce the vehicle and are only intending to sell it to some famous and privileged people. Currently, there are only about 100 of these magnificent cars that are produced.

Even with these positive aspects, the car still has some negativities. One of the negative things is the refilling problem. Currently, there are only 5 hydrogen refilling stations managed by BMW in the world. Owners would find the refilling of the vehicle’s hydrogen as something that is highly difficult. Apart from this, if the car heat gets too high, the hydrogen will start to vaporize. This happens since the hydrogen needs to be super cooled to be in a liquid state. If all the hydrogen evaporates, there is no meaning on having a hydrogen powered automobile. This car also faces price problems since it uses technological equipments that have high production costs. It is said that if the car goes on sale for the general public, the price will be significantly higher than the other cars in their current lineup, becoming the most expensive car in BMW.

In conclusion, BMW’s Hydrogen 7 has many positive aspects, such as a bivalent engine and the ability to clean the air, but still has some negativity. However if all the unwanted aspects of the car are corrected, the vehicle will become something that people will desire and will turn into a revolutionary vehicle.

Information from:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328070103.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_Hydrogen_7

Filed under: Automobile Guide and tagged BMW, luxury, series 7, technology