BMW’s Hydrogen 7 is coming to Australia
December 10, 2007 by Karl Peskett
Attention all environmentally conscious citizens. Hydrogen is on its way down under.
In late January next year, BMW will showcase its Hydrogen 7 limousine at a week long public expo in Melbourne. A fleet of the factory built flagships will be used to provide real-time driving experiences for select political and business leaders, as well as key environment and media opinion formers.
At Federation Square, from January 21-29, a specially built pavillion will demonstrate BMW’s commitment to future technology, and shift away from fossil fuels. Interactive and static displays will also feature, with information walls to show the many technological automotive advancements BMW has developed in recent times.
Although the Hydrogen 7 is not exactly bursting with power, its respectable outputs of 119kW and 390Nm from the dual-fuel V12 propel it to 100km/h in 9.5 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 230km/h. It carries 8kg of hydrogen in a crash-proof tank, eliminating any Hindenburg-like outcome.
“BMW Group Australia is delighted to be able to welcome the Hydrogen 7 sedans to Melbourne, but more than that, to be able to demonstrate to Australians the great strides in innovation BMW has taken and will continue to take in the future towards emission-free mobility,” said BMW Group Australia Managing Director, Guenther Seemann.
At this stage, only 100 models of the Hydrogen 7 will be built.
Print it: 
Hydrogen – the real future alternative & guess who beat all carmakers at this years Michelin Bibendum Challenge for alternative fuel? Kia/Hyundai with their world leading Hydrogen fuel cell technology.
what a misleading title.
i thought ooohhhhh BMW will be the first to release them here ha ha ha ha ha ha
Lcat,
just a further bit of un-suspected trivia.
ford was apparently the first to have a drivable hydrogen version vehicle
its funny how toyota has thrown their face in people faces as being the greener more technological company yet others like Ford, GM and even the outsider koreans are upstaging toyota under the covers
Ahhhhhhhh and it got you looking……when was the last time you clicked on a BMW blog apart from the ash tray car hahaha…funny thing is I wouldn’t have with that title cause it doesn’t interest me! Just saw your name attached to it and was surprised! But your good at that ha!
Is honda going to release the first mass produced fuel cell car? FC-X?
Does any one know what kind of range 8kg gets you?
Like 1kg / 50km?
It is not just about which car company has the best ‘fuel cell’ technology. It is also about who can bring the technology to the mass market. So far, only Honda is committed to selling their Hydrogen powered cars, FCX Clarity in the US and Japan (starting in 08′). The other car companies may already have hydrogen technology, but in my opinion they are still trying to maximise their profit on the ‘old’ internal combustion engine. How pathetic.
What is the point of showcasing your hydrogen powered 7 series that is not for sale, not affordable, and not supported? BMW, please have a look at your Japanese counterparts for inspiration. You are definitely not the most commited or forward thinking car company like you think you are. As far as I know, you are still trying to market your diesel powered cars as the mainstream alternative. You are kidding yourselves right? How about challenging yourselves to be the first to bring a zero emission vehicle (that is not dependent on any fossil fuel) to the mass market? Maybe then you can get some respect.
Many people are starting to believe that the Fuel Cell dream is over. The expected breakthough that was meant to make these systems safe and stable with adequate output
has not eventuated (for a very similar reason nuclear fission has never taken off). Considering the ammount of resources that have gone into this its hard to believe that someone will simply discover a solution that so many have missed. For now these cars are simply avertising campaigns and nothing more.
I know some will hate the concept & I expect some flak
but the more realistic option is the plug in combined with a small turbo diesel.Big heavy Hybrid or Hydrogen luxury vehicles are not the future,they make a let them eat cake statement.
The research $$$ should be looking at renewable power generation not the promotion of these vehicles.
Just a waste.
Nothing green or sustainable about a V12 limo.
ha ha ha Missile!!
i do actually visit many BMW articles but as usual there isnt much discussion ha ha ha ha. I thought id top one up a bit ha ha ha ha
oh no ashtrays on this one….Why? because it is an all green car!!!!!
sorry i cant have someone having a dig at me without having a dig back
David,
dont forget that plugin vehicles would be worse for the environment. just because the gas isnt coming out the exhaust pipe of the car but rather out of the power station stacks people think the car should be considered green….go figure…..
also imagine the strain that would be put on the already stained power grid….
i think a decent renewable power source is just as far off as say hydrogen
Thats ok ……….I expected as much……Not much disscussion??????Oh well not much more can be said on perfection..hehehe!
No ash trays honey………bad for your health,just like real HP can be! Did you like the Chinese welding mask? Thats what they use at our factory ..use to close their eyes till the welds didn’t hold and we complained for a load of spare parts……Still its scary ha!
Andrew M,I know what you mean & appreciate there is no cheap & easy way.Over the next few years there will be a revolution in the way electricity is billed.No more single rate meters.In Vic SMART metering is to be rolled out to every household.It will be an incentive to use electricity at cheaper non peak times.A plug in vehicle recharged over night with a range of significantly more than 100k’s are a possibility if some of the previous articles are to be believed eg Volvo plug in.The nature of electricity generation is that it cannot be shutdown quickly or easily & baseload generation is used to maintain overnight supplies,reheat hotwater storage heaters & space heating.
Why not utilise this to recharge vehicles at off peak. rates?
sorry i just cant get my head around the immediate use of plug in cars.
they should not be able to use any form of electricity where it is not renewable as far as im concerned.
what about the way they burn off gas non stop (i forget where it is but will find out if you like) because they have no use for it.
why not put that to a wider use in vehicles till a more permanent solution is created.
renewable or not plugins will put an enormous strain on the electricity grid. not to mention the strain on the economy where petrol stations will be forced out of business meaning we are no longer able to pay $5 bucks for a drink of $4 bucks for a loaf of bread ha ha ha ha
all i can see is hybrids are only a feel good option to make people think they are saving the world.
its like 99% fat free mayonaise where fat people think well its half the fat so i wont feel guilty if i put double the amount on the sandwich.
BM,
yeah the welding masks were a spinner!!!!
just like the bamboo scaffold i saw when i was through those parts.
its funny how the asian cities are well ahead of us when it comes to technology yet they never put it to use to service themselves.
maybe proper health and safety laws arent permitted in order to help curb the problematic birth rate? oh well its better than having another world war to do that like last time i suppose
Yep I have seen the same scaffolding…….unbelievable!
It is?? I wonder some times