Driving the BMW Hydrogen 7

Today I got a chance to have a spin in the BMW Hydrogen 7. It’s one of only 20 of the hydrogen-powered cars in the world, so I was a little nervous that I might prang it, but luckily all went seamlessly. In fact, apart from a big “H2” in the middle of the dashboard (and a small button on the right of the steering wheel, which you can just about see in this picture)BMW1.jpg you wouldn’t know you were driving anything other than a regular BMW. As my co-pilot and BMW engineer Mario explained, the car runs on a dual-fuel system, which means it can process both regular gasoline and hydrogen (the button on the steering wheel allows a driver to choose; or the engine switches automatically when one tank is empty.) The lengthy engineering process involved adapting the regular 760Li’s 12-cylinder engine to work with both fuel sources – and to make room in the car for the bulky hydrogen tank, which holds 17.5 lbs of liquid hydrogen. As you can see in this other photo, BMW2.jpgthe tank sits in the trunk – and thus halves the luggage space of a regular 7 series (though the back seat still looks pretty roomy).