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By Glenn Freeman | Monday | 13/08/2007
BMW and NASA have completed testing of the the first-ever hydrogen-powered luxury sedan, using the same Hydrogen 7 fuel source that propelled the Endeavour Shuttle into space last week.
BMW North America Vice President of Engineering, Karl-Heinz Ziwica, said: "It is the high energy density of liquid hydrogen that allows the space shuttle to be accelerated into space. The same concept is used to power the BMW Hydrogen 7. Using hydrogen as a fuel can potentially reduce CO2 emissions by 90 percent".
During the eight week testing program, NASA personnel had full access to the fleet of BMW Hydrogen 7s, which run on a form of liquid hydrogen similar to that used in NASA shuttles.
The vehicles feature a dual combustion engine capable of running on liquid hydrogen or petrol, and shifting seamlessly between the two. During testing they were refuelled using the space centre's liquid hydrogen fuelling supply.
The car comes equipped with an internal combustion engine capable of running on either liquid hydrogen or petrol and is based on the BMW 760Li. The V12 cylinder engine delivers 191 kW; the top speed of the Hydrogen 7 is 230 km/h and acceleration 0-100 km/h is 9.5 sec. When driving in hydrogen mode, emissions of the BMW Hydrogen 7 are little more than water vapour.
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