BMW's driver appeal is built on a series at potent engines.

hile the rest of the world's car manufacturers seem to be going fuel cell crazy, BMW says it intends to stick with a range of traditional combustion engines. However, it will run them on low emission hydrogen as an alternative to petrol.
To emphasise the point, the company has embarked on the Clean Energy World Tour 2001. That involves taking a fleet of hydrogen-powered 750hLs to a number of major cities.

Ironically, the first stop was at the heart of the first stop was at the heart of the oil industry in Dubai, where Dr Burkhard Goschel, BMW's diretor development, said: "There is a requirement to reduce carbon dioxide, but that does not mean we shuld only have small cars. We want to maintain comfort and convenience for our customers." Fuel cell cars were, he said, "much further away". Some makers were finding developing the technology very expensive.

Despite an apparent conflict of interest, some oil producers recognise that their resource will one day run out. The World Tour was officially opened by His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktourm, crown prince of Dubai and defence minister of the United Arab Emirates. Infact, Dubai has already commissioned the Munich Technology University to carry out a feasiblity study into the manufacture of hydrogen using solar energy.

Uwe Rathman of Linde AG, which developed the low tempreature hydrogen tank for the 750hL, said it was possible that hydrogen could be manufactured globally and transported in liquid form, much as oil is now. "LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) is already shipped from Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait to Japan, Europe and Korea," he said. His company would soon undertake a contract in Norway to produce liquid hydrogen, whcih will be shipped to Europe, he added.

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BMW prototype shows the effectiveness of hydrogen in a Seven series.

ritics say that fuelling combustion engines with hydrogen is inefficient because it has a lower energy density than petrol. BMW's 5.4-litre V12 engine develps just 205bhp running on hydrogen - compared to 326bhp when fuelled by petrol. However, due to the current scarcity of hydrogen fuel, the 750s must also burn petrol for the moment. When there is widely available hydrogen fuel, engines can be optimised to run exclusively on hydrogen, which could liberate much more power.

O ne source at BMW said the answer may prove to be a hybrid between a petrol and diesel engine:"We belive we can make changes to improve power and match the modern diesel for power and torque by combining spark and compression ignition."

Far from alternative fuels killing the car as we know it, they could spark an explosion of new engine technologies in the next five years.