September 13, 2006

THERE IS NO H IN GASOLINE:

BMW to roll out hydrogen-powered 7 Series (Reuters, 9/12/06)

BMW will roll out the world's first hydrogen-burning car in serial production early next year, the German premium automaker said on Tuesday, eager to put its stamp on cars with green credentials.

The specially equipped 7-Series executive cars emit only water vapor when running on hydrogen.

The car hits the market next April and will be shown at the Los Angeles car show in November, the company said. It had said in March the hydrogen cars would arrive within two years.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 13, 2006 7:58 PM
Comments

Good thing there are all those hydrogen refueling stations in Europe and the US!
Oh, wait! BMW is also making available to the motoring public a wonderful electolysis system, for only $1.5MM each, which seperates hydrogen from water.
Downside, said machine uses the equivalent of several thousand gallons of gasoline to produce several thousands of miles of operations.
Back to the BrosJudd no brainer, gas prices dropping is the time to raise the gas taxes.
Mike

Posted by: Mike Daley at September 13, 2006 8:11 PM

"So, to sum up, gasoline is a complicated mixture of hydrocarbons boiling between 120 and 400 degrees F, with chemical formulas between C6H14 and C12H26, but a good "average" compound is C8H18."

A few Hs there...

(Sorry, OJ, but that title was just begging for it :)

Posted by: Anthony Perez-Miller at September 14, 2006 12:26 AM

I'm assuming BMW has come up with an extremely strong protective shell for the vehcle's fuel tank, or the trial lawyers will be just waiting for the first highway recreation of Lakehurst, N.J. in 1937.

Posted by: John at September 14, 2006 1:52 AM

One of the side effects of hydrogen's clean burning, is that it can burn with an almost invisible flame. The light you typically see from fire is due to incandescent impurities, like soot.

So you can walk into a hydrogen fire without seeing it. I suggest tossing handfuls of dirt at any hydrogen car you approach. If the dirt strikes the car without being heated into incandescence, it's probably safe.

Posted by: Bob Hawkins at September 14, 2006 11:41 AM

John:

Worry about liquid hydrogen, or the tank bursting from pressure, but the fire hazard is probably less than gasoline. (Hydrogen rises *fast* and requires a rather narrow fuel/air mixture to ignite).

The Hindenburg, in one of the more deranged engineering decisions in history, used for waterproofing on its skin a compound today notable mainly for being the main ingredient in solid rocket boosters...

Posted by: Mike Earl at September 14, 2006 1:08 PM
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