[JSpira]

I am just back from a week spent driving BMW´s Hydrogen 7er in Southern California. The car drives just like a non-Hydrogen 7er, which is a good thing of course. In other words, you can´t really tell the difference (except for the word Hydrogen all over).

There is one difference: the output (exhaust) of the car in H2 mode is Wasser!

I picked up the car in Oxnard (saw a few mules driving around ) at BMW´s research facility. I then spent two nights in Newport Beach (Fairmont, for the curious) and then two days in Santa Monica (also Fairmont).

The car got everyone´s attention, on the freeway, the PCH, pulling into hotels (the Newport Beach´s Fairmont´s general manager offered to swap his 3er with me). The Santa Monica hotel staff insisted I park way up front (they said it was good for the hotel´s image).

Kudos to the Fairmont chain - all hybrid cars (including mine) park for free (regular price, $28/p.d.).

The changeover from H2 to petrol at speed is undetectable. The engineering that had to have gone into this vehicle is incredible.

A word about H2 technology. At best, this is 10-15 years off, if it happens at all. There is no infrastructure now for pumping liquid hydrogen and that has to be in place if anyone is to really market the cars.

BMW is producing ca. 100, with most staying in Germany and perhaps up to 25 coming to the U.S. They are not for sale but BMW is inviting people to drive them for several months (my period was more limited because I live on the east coast and it wasn´t practical for me to spend three months there).

Fotos

1.) Hydrogen 7er at the filling station

2.) Bordmonitor´s display when you are out of hydrogen

3.) Cluster shows both fuels

4.) Door sill

5.) Hydrogen tank in trunk

6.) Ocean view from my hotel

7.) Car parked way up front

8.) Tank details

[JSpira]

Foto Nr. 8.

[Josh49]

Very interesting..

Cool seeing some real world pictures of this.. I just read BMW's Magazine mostly on the H7 a few weeks ago..

How'd it feel from a power standpoint running solely on Hydrogen?

What about Handling and Braking?

Just curious, I know it's a far way off though.. Just curious how the fuel and added weight altered performance of the 7..

Any comments on feasability of this form of energy?

Thanks in advance!!

[BMW F22]

niiice. thank you for the review. I actually have the BMW magazine issue with the Hydrogen 7 right next to me. hehe

Too bad they're marketing it nationwide for so long.

[Josh49]

That's awesome that you got to drive this.. :rocks:

[JSpira]

Originally Posted by Josh49

Very interesting..

Cool seeing some real world pictures of this.. I just read BMW's Magazine mostly on the H7 a few weeks ago..

How'd it feel from a power standpoint running solely on Hydrogen?

What about Handling and Braking?

Just curious, I know it's a far way off though.. Just curious how the fuel and added weight altered performance of the 7..

Any comments on feasability of this form of energy?

Thanks in advance!!

It felt just like gasoline when running on H2.

Liquid H2 is pumped into the engine just like gasoline and the engine doesn´t seem to lose any power.

Handling and braking - like a normal 760Li.:rocks:

[ward]

Originally Posted by JSpira

It felt just like gasoline when running on H2.

Liquid H2 is pumped into the engine just like gasoline and the engine doesn´t seem to lose any power.

Handling and braking - like a normal 760Li.:rocks:

interesting, I thought I'd read that the hydrogen engines were down on HP pretty signifigantly compared to gasoline

[JSpira]

Originally Posted by ward

interesting, I thought I'd read that the hydrogen engines were down on HP pretty signifigantly compared to gasoline

It's the standard BMW 12 cylinder motor and while I didn't check the specs (yet), it seemed similar.

[NaTuReB0Y]

I heard it only has a price tag of $1,000,000 USD........

Who's #1 in line.........?

[SpecC]

^that's kinda the price of a regular 7er anyway. i'd like to see how these things turn out

[NaTuReB0Y]

Originally Posted by SpecC

^that's kinda the price of a regular 7er anyway. i'd like to see how these things turn out

$1 million USD................

[Fredric]

Thank you Jonathan, very interesting. Couldn't quite make it out from the photo in front of the hotel, but appears someone put graffiti on the side of the car.

[JSpira]

Originally Posted by Fredric

Couldn't quite make it out from the photo in front of the hotel, but appears someone put graffiti on the side of the car.

[DM1]

That's just great!

Congratulations on doing that, and btw how do I get to do that?

[bartman32]

Nice review Jonathan! Very interesting to see. I hope one day it does become a reality.

[SpecC]

Originally Posted by NaTuReB0Y

$1 million USD................

oh 3 zeroes too many confused me a bit!