A sedan fuelled by the future

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Honda’s new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car ...

: Long lists of restrictions are familiar to journalists who drive press cars from automakers’ fleets: no smoking, no racing, no loaning the keys to your fugitive brother-in-law.

But one prohibition placed on the BMW Hydrogen 7, a 760Li luxury liner modified to run on hydrogen in addition to its normal gasoline diet, was an eye-opener: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would not permit the car to be driven through the Lincoln or Holland Tunnels or on the lower level of the George Washington Bridge.

It seems that BMW drew the Port Authority’s attention when it began pumping liquid hydrogen into its small test fleet of dual-fuel sedans in Port Jersey, not far from the docks where BMWs disembark after their voyage from Germany. And historically speaking, it’s fair to say that the last hydrogen-dependent German flagship that docked in New Jersey left a lasting impression.

So while BMW designed the Hydrogen 7 to be as explosion-resistant as any gasoline car, memories of the Hindenburg zeppelin cause misunderstandings among consumers and bureaucrats, a company spokesman acknowledged.

As with hydrogen cars from Ford, General Motors, Honda and others, showcasing hydrogen’s carbon-free potential is the BMW’s reason for being. But unlike far-costlier fuel-cell cars—which generate electricity through a chemical reaction of gaseous hydrogen and oxygen—the BMW runs on either liquid hydrogen or gasoline in a familiar internal-combustion engine.

When it is running on hydrogen, water vapor is the main byproduct, as shown by a damp spot beneath the bumper when the car idles. Emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides are nearly zero, with just traces resulting from the engine’s lubricating oil and the heat of combustion.

BMW built its demonstration fleet of 100 Hydrogen 7s beginning in 2006 and keeps eight in the New York area and a dozen in Los Angeles, where testers have included the celebrities Leonardo DiCaprio , Brad Pitt , Will Ferrell and Edward Norton . All told, the 100 BMWs have logged more than a million miles in testing around the world.

Automakers like Ford and Mazda are also experimenting with the technology of using hydrogen in conventional engines. Ford has built roughly 30 hydrogen powered V-10 buses for commercial customers in the US and Canada, including major airports, the city of Las Vegas and SeaWorld Orlando. In Japan, Mazda is road-testing a Premacy hydrogen hybrid minivan that combines a rotary engine with an electric motor and lithium-ion batteries.