BMW Hydrogen Powered Car
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BMW is the first company in the world that has produced the hydrogen powered car. Although produced this vehicle only in small numbers approximately 100, it has given manufacturers and automobile enthusiasts a glimmer of hope that this can actually be done.
The BMW Hydrogen 7 looks similar in shape to the 760i and the 760Li. What makes it different is when you open the hood because the engine and is a little bit different.
This vehicle is designed to run on gas and hydrogen. While most of their competitors use hydrogen and fuel cell technology to run the car, BMW directly ignites the hydrogen in its internal combustion engine.
The company does not plan to produce this vehicle in large quantities because of the costs in making it is quite big which means that not many people will be able to afford it. Even people who can buy the said vehicle are having second thoughts because it can only travel 16.9 miles per gallon for gas and 4.7 miles per gallon for water.
If you notice, there is a huge difference with how much you consume using water and gas which should come as no surprise because more research has to be done to make hydrogen combustion just as efficient as fuel cell technology.
The fuel in the hydrogen car is stored in a large, 30-gallon, bi-layered and highly insulated tank. This will keep the water in liquid form from changing to compressed gas. There are also three safety valves that are designed to open up should the pressure within the tank exceed 5 bars so the combustion chambers are cooled to prevent it from igniting in an uncontrolled manner.
Studies have shown that this will produce 75% more energy per volume as a liquid than compressed gas at 700 bars of pressure.
Can you buy the BMW hydrogen powered car? The answer is no because this was merely a limited edition series and no more are planned to be reproduced in the future. Why develop it then? This was done to promote the idea of alternative forms of energy.
But BMW has not stopped there. A few years before the 7 Series came out. They developed another hydrogen powered vehicle which does not use fuel cell technology. This vehicle is called the H2R and uses liquid nitrogen as fuel.
HR stands for hydrogen race car. It took 10 months to develop from drawing it until it was fully assembled.
The vehicle uses BMW’s top of the line 6 liter V12 gasoline engine that is modified for both hydrogen and gasoline. Despite the upgrade, it can achieve 285hp and reach a top cruising speed of 185.5 miles per hour. It has set various records and one is being able to hit 60mph in under 6 seconds.
Is hydrogen the way of the future? A lot of people think so because there are advantages to using hydrogen. First, there is an unlimited supply of hydrogen unlike gasoline which is a non-renewable resource.
Hydrogen combustion is clean burning which means that it does not emit any harmful gases into the atmosphere. Believe it or not, hydrogen weighs less and generates more power than hydrocarbon-based fuels. It also burns faster than conventional gasoline.
The question again is will people be able to buy the BMW HR2? Maybe not right now because there are only a handful of hydrogen filling stations in the world. In fact, there are only 5 right now so more have to be built and certain improvements in the vehicle have to be done.
Liquid hydrogen which is used in the BMW HR2 is not new. This is because the aerospace industry already uses this in rockets and spacecraft. Since it works here, engineers are conducting a feasibility study to see if it can only be used in commercial aircraft.
The BMW hydrogen car is the first hybrid ever to use water and gasoline. Will other manufacturers soon follow? Only time will tell. The one thing that people know right now is that it is possible to use water to run a car. The liquid nitrogen that has proven to work in the BMW HR2 is lighter and produces more power than gasoline.
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