BMW has outfitted a strain of its famous 7-series line of cars with the ability to run on liquid hydrogen! The hydrogen powered Beemers, which can also run on standard gasoline, are set to launch next year. Running a car on liquid hydrogen is totally green and totally clean; no dangerous emissions whatsoever.
But..... a hydrogen powered BMW 7-series only has about half the horsepower of its gasoline counterpart because the power is delivered by the ancient internal combustion engine. To get real power out of hydrogen, you need a fuel cell, which is still impractical. But then, so is running a car on liquid hydrogen that must be kept at 480 Farenheit degrees below zero. It turns out, actually making and maintaining the liquid hydrogen fuel requires a hell of a lot of energy, which is produced via very unclean processes..... like coal. In other words, the positive environmental impact of driving a car like this is currently outweighed by the negative envirnonmental impact caused by its fuel production. Ideally, technology will improve and this won't always be the case.
Unfortunately, the hydrogen-powered Beemers are also slugs..... 0-60 in just under ten seconds. The cars are extremely heavy because, in the grand tradition of the hybrid, they also house the facilities to run on gasoline, which requires a heavy gas tank. But alas, it is a step in the right direction, isn't it? I applaud BMW for planning to launch a hydrogen powered line of cars. After all, someone has to take the first step, right?
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