Tony Whitney Contributing Writer

WE hear plenty of talk about alternate fuels in these days of high gasoline prices, but most of it centres on natural gas and propane.

Hydrogen has been tout- ed as a possible alternate fuel for motor vehicles for some years, bux the public percep- tion is that this fuel is volatile and difficult to store and dis- pense. It’s a fuel we might see more of in the future when fuel cells finally debut in vehicles we can actually buy, but lice more than that.

“But if hydrogen is a non- runner in che alternate fuel stakes, the news hasn’s reached BMW yer. The Bavarian automaker is so con- vinced of the viability of hydrogen that it’s into its fourth Generation test sedan

filed up at a hydrogen ser- vice station located right on the airport property. It was an interesting experience, but a common enough routine at Munich airport, where many of the vehicles used around the facility, including apron buses, are hydrogen-fucled. BMW is operating 15 of its 750hL models on a daily basis in both Munich and Hanover. When running on. hydrogen, the car's 12-evlin- der engine develops 204 horsepower, tops 100 km/h in 9.6-seconds and is capable of a top speed of 226 km/h. The car’s 140-litre cryogenic hydrogen tank gives the fully equipped luxury car a range of 350 km. The cars are dual fuel units capable of being run on gasoline when need- ed. After all, you won't find a hydrogen filling station on every street corner just vet. The only major moditica- tions to make the big BMW's engine run on hydrogen invoive the intake ports,

using that fuel. In fact, BMW has made a sesious commit- ment to the future of hvdro- gen asa vehicle fuel and is chiming that its small fleet of 750hL hyrdrogen-fueled sedans are the first such vehi- cles in series production in the world.

I recendy rode from downtown Munich to the city’s airport (a lengthy trip) ina BMW 750hL and even

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gen as future fuel

ing to BMW.

Interestingly, the 750hL is also clajined as the world’s first production car with a fuel cell. Several of the BMW hydrogen sedans have their on-board power supplies gen- erated by a fuel cell. A com- pact fuel cell takes the place of the usual lead-acid battery and supplies power to the heater, air-conditioner and

which have additional injector valves for hydrogen. The engines come off the same production line as other BMW powerplants and are installed in the vehicle using the same assembly tech- niques.

BMW says that its hydro- gen vehicles are just as safe as gasoline-fteled cars. The hydrogen is stored in a dou- ble-walled steel tank behind the rear seat back — resulting in some loss of trunk space.

The fuel is cryogenic, or in an ultra low-temperature condition of minus 253 C. Safety has been assured by numerous crash tests. BMW points out that even ina very severe nose-to-tail collision in which the colliding vehicle teaches the hydrogen tank, the double-walled tank would not leak,

Even in the severest possi- ble crash, which would prob- ably involve little chance of occupant survival, the hydro- gen cannot explode, accord-

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other ancillaries. Since the air conditioner is independent, the cars interior can be cooled even when the engine is not running. Hydrogen, incidentally, seems to be the fuel of choice for future vehi- cles powered entirely by fuel celis.

Hydrogen is a clean, effi-

See Water page 38

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