BMW goes green

by Kris   ⋅   January 3, 2007   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

Bimmers bug me, mostly due to the fact that the 3-series are gamut with the “new rich” who apparently don’t know how to use their turn signals and are prone to cut you off like a Subaru, but if I were given a free one, I would probably choose a 7-series (I admit to coveting the 635CSi in High School even though it was a hella old model and I was unwieldy on a stick). I drove my friend’s one over a curb once, but because he drove a 7-series and not a 3, he just laughed about it. A classmate of mine traded in his bimmer for a new one every year (don’t ask me why), so I understand there is a huge captive audience for any new models out there. Well, now BMW is getting just a little bit sweeter in my book because they are getting greener.

BMW recently announced that they are about a year away from unveiling their liquid hydrogen powered baby, a 256-hp 6.0-liter V-12 big baby no less. To appease the petrol moguls, hybrids are still designed to switch from their tree-hugging energy source to a gasoline-powered one, depending on various factors such as accelerating or idling. The BMW Hydrogen 7 is no exception, but this one allows the driver to toggle it with a dashboard switch. I’m not quite sure if that is entirely pragmatic or if it’s more for that “luxury car edge”.

The Hydrogen 7 gained a lot of weight for the change but still manages to reach a top speed of 143 mph. Distance will be no problem for the Hydrogen 7; it is purported to travel 300 miles on the gasoline tank, 125 miles on the hydrogen. The horsepower of course was sacrificed, with the comparable 760Li at 438-hp. Only 100 are set for production, but it still is a huge leap in the right direction. Never thought I’d say it, but yay for BMW.