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H2 Cars: Journalists Drive GM’s FC Sequel, BMW Announces Production Bi-Fuel 7-Series

DANA POINT, LOS ANGELES, CA/MUNICH, SEPT. 13 – With apparently unintended serendipity, two major carmakers yesterday launched, and announced, new hydrogen cars with potential for large-volume production.

General Motors turned over the brand-new driveable version of its fuel cell Chevrolet “Sequel” sport utility vehicle to the first of four batches of some 50 journalists to get the feel for this electric car by driving it for a dozen miles or so over public roads but in the controlled environment of the sprawling Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego.

First introduced at the 2005 Detroit Auto Show as a mockup (H&FCL Feb. Oct. 05, Aug. 06), GM has now built two fully functional vehicles featuring all-wheel drive, and an aluminum chassis and body. The power train, consisting of a 73 kW PEM fuel cell module and a 65kW lithium ion battery pack, fueled by 8 kg of hydrogen stored at 10,000 psi in three carbon composite tanks mounted in the sandwich chassis, gives it a 300 mile range and zero-60 mph acceleration of 10 seconds.

First impression: the car feels like a crossover SUV that, because of its electric drive, accelerates ultra-smoothly. To this non-professional car tester at least, there were no discernible kinks and quibbles.

On the same day, carmaker BMW announced in both Germany and the United States that it will introduce a limited production version of what it calls the world’s first hydrogen-drive luxury performance car, the “BMW Hydrogen 7,” based on its current 7-Series model.

The cars will be made available, apparently as loaners, to “selected users” in the United States, Germany and other countries. A BMW spokesman told H&FCL that production of some 100 cars will start within a few months and that they are expected to be turned over to people “who are likely to make an impact” in advancing the cause of hydrogen during the first half of next year.

Powered by a 260 HP internal combustion 12-cylinder engine that will propel the car to 62.5 miles/hour (100 kmh) in 9.5 seconds, the “BMW Hydrogen 7" can switch from hydrogen to gasoline and back at the touch of a button, giving an overall range of more than 400 miles. Unlike previous generations of more or less hand-built conversions, this 6th generation hydrogen BMW has undergone the entire multi-year product development process, standard for all production vehicles intended for the market.

(Full stories on both GM’s and BMW’s announcements will appear in the upcoming October online and print issues of “The Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter.)

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