BMW Sets Speed Records for H2 IC Cars; HYSUN Does Berlin-Barcelona on 3 kg H2

MIRAMAS, FRANCE - Going for a Sunday Drive took on a whole new meaning last month for what are now unarguably the world’s fastest terrestrial hydrogenauts:

BMW works drivers Alfred Hilger, Joerg Weidinger and Guenther Weber took turns piloting a sleek, light custom-built record car to claim nine speed records for cars powered by a hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine at BMW’s test track here, northwest of Marseille in the south of France the weekend of Sept. 19.

And further west, a tiny single-seat three-wheeler dubbed HYSUN 3000 and powered by a small fuel cell, arrived in Barcelona, Spain Sept. 22 after a rather more leisurely 16-day cruise halfway through Europe from Berlin, sipping only 3.2 kg of hydrogen - and making only one refueling stop - for the total distance of 3,052 km (1,902 miles).

Unlike the speedy BMW, the HYSUN averaged only about 34 kmh ( 21 mph). Top Speed is 280 Km/Hour (174 Mph)BMW’s trio posted marks in categories from the flying-start kilometer and flying-start mile to the standing-start 10 kilometer run in the H2R record car, a single seater powered by a 6-liter V-12 engine producing 232 bhp (170 kW) - basically the same that BMW has used in some of its earlier hydrogen prototypes.

The rakish single seater achieves a top speed of more than 280 km/hour (174 mph) and accelerates to 100 km (62 miles) in 6 seconds, BMW said in its release. While quite a few commercially available performance cars achieve these numbers with relative ease, it’s a First for a hydrogen i.c. vehicle.

The H2R - for “Hydrogen Record Car” - was conceived and built by BMW’s research and technology subsidiary in ten months. The elongated streamlined carbon fiber body shell was created by DesignWorks USA, the BMW-owned design subsidiary in Newbury Park, CA, half ways between Oxnard and

......Fueling the Pocket Rocket: HYSUN’s crew is on hand during the initial fueling of the diminutive fuel cell hybrid vehicle with compressed gaseous hydrogen before the start of the 1,900 mile run from Berlin to Barcelona.

Los Angeles.

The double-walled vacuum-insulated tank, located next to the driver’s seat, holds 11 kg of liquid hydrogen. It features three valves for optimum safety, with the operating valve set to open at 4.5 bar. Formula 1-type telemetry relays data to the support crew, and four hydrogen sensors would alert the driver to any leakage. Total weight of the vehicle is 1,560 kg (3,440 lb) with fuel and driver.

BMW says it will launch a dual-mode version - gasoline and hydrogen - of its top-of-the-line 7 Series in the current production cycle, possibly as early as 2007, according to European press reports.

Fuel Cell Tricycle Built for One

Three years in the making, the HYSUN is essentially a recumbent tricycle encapsulated in a spiffy carbon fiber streamlined body built by a Dutch company, Aerorider, in Ijmuiden. It was the brainchild of a group of young enthusiasts in the Stuttgart area of Germany, including a handful of engineers from Ballard Power Systems there, which co-sponsored the project.

The hybrid power plant consisted of a standard Nexa 1.2 kW PEM fuel cell mated to lithium-ion battery as buffer, providing power for a 3 kW electric motor. Two 39 liter carbon fiber reinforced aluminum Dynetek tanks carried 2 kg of hydrogen at 350 bar (5000 psi). Total fuel consumption for the distance was about 3.2 kg, the team announced at the final press conference in Barcelona - claiming a world record for fuel efficiency.

In addition to Ballard, other sponsors included DaimlerChrysler, which provided wind tunnel testing time; tank developer Dynetek, tire maker Continental, Shell Hydrogen and more than a dozen smaller firms and institutions - plus an Italian restaurant near Stuttgart, “Da Nino.”

Germany’s Environment Ministry had assumed the patronage for the event. Contact: BMW: media, Daniel Kammerer, phone 049/89/382-25506, email presse@bmw.de; HYSUN: info@hysun.de; www.hysun3000.de.