BMW encourages world's leading economies to invest in hydrogen power

Speaking at a dinner attended by 200 of the world's top environmentalists, government and NGO officials, held to mark the Zayed International Prize for the Environment, Guenther Seemann, Managing Director BMW Group Middle East, said BMW's pioneering work with hydrogen fuelled cars offers the motor industry the clean fuel of the future.

"Mobility is a socially desired element of our culture; it is vital for us and plays an important role in the development and wealth of a society," Seemann said.

"As far back as the 1970s, BMW began long-term research and development of the use of hydrogen as a fuel in automobiles. The BMW Group has opted consistently for the hydrogen combustion engine, as this is the only drive principle which allows dynamic and comfortable cars to be produced that meet customers' needs and are capable of travelling long distances.

"Experience gained from running a hydrogen fleet now supports the development process of serial production vehicles. The first hydrogen-powered cars will be presented to the public within two years.

"At this point, it is increasingly up to politicians and industry to help hydrogen make a breakthrough to becoming a broadly established energy source. A full-scale network of hydrogen filling stations is still lacking, as is the economical production of sufficient quantities of regeneratively produced hydrogen," Seemann said.

Hydrogen can be made through the electrolysis of water - electricity splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is a colourless, non-toxic, odourless gas, that burns with an almost colourless flame to form steam, combining again with oxygen. When hydrogen burns, all that is produced is water - no pollution and no carbon dioxide. If it is regeneratively produced, hydrogen doesn't contribute to the Greenhouse Effect.

The BMW Group, home to the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands, produced the first hydrogen powered vehicle in the world, the BMW 750hl. It was used internationally in a fleet of 15 vehicles. On the CleanEnergy World Tour, the BMW 750hL covered a total distance of 170,000 kilometres, four different continents, travelling to tens of countries, amongst them was Dubai.

"The aim of the World Tour in 2001 and 2002 was to explain to politicians and society at large the entire process of generating, distributing, and using hydrogen in automobiles," said Seemann.

In 2004 BMW Group's hydrogen research car, the BMW H2R, showed that the hydrogen is the powerful fuel of the future. It set nine records for hydrogen-drive cars, reaching a top speed of more than 300 km/h.

BMW Group's objective is to produce environment friendly vehicles that deliver the same quality of driving performance as that of the present petrol fuelled cars.

Seemann explained that BMW Group's investment in hydrogen driven vehicles was a key component of the company's energy management programme designed to make pioneering contributions towards securing sustainable mobility and address the issue of limited availability of fossil fuels.

In addition to developing hydrogen power, he explained, BMW Group is also committed to reducing fleet consumption and emission with the use of state-of-the-art engine technology. It is also involved in the development of an intelligent and ecologically compatible system to manage transportation in urban areas.

"We live in exciting times, our ability to be innovative and creative has no limit," Seemann said. "We hope that with every energy management project BMW Group brings to the world, we can further contribute to preserving the environment for the many generations to come."