Cars of the future might run on hydrogen

Press, 21 November 1987, Page 12

Cars of the future might run on hydrogen

NZPA-Reuter Munich BMW cars of the twenty-first century may well be driven by an unconventional energy

source — hydrogen produced through solar power. Potential buyers of the prestige cars made by

Munich’s Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) will be able to test-drive a hydrogen-engined vehicle by the late 19905. “Hydrogen is our future,’’ says the head of BMW’s technical communications department, Guenther Klusmayer. “We have all the potential for success and by the turn of the century we hope to have reached our target.” Hydrogen could be an alternative energy source when oil, natural gas and coal supplies run out or fall out of favour because of environmental pollution, he said. Indeed the chief attraction of hydrogen is as a clean method of generating electricity. In October, BMW, which has been researching the potential of hydrogen since the early 1980 s, joined an ambitious hydrogen production project led by Bavaria’s main electricity supplier, Bayemwerk. Scientists working on the project use electricity from solar energy to decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen gas by electrolysis and then store the hydrogen in tanks for their experiments.

“Hydrogen is clean, its supplies are unlimited and it’s storable,” says the deputy chairman of Bayernwerk, Jochen Holzer. “If we manage to make its production economical everyone will love it.” The burning of hydrogen produces steam and

small amounts of nitrogen oxide as waste and is much kinder to the environment than oil, gas or coal, Mr Holzer said. Bayernwerk is the leading partner in the hydrogen project with a 60 per cent share, while BMW, the electronics giant Siemens, the aerospace group Messerschmitt 88, and the motor and turbine manufacturer, Linde, each have 10 per cent. But in spite of the optimism of the project’s participants, research on hydrogen is at an early stage and many problems remain. Hydrogen - powered BMWs based on the design of the "seven series” with internal combustion engines still have to refuel every 50km but Mr Klusmayer said he hoped their range would be increased in the future. “We’ll need a network of filling stations, plants for hydrogen production in areas with enough sunshine and a transportation system,” he said, adding it was too early to predict the cost of a hydrogenpowered car. The 50 million mark (548.3 million) Bayernwerk project is researching the mechanics of hydrogen production, rather than its application.

Electricity from hydrogen costs some 30 times more than conventional electricity, Mr Holzer said.

“We hope we will

gradually make hydrogen production economical by cutting the costs of the equipment needed to gather solar energy by more than half, and eventually cutting general costs by 80 or 90 per cent,” he said. An experimental hydrogen production plant would be set up early next year in Neunburg vorm Wald in the Bavarian Oberpfalz region, one of West Germany’s sunniest areas. The plant will be fully operational in 1990 and capable of producing 500 kW of electricity in an initial experimental phase lasting until 1993. After that the project will concentrate on specific production techniques. The hydrogen electricity system could be integrated into existing systems without building extensive new installations, Mr Holzer said. The system had potential for developing countries whose energy requirements are likely to rise in the future, he said. “In those countries you can establish hydrogen electricity without having to compete with existing systems.” The project partners were having talks with Jordan which was interested in following the experiments, he said. In Saudi Arabia a similar but much smaller hydrogen production project is being conducted as a joint venture with West Germany.