Channel NewsAsia 13 Feb 08;
SINGAPORE: The availability of an environmentally friendly car has just widened. Besides popular choices like hybrid cars or even those running on compressed natural gas, the hydrogen car is another choice.
However, it is more than just a case of supply and demand when purchasing these cars.
Touted as one of the greenest cars available today, is the BMW 7 Series. Its only emission is water, when it's powered by liquefied hydrogen.
BMW believes using hydrogen fuel will help save the environment and reduce the dependence on crude oil.
This next generation green car can also run on petrol in the same engine as hydrogen fuel isn't readily available yet.
However, running a car using hydrogen costs more.
A kilogramme of liquid hydrogen costs about US$11 or about S$16.
Covering 100 kilometres with the hydrogen car will end up costing US$42 dollars or about S$60.
If it ran on petrol, it will cost US$27 or about S$38. These figures are also based on European petrol and hydrogen fuel prices.
The Hydrogen 7 model is likely more expensive than petrol only versions.
Roland Krueger, Managing Director of BMW Group Asia, said: "The comparison is not really fair meaning that, today the infrastructure is not as developed as fossil fuel structure so given that we will have a comparable base with the same kind of infrastructure, then the price of liquid hydrogen will be much more comparable."
However, it still boils down to the question of which comes first?
Building refuelling stations or making more hydrogen cars?
Fred Zheng from Hydrogen Solutions said: "The first I believe is government support, second is establishing infrastructure in place.”
"The third is - we need to have economies of scale with the production of cars to make the cars cheaper and fourth is find a way to have R&D and making hydrogen cheaper," he added.
In Singapore, this hydrogen push has the support of the National Environment Agency, the Singapore Environment Council and the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
It still remains to be seen if this would be enough to generate a nationwide network of refuelling stations.
So far BMW has made some 100 hydrogen vehicles, but it'll be some years to go before it becomes commercially available.
BMW will bring several of its latest hydrogen cars in early March for trials. -CNA/vm
Cutting-edge BMWs to promote greener transport
Christopher Tan, Straits Times 14 Feb 08;
GERMAN carmaker BMW will showcase five cutting-edge hydrogen-powered sedans here next month.
This is part of a slew of upcoming events designed to promote greener transport.
The 7-series BMWs, on display from March 6 to 23, have both a petrol tank and a highly insulated tank that can store hydrogen in liquid form at minus 235 deg C.
When running on hydrogen, they emit only water vapour and a small amount of the potentially harmful chemical nitrogen oxide.
They are part of a fleet of 100 such cars BMW began introducing two years ago under its CleanEnergy programme.
National Environment Agency (NEA) chief executive Lee Yuen Hee said: 'We are constantly looking out for innovative and environmentally friendly technologies that contribute to environmentally sustainable transportation.
'BMW's CleanEnergy programme is one such initiative that could potentially contribute towards this objective.'
Singapore does not have any liquid hydrogen refuelling stations, so BMW will bring in a mobile system.
The hydrogen Beemers will be used to chauffeur VIPs and will also be in a road show.
They will also be shown to participants of the Clean Energy Roundtable, organised by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), on March 12.
SEC executive director Howard Shaw said the roundtable is targeted at policymakers, environmentalists and public transport operators.
'We hope to come up with a comprehensive list of recommendations of what the private sector is willing to accept to become greener.'
This event will be followed by a United Nations Centre for Regional Development forum co-hosted by the NEA and the Land Transport Authority from March 17 to 19.
This is part of a circuit of regional forums focusing on sustainable transport and includes local authorities.
Then in June, Green Transport Week kicks off.
SEC's Mr Shaw described it as 'a Mardi Gras' for the environment, referring to the carnival celebrated in South America and some parts of the southern United States.
'It is a mass call to action,' he said. The activities lined up include a walkathon, cyclethon and a walk-a-jog.
Green Transport Week's predecessor was Car-Free Day, which Mr Shaw said 'sank like a brick'.
For Green Transport Week, private companies will be invited to make pledges 'to reduce car use and increase public transport usage'. Mr Shaw hopes to 'convert a few thousand people over this period'.
Hydrogen-powered BMWs here soon
Pilot project also includes a portable refuelling station
Samuel Ee, Business Times 14 Feb 08;
(SINGAPORE) BMW will introduce five hydrogen-powered cars in Singapore next month, complete with their own refuelling station and liquid hydrogen fuel.
The BMW CleanEnergy pavilion - a specially built glass and steel structure - will be set up at the corner of Beach and Ophir Roads from March 6-23 to display the German luxury car maker's solution to sustainable mobility. It also highlights more than 25 years of R&D work by BMW in hydrogen combustion technology.
'BMW CleanEnergy is tomorrow's solution, available today,' Roland Krueger, managing director of BMW Asia, said yesterday at a press conference to announce the arrival of the BMW Hydrogen 7 cars. 'While other forms of alternative drive concepts such as hybrid drive, electric drive and natural gas drive have been explored and researched, we believe that hydrogen combustion is ultimately the best choice.'
The Hydrogen 7 car is based on the BMW 7 Series luxury limousine and looks like a conventional model except that its V12 engine can run on either petrol or liquid hydrogen. When run in purely hydrogen mode, BMW says the only emission is water vapour.
When in Singapore, the cars will provide chauffeur-driven rides to selected VIPs. While the latest move is just a pilot project, BMW expects these vehicles to be commercially viable in 10 to 15 years - by which time the economies of scale would have caught up.
To power the five Hydrogen 7 cars, a portable refuelling station with its own supply of liquid hydrogen will be brought in. The station, along with all the hydrogen-related equipment and technology in the cars, is made by Linde. The world's largest industrial gas and engineering company is BMW's partner in the Hydrogen 7 project.
According to Fred Zheng, Linde's China and Asia representative for hydrogen solutions, the portable refuelling station consists of a 20-foot cryogenic tank that can hold 1,200 kg of liquid hydrogen and a dispenser.
'The liquid hydrogen is sourced from China because Singapore does not have the capability to produce it,' explained Mr Zheng. 'Depending on how far the cars will be driven, we will probably use 300 to 400 kg here.'
He said the car's eight kg hydrogen tank has a range of up to 200 km, while the petrol tank will add another 500 km.
Linde has also built more than 70 standalone refuelling stations around the world, with most of them located in Germany, for the total of 100 Hydrogen 7 cars produced so far.
First peek at the new hydrogen BMW
Ng Jing Yng, Today Online 14 Feb 08;
FIRST, there were hybrid cars and bi-fuel cars that run on natural gas. Now, yet another "green car" is ready for a test drive — this time powered by liquid hydrogen.
And Singapore will be the first in South-east Asia to get a peek at the BMW Hydrogen 7 series, when five of these cars — which emit only vapour while running in their hydrogen mode — arrive here next month. One car will be put on display at the BMW CleanEnergy pavillion, to be located at the corner of Beach Road and Ophir Road.
Mr Roland Krueger, managing director of BMW Asia, told reporters that BMW CleanEnergy wants to share its hydrogen combustion technology with Singapore because both have the "same vision" on the importance of green energy.
According to BMW, the hydrogen car's performance is similar to all its other petrol-run cars which can accelerate from 0 to 100kmh in six seconds. However, the Hydrogen 7 model is likely to cost one-third more in refuelling charges as compared to fossil fuel-powered cars.
Mr Krueger said the comparison "is not really fair" since the infrastructure for hydrogen-run cars is not as developed as the one supporting fossil fuel.
Mr Fred Zheng, from The Linde Group which supplies BMW with liquid hydrogen, believes that government support is essential "to make the whole system work".
BMW expects the Hydrogen 7 series to be available on a commercial basis in 15 years time. Currently, there are about 1,057 hybrid cars and 248 bi-fuel or Compressed Natural Gas cars on Singapore roads.
