| The US Department of Energy has awarded a grant
to a partnership, which includes BMW and is led by Air Products and Chemicals,
for a combined research project titled Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure
Demonstration Project.The goal of the project is to study hydrogen as
a fuel in real-world driving conditions. This 5-year programme will use
Federal funds, as well as donations from partnership members, to finance
construction and testing of 24 hydrogen filling stations in California.
Due to the nature of the project, the stations will vary from using renewable
resources such as wind power to using a hydrogen pipeline. While some
stations will be fixed, others will be more mobile.
Partnership members Toyota, Honda and Nissan will contribute a total of
65 fuel-cell powered vehicles to the project. BMW, as the leader in hydrogen
internal combustion engines will provide up to 15 7 Series cars, the only
test vehicles using proven internal-combustion engines.
The BMW Group has been engaged in the research and development of liquid
hydrogen technology for over 20 years based on the belief that cars in
the future will not be powered by fossil fuels as they are today, noted
BMW of North Americas Karl-Heinz Ziwica, vice president engineering US.
BMW claims that its research has demonstrated that hydrogen is completely
viable as a fuel and the technology exists to advance its use in vehicles
with internal combustion engines or with fuel cells. However, the more
challenging step to the realisation of hydrogen-powered vehicles is the
development of a supporting infrastructure of fuelling stations and service
facilities that requires the co-operation of a significant group of partners.
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