In view of global interest in cleaner motoring it should come as no surprise that a production BMW 7-Series has finally been launched. What's so great about hydrogen is that it can be burned in a conventional internal combustion engine producing just plain old breathable water vapour at the exhaust. What's so bad about hydrogen is the significant energy required to extract from water it through electrolysis (as most electricity generated is not currently green), and that you'll not be able to fill it on any forecourt outside some parts of Germany or California at the moment. Good job these cars are duel fuel and can be switched to run on petrol too.
 
The initial production run of just 100 cars are to be used by BMW importers to 'evaluate the vehicles in normal day to day driving' which is PR for delivering celebrities and high ranking politicos to high profile photo opportunities, although some 'VIP users' (we're not clear what this means but assume it involves at least 6 zeros) will have the chance to use the cars also. With the scarcity of hydrogen supply the more cynical of the GreenerMachine team suspect these cars will spend most of their time running on regular unleaded. BMW want the car to raise awareness of the suitability of the fuel to encourage governments to create a viable hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, and themselves a market all to themselves too no doubt.
 
Shame as with convincing performance from it's 260hp V12 engine the hydrogen 7-Series could be just the thing to get the G8 world leaders to the climate saving summit in something relevant (President Bush being a liability on a bike) for a change. We can only hope.
 
0-62mph - 9.5 seconds
143mph