TransForum Vol. 8, No. 1

Argonne Tests Validate BMW Hydrogen 7 Emissions Well Below SULEV

The BMW Hydrogen 7’s emissions were only a fraction of SULEV level, making it one of the lowest emitting combustion engine vehicles that have been manufactured.

Independent tests conducted by engineers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory on a BMW Hydrogen 7 prototype vehicle have validated the luxury automaker’s own tests, which found that the car’s hydrogenpowered engine surpasses the super-ultra low-emission vehicle (SULEV) level, the most stringent emissions performance standard to date.

“The BMW Hydrogen 7’s emissions were only a fraction of SULEV level, making it one of the lowest emitting combustion engine vehicles that have been manufactured,” said Thomas Wallner, a mechanical engineer who leads Argonne’s hydrogen vehicle testing activities. “Moreover, the car’s engine actively cleans the air. Argonne’s testing shows that the Hydrogen 7’s 12-cylinder engine actually shows emissions levels that, for certain constituents, are cleaner than the ambient air the car’s engine took in.”

It was not an easy task to measure the Hydrogen 7’s emissions. “A gross polluter is easy to measure, but the cleaner the car the harder it is to test,” said Don Hillebrand, director of Argonne’s Center for Transportation Research. “Most labs test at the SULEV level. Argonne’s vehicle testing facilities are unique in that they are able to detect even the most nuanced level of emissions. In this case, it was near-zero emissions.”

After an extensive evaluation by BMW, “Argonne’s Advanced Powertrain Research Facility was found to be the only public test facility in North America capable of testing hydrogen vehicles at these low emissions levels,” said BMW’s Wolfgang Thiel, Manager of Operating Support Emissions Analysis. “Zero is a very small precise number—we are pushing the boundaries of emissions testing.”

Technical information about the Hydrogen 7 tests was presented by Wallner and BMW North America’s Jason P. Perron on Wednesday, April 2, during the National Hydrogen Association Annual Hydrogen Conference in Sacramento, California. Argonne joined BMW in a press conference to present the test results during the Society of Automotive Engineers 2008 World Congress in Detroit, Michigan, also in April.

BMW has put the hydrogen model into limited series production. Although the vehicle is not yet available for sale to the general public, it is being made available to “influential public figures,” whose use will demonstrate a new era in clean energy, BMW has said. In the meantime, the greatest challenge to widespread use of hydrogen cars is the limited number of hydrogen refueling stations.

More

• BMW Hydrogen 7 Photo Gallery

May 2008