“Our drive toward the future is called hydrogen,” BMW management board member Burkhard Goeschel said before the tarp slowly slipped off the teardrop-shaped body of the sleek race car.

Goeschel, responsible for technology and development at BMW, said the streamlined rocket car sprints from 0 to 100 kmh in about six seconds and reached a top speed of 302.4 kmh on BMW’s test track at Miramas, France.

Unlike most hydrogen-powered vehicles, the H2R doesn’t operate on a fuel cell but rather uses a modified 6-litre, 12-cylinder combustion engine for its propulsion that essentially emits nothing but steam.

An advantage of the higher combustion pressure of the hydrogen-air mixture is its higher degree of efficiency, BMW added.

The company cautioned, however, that while the cars don’t pollute, production of hydrogen as a fuel does entail pollution.
Hydrogen is obtained either from fossil fuels such as natural gas or by applying electrical power to water molecules.

While BMW is developing fuel-cell driven cars as well, it says it is concentrating on the combustion engine because the sum total of its features and characteristics offers the largest number of advantages and benefits all in one.

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