Leading edge 7 Series draws from the past

Thirty years since the birth of the 7 Series. That's a long time. Not as long as Mercedes-Benz's S-Class perhaps, but it's still a substantial body of work for BMW's 'large class'.

The original E23 model was based on the 6 Series coupe from the late seventies -- in its day, a very striking motor car. By comparison, the 7 Series was a little mundane.

The E32 model from the late eighties was more likely to stop you in your tracks. It was almost as if BMW would 'shock and awe' buyers with one model and then retreat to the safety of their cave with the next, because the E38 was a pretty conservative model that was easily confused with the earlier generation. Then, as if to prove the point, in the early years of the 21st Century BMW unveiled the controversial E65 with styling by Chris Bangle.

BMW had been in the business of selling 'Executive Express' models since the sixties, with the 2500/2800 models which later evolved into the 3.0-litre model, but the 7 Series brought that class of car up to date with BMW's contemporary styling trends, as pioneered in the E12 generation of 5 Series from the mid seventies.

In some respects, the 7 Series has been a follower more than a trendsetter, but one area in which it's going it alone within the BMW range is the development of hydrogen fuel delivery systems.

The first attempt to run a 7 Series on hydrogen occurred in the early eighties, when a German aviation testing institute collaborated with BMW to develop 735i and 745i models that would run on both petrol and hydrogen.

Hydrogen is one of the two elements in water, the other being oxygen and when hydrogen in its molecular state combusts, it joins with one oxygen atom to form H2O, better known as water. In other words, hydrogen is the cleanest of combustible fuels which can be used in an internal combustion engine.

Unfortunately, developing an energy-efficient and cost-effective way of sourcing the raw hydrogen in the first place is the hard part, although Mazda (more here) has suggested that hydrogen produced as a waste product from industry could be scavenged for recycling as an automotive fuel.

BMW has worked on achieving the aim of making hydrogen internal combustion a practical reality for the past 25 years.

Recently, the company assembled a fleet of petrol/hydrogen dual-fuel 7 Series cars and distributed them to many celebrities, most of them known for their commitment to the environment.

These included husband and wife actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (pictured), who rode in a petrol/hydrogen 7 Series to the premiere of Pitt's latest film, 'Ocean's Thirteen'.

Commenting on this roll-out of the dual-fuel cars, BMW spokesman Christoph Huss said "The positive response of our first customers undoubtedly supports the fact that we are on the right course with the concept of the BMW Hydrogen 7 which uses a hydrogen internal combustion engine."

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