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A handful of high-profile Koreans gathered at Olympic Park in eastern Seoul on Tuesday to test drive a hydrogen-powered BMW sedan. The 20 or so guests, including former Seoul National University president Chung Un-chan, rode in four BMW Hydrogen 7s in the parking lot of the Soma Museum of Art, checking out the performance and safety of the alternative fuel vehicles.
The test run followed a press presentation at which Michael Meurer, BMW's head of hydrogen project infrastructure, demonstrated the eco-friendly nature of the hydrogen technology by drinking water from a car's exhaust pipe. BMW Korea president Kim Hyo-joon said it's just a matter of time before hydrogen cars hit the market.
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Michael Meurer, the head of BMW's hydrogen infrastructure project, gathers water from a car¡¯s exhaust pipe to demonstrate the eco-friendly nature of hydrogen technology at the unveiling of BMW's sedan Hydrogen 7 at the Soma Museum of Art in Seoul on Tuesday.
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¡ß BMW offers local test of hydrogen cars
A growing global effort to produce viable hydrogen vehicles has arrived in Korea. BMW invited 77 Korean opinion leaders and 30 customers to a 10-day test run of its hydrogen cars from Tuesday through May 15.
The German carmaker has built a temporary hydrogen fueling station in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, for the event, the first time hydrogen cars will run on Korean roads. Those not lucky enough to get behind the wheel of the high-tech cars can view them at a special BMW exhibition room at the Soma Museum while the event is on. The Hydrogen 7 runs on both gasoline and liquid hydrogen, and its builders say it's on the threshold of going commercial. Powered by a 260-hp 12-cylinder engine, the environmentally-friendly car can hit speeds of up to 230 km per hour. With just one fill-up of liquid hydrogen and gasoline, the dual power car can travel for up to 700 km. There's growing interest in hydrogen-powered vehicles, with VIPs such as Deputy London Mayor Nicky Gavron, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and actor Brad Pitt leasing them.
¡ß Global competition to develop hydrogen vehicles
Competition to develop hydrogen cars began 30 years ago. In 1978 BMW launched a hydrogen car development project as part of the BMW CleanEnergy project, the carmaker's effort to tackle environment problems like dwindling fossil fuel sources and carbon dioxide emissions. Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Ford have been also developing hydrogen vehicles, concentrating on hydrogen fuel cells.
In 2002 Honda succeeded in putting on the road its FCX fuel cell vehicle, leasing the car to drivers in Japan and the U.S. The Japanese carmaker plans to begin selling an upgraded version called the FCX Clarity to consumers in Southern California this summer. Lee Seung-won, an official at Honda Korea, said the FCX Clarity will cost ordinary customers about Y10 million in 2010, though the price is expected to drop by half by 2015.
Mercedes-Benz has been testing its hydrogen fuel cell-powered A Class F-Cell since 2002, and in Korea Hyundai Automotive Group has been working on its own hydrogen car. Hyundai has been participating in the U.S. Energy Department's project to test run fuel cell cars and establish hydrogen fueling stations. The carmaker plans to run 34 hydrogen cars on a trial basis in major Korean cities by next year, with an aim toward mass-producing the vehicles by 2012, a Hyundai official said.
But experts disagree on when hydrogen cars will go commercial. Carmakers say that commercialization should be possible within two or three years. But some experts point out that carmakers need to work out safety issues involved in using the very volatile hydrogen and establish enough fueling stations before hydrogen cars can really take off.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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