NEW BMW MODEL IS CLEANER THAN AN ELECTRIC CAR?!

BMW is to launch a car powered by natural gas with lower tailpipe emissions than even an electric car. This startling judgement on the three litre six cylinder 523g has been made by the Californian environmental authority CARB, who represent the interests of the most pollution conscious region of the world.

The 184bhp BMW 523g falls well below all emission limit values, even below the EZEV limits (Equivalent Zero Emissions Vehicle), yet not only looks like a BMW but also offers all the performance of a BMW with a driving range of 400km (250 miles).

The EZEV term is ascribed to vehicles whose overall energy balance (in other words energy expended in the entire cycle of fuel production to the driven wheel) does not exceed the pollutant level used in the production of electric power for an electric car. The emissions from the BMW 523g fall well below these limits, meaning it is even cleaner than an electric car.

The energy and emissions balance of the 523g is also significantly better than that of a fuel cell car using methanol. This is due to the chemical processes required to extract methanol and the further process in the fuel cell to convert it into hydrogen.

These processes reduce the initial high efficiency of the fuel cell to around 20 per cent overall. The BMW 523g, by contrast, converts 25 per cent of the total energy into movement, and at peak engine efficiency this level rises as high as 37 per cent.

A further bonus of the natural gas engine is that gas mixes better than liquid fuel with air, so combustion is more efficient. Secondly it has a lower ozone formation potential and produces no soot or benzol emissions. The content of NMOG (Non Methane Organic Gases) is so low that the engine in the 523g burns foreign HC emissions in the intake air. Driving cycle measurements have shown that in the heavy smog of urban traffic, cleaner air comes out of the exhaust than is actually drawn in by the engine.

BMW regards natural gas power as another step towards its goal of building hydrogen powered cars. Having developed and marketed BMW cars using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) since 1995, this second step with Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) provides a considerable increase in driving range with no loss of driving quality.

BMW's long term aim is only to develop and produce cars powered by gas. The third and final step in this strategy is the hydrogen car, powered by gas extracted from water using regenerative energy by means of electrolysis. Although large scale applications of this technology are in use today there are many infrastructural challenges concerning distribution and licensing and storage to overcome - challenges which BMW is already deeply involved in solving.

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