"We have come to Great Britain with our CleanEnergy project because this country has enormous potential to promote and advance the hydrogen society," said Dr. Helmut Panke, the designated Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW, to an audience of MPs, industry experts and academics at London's Science Museum, today.

The British capital is the first European stop in BMW's CleanEnergy World Tour 2002, which aims to promote the introduction of hydrogen as the fuel of the future and to establish partnerships with other organisations to help make this a reality.

Since the Royal Commission for Environmental Pollution required a 60 per cent reduction of the greenhouse gas CO2 by 2050, hydrogen is becoming an increasing focal point of long-term energy planning in the UK - the cleanest fuel in existence.

When liquid hydrogen is used to power an internal combustion engine, no carbon dioxide is generated. BMW's vision is that hydrogen, produced from water using power generated by renewable resources (solar, wind, wave, hydro-electric), is made available via a network of liquid hydrogen filling stations. In this way, minimal amounts of greenhouse gases are produced throughout the whole process.

Great Britain has considerable energy and production resources to offer

Great Britain has the potential to play a leading role in, and benefit from the establishment of, a hydrogen-powered economy. Firstly, the potential resources of renewable energies such as wind and wave power are amongst the largest in Europe, which can be used to generate the electricity needed to extract hydrogen from water by electrolysis. Thus, logically, Britain could be a major producer of hydrogen in Europe.

The BMW Group is prepared to invest heavily in hydrogen technologies but the precondition has to be a strong political commitment to hydrogen. Further investments can only be justified when infrastructure solutions can be developed and stable political frameworks can be implemented. Under the right circumstances the BMW Group could consider the production of hydrogen internal combustion engines at the UK engine plant, Hams Hall in Warwickshire as an option in the future.

Unique concept: BMW vehicles drive on hydrogen and petrol

The end of the age of fossil fuels will not mean the end of the car, or of the demand for personal mobility and BMW is leading the world in liquid hydrogen internal combustion engine design and development. In just a few years' time, BMW will be the first automobile manufacturer in the world to launch a series production hydrogen-powered saloon car, based on the current 7 Series model.

BMW has developed a "bivalent" internal combustion engine which, uniquely, can run on both liquid hydrogen and petrol. Using this engine, customers can drive the car without any inconvenience, even before a complete network of hydrogen filling stations is established, using petrol if the next hydrogen station is too far away. Dr. Helmut Panke continued: "For this reason I am confident that our bivalent concept will be an important key to the introduction of a hydrogen infrastructure."

Already prototype cars have racked up over 100,000 trouble-free miles during development, which is four times around the world.

Partnership to provide fuel of the future

The energy company BP is supporting the BMW CleanEnergy WorldTour 2002 and is committed to the development of hydrogen fuel. David Baldry, Group Vice President, BP, said: "Hydrogen has a key role to play in a clean fuels future."

BP will put the first hydrogen refuelling point in London into operation in 2003.