Anne can HAVE her Mini....Cause I's gonna get me a BMW

A couple of days ago, Anne posted about the newly green hybrid Mini. An oh, did she desperately want one. Me on the other, see I was worried that this little *prototype* would cost the bloody moon and hence decided not to hold me' breath. Sigh.

So who'd have thunk that the good old German folks at BMW would come out with a hydrogen/fuel hybrid car? I mean, if you're going to pay through the nose to have a performance green machine, might as well pay for the best. BMW have been working on hydrogen fueled cars for a couple years, showing off the fastest such automobile at the Paris Car Show in 2004.  Now they have announced the plan to mass manufacture them for 2008. Mucho cooler than their green retrofiting steam engine thing.

Of course BMW isn't actually planning to SELL these suckers as they'll actually be too expensive. They will lease the cars at a rate comparable to the 760Li (their most expensive sedan/saloooooon), which from what I gather tops $1000 a month or so.

I mean, BARGAIN. Just THINK of all the money you'll save on gas. And the cool people you'll meet at the hydrogen pumping stations. You know, when the world like gets around to building them.

Comments

[hugh powell]

...and of course the hidden secret is that the Mini is made by BMW these days, so either way the Germans are set to make a killing off the rich-environmentalists-flaunting-their-wealth demographic. And judging by the number of smug Prius and biodiesel bumper stickers around, that demographic may be bigger than I think...

[Alex]

Too bad hydrogen is, for now at least, just fossil fuel by another name. Otherwise $1000/month would definitely be worth it...

[Anna]

Um, yeah. See the solution is - this being told to me by chemistry Nobel prize winner Harry Kroto - that we have to make really efficient solar panels that can split water...though I fear attaching said panel might ruin the clean lines of the above auto.

[Peter]

I'll take the Mini - cooler than the BMW.

[Anne]

Gee Peter, you took the words out of my mouth. And one more thing, Anna, one more thing. Which name is cooler I wonder. The "H2R," which sounds like some txt msging gone wrong, or "QED" which stands for the latin phrase "quod erat demonstrandum" meaning that something been definitively proven.

Q.E.D. Case in point.