THE time is ripe for change.

With no end in sight to soaring oil prices, which reached a record high of US$110 (S$153) a barrel on Wednesday, drivers are being hit hard where it hurts.

Pump prices for diesel and petrol have gone up eight times since July last year. The last hike was this week.
And the situation is not likely to improve.

Germany's Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources predicts that the supply of crude oil will fall in about 10 years.

At a clean energy roundtable organised by the Singapore Environment Council last Wednesday, Mr Michael Meurer, 48, the head of BMW's clean energy programme explained how the BMW Group is banking on hydrogen, the most abundant substance in the universe, as the long-term alternative to crude oil.

More than 20 years after it first began its research, BMW now has 100 fifth-generation "green" cars: the Hydrogen 7.

Five of the cars are now here in Singapore as part of a world tour.

The cars run on liquid hydrogen, commonly used as rocket fuel, and emit pure water vapour. But the car is weighed down by its 200kg hydrogen tank.

It takes 9.5 seconds to accelerate from zero to 100kmh and has a mere 260hp.

In comparison, a regular 7-series car has an acceleration of 5.6 seconds and a 445hp.

The Hydrogen 7 can travel up to 200km on 8kg of hydrogen, and another 500km on petrol as its engine can take both types of fuel.

WAIT A LITTLE LONGER

But the car will not be available for at least the next 10 years due to the lack of hydrogen refuelling stations worldwide.

Producing liquid hydrogen requires a lot of energy, about 80 per cent of which comes from burning fossil fuel.

He said efforts are underway to use "clean" energy, like solar, wind and water, to produce the liquid hydrogen.

"The next step," said Mr Meurer, "is to work on bringing the price of the car down through better design and mass production so it is more affordable."

This article was first published in The New Paper on Mar 21, 2008.