Angelina Jolie has done it. With Brad Pitt, as it happens. But then, so has Christian Ude, who is staid, 60 and the mayor of Munich. They have all driven the latest bid by the world’s car makers to develop a ‘hydrogen car’ - in this case, a ‘clean energy’ version of BMW’s top-of-the-range 7 Series. A hundred of the cars, which can alternate between hydrogen and petrol power, have rolled off the company’s assembly line in Germany since the end of last year.
Last week, two dozen were handed to VIPs in California. Under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, green is the new black for motorists there. And the new ‘Beamer’, the Hydrogen 7, was suddenly the epitome of cool. Not just cool, but cold. What makes it run is a double-insulated cylinder - behind the rear passenger seat - which is full of liquid hydrogen kept at minus 253C.
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