LONDON – A European cross-border research project will help a fleet of prototype cars that run on liquid hydrogen roll onto Europe's roads within the next three years.

Developed under the European Union's €300 million ($376 million) Quick Start initiative for promoting the use of hydrogen as an alternative energy source, the HyICE (hydrogen internal combustion engine) project was launched in January 2004 and has made solid progress, its coordinators say.

Hydrogen-powered BMW 7-Series test car.

The 3-year-long HyICE is being coordinated by German auto maker BMW AG. The project has a total budget of €18 million ($23 million).

Some €9 million ($11 million) will come from the EU, while the remaining €9 million will come from participating organizations that will be able to exploit the jointly developed technology. These include Ford Motor Co. and its Volvo Cars subsidiary.

BMW says the traditional internal combustion engine is particularly well suited to futuristic energy projects using alternative fuels such as hydrogen.

However, to adapt today's engines for liquid hydrogen, components capable of handling the new fuel's specific characteristics have to be developed.

“The ultimate goal is to work out an engine concept with the potential to beat both gasoline and diesel engines on power density and efficiency at reasonable costs,” HyICE Coordinator Claudia Scheiderer says.

In the high-power vehicle range, where hydrogen internal-combustion engineers can deliver even higher efficiency, HyICE technologies may present a long-term solution, she says.

The first stage of the project involved developing new components, such as injectors and an ignition system, as well as preparing computational fluid dynamics tools for gaining the most out of mixture formation and combustion.

Key to the success of this part of the project has been the involvement of U.S., as well as European, researchers and representatives of the automotive industry.

BMW is well-positioned to use any HyICE developments.

“The BMW Series 7 liquid-hydrogen-fueled car will be available to customers within the next three years,” says a spokesman for the auto maker's research and development division. (See related story: BMW Puts Eggs in Hydrogen Basket)

“We had a demonstration fleet, purely a research project, but now we are at the stage when we can see the cars being put to real-life use.”

The spokesman says initially 100 cars will be made available for purchase. He says it is too early to say when the HyICE vehicles might go into mass production.

“We will have to see first how the public, the politicians and opinion-makers react to them,” he says. But, we have made it through the development stage.”

HyICE is far from being an isolated international project. In June 2003, the U.S. and the EU agreed to collaborate on speeding up the development of the hydrogen economy.

A vital part of this involves developing universally compatible codes of practice, standards and regulations affecting hydrogen-fueled autos, along with cooperation in R&D and increased public-private collaboration.