BMW sure hopes so. Der Spiegel has an amusingly harsh article that lays bare the problems with BMW’s hydrogen car theory:

…the image is one of deceit. Because the hydrogen dispensed at the new filling station is generated primarily from petroleum and natural gas, the new car puts about as much strain on the environment as a heavy truck with a diesel engine.

How does that sound for a new campaign for hydrogen cars “the BMW 7 series hydrogen — as beneficial to the environment as a diesel truck”. Of course that would be an old diesel truck, since the new engines are far more efficient, thus making hydrogen advocates seem even more out of tune with reality.

The company says the car will consume an average of 13.9 liters (3.7 gallons) per 100 kilometers (roughly 17 miles per gallon) using regular gasoline and a whopping 50 liters to drive the same distance when fuelled by hydrogen.

In other words, BMW has created an energy-guzzling engine that only seems to be environmentally friendly — a farcical ecomobile…

I like that. Perhaps they could rename hydrogen-based combustion engines as “farcicles”…so we can go riding on a farcicle built for four.