Organisers of a test drive of the world's first hydrogen-powered car insisted that their luxury hybrid vehicle was entirely safe to fuel and drive, despite the presence of four fire engines at the modified test track at Kai Tak.
BMW officials said they had difficulty at first in persuading authorities in Hong Kong to grant them a licence to bring the potentially dangerous liquid hydrogen gas into Hong Kong. The fuel is unavailable in Hong Kong.
But they were quick to point out that Jay Leno, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Al Gore all drove the hydrogen-powered cars and thought them very safe to drive.
Fire Services Department spokesman Tony Leung said the firemen had been deployed on a site visit to evaluate the safety measures in place at the Kai Tak site ahead of public test drives running from tomorrow until October 31, and that there would be no need for their presence during the week.
BMW gave members of the press the chance to test drive the car on the old airport runway at Kai Tak. The German carmaker's 'Hydrogen 7' range hybrid vehicle looks and handles like a BMW's standard luxury 7-series model. The 12-cylinder model runs on both petrol and liquid hydrogen - a sustainable fuel source which produces almost no emissions other than water vapour - produces 260bhp and can reach 100km/h in 9.5 seconds.
A small track has been set up to test the performance of the car, while staff from BMW's hydrogen infrastructure partner Linde demonstrated the safety and ease of use of their specially-constructed hydrogen fuelling station on the runway tarmac.