The B-Class F-CELL continues on its unique round-the-world tour

The next
step to be taken for the industrialisation of this guiding technology is the
development of a comprehensive hydrogen infrastructure.
The F-CELL World Drive is particularly highlighting the still existing gaps of the
global hydrogen infrastructure. By the end of the USA section of the tour on 18
March, the B-Class F-CELL vehicles will have been refuelled around 35 times on
the route from Miami to Seattle – but only one of these refuelling procedures will
have taken place at a public hydrogen filling station, located in the Greater Los
Angeles Area.
"The American market is already active in the field of fuel cell technology, but
like in Europe, there is still a need for development when it comes to
infrastructure. Together with our regional partners, we want to point out the
potentials of this technology and to get important lead markets ready for the
rollout of a high number of electric vehicles with fuel cell technology," says Dr.
Thomas Weber, the Daimler AG Board Member responsible for Group Research
and Development for Mercedes-Benz Cars. So far there are a few filling stations in
California as well as on the East Coast of the USA, in the city of New York and
also in Michigan. Most of the activities are currently taking place in California,
however. Customers in the city of Los Angeles – where a number of Mercedes-
Benz B-Class F-CELL vehicles have been on the road since the end of 2010 – can
already refuel their vehicles at five public hydrogen filling stations. Of these,
three are equipped with the latest – and meanwhile globally standardized –
700-bar technology which enables the tanks of B-Class vehicles to be filled in just
three minutes for a range of about 400 kilometers.
Alongside further deliveries of B-Class vehicles with fuel cell drives to customers
in the USA in 2011 and 2012, it is concretely planned to extend the supply
network in American metropolitan areas. During a second stage they will then be
linked up to each other. These steps will consequently spread fuel cell
technology.
According to a study by UC Davis1, the basic supply of such zero-emission
vehicles could be guaranteed with only about 40 hydrogen filling stations in the
metropolitan area of Los Angeles. The State of California already provided an
initial funding. Until today, 27 million US-Dollars went into the promotion of a
hydrogen infrastructure. Another 14 million US Dollars is expected to be invested
in 2011. For 2011 and 2012, the opening of further filling stations has been
announced, four in the greater area of Los Angeles, two stations in the San
Francisco Bay Area and 10 more stations in 2012. From 2012, a total of about 20
1 Roadmap for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicles in California: A Transition Strategy
through 2017; A Collaborative Effort by Public and Private Stakeholders; Institute of
Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis
stations in California will supply electric vehicles with fuel cell technology with
the necessary hydrogen.
These positive developments in the hydrogen infrastructure of California are also
the result of Daimler AG's almost 20-year commitment to fuel cell technology. For
many years the company has been an active member of the California Fuel Cell
Partnership (CaFCP), an amalgamation of automotive manufacturers, energy
suppliers, government bodies and technology companies, and also the newly
established Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association (FCHEA) in California.
The production of the necessary hydrogen today already provides a firm
foundation for a future hydrogen infrastructure. The hydrogen industry in the
USA could already supply up to 40 million vehicles. Pipelines, which can
transport the hydrogen from the producers to the end-users, are already in place
in many parts of the country.
Prior to the US stage, the World Drive already clocked up more than 3600
kilometers in Europe, where the filling station network is also under
development. Generally speaking, there is also capacity for hydrogen production.
The long-term goal is to produce regenerative hydrogen, for example by means of
wind, water or solar energy, geothermics or biomass, so that the entire energy
chain, from production through to consumption by the vehicle, is emission-free or
in other words CO2 neutral.
/The potentials of e-mobility with fuel cell technology are huge. If not now, when
else is there a chance to establish Europe as the leading market for this future
technology? Other nations are already on their way,/ Thomas Weber reviews the
current situation. For the ambitious goals of the European Union and the G8
countries include to cut overall CO2 emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050.
Efforts are therefore being made in the transport sector to reduce CO2 output by
95 percent. Against this background, the use of electric vehicles using fuel cells
and batteries is essential in order to make a significant contribution to long-term,
sustainable mobility.
A recently published study investigating the potential of electrified drive systems
in Europe came to the same conclusion2. Electric vehicles with fuel cell
technology are also suitable for long journeys, which are usually made with
medium-size and larger vehicles. These make up some 50 percent of total
passenger car numbers and are also responsible for 75 percent of CO2 passenger
car emissions. The fuel cell drive therefore represents an effective solution for
the reduction of CO2-emissions in road traffic and has tremendous potential for
mass production (1 million vehicles across Europe in 2020, or 25 percent of the
market in 2050).
Daimler is active in a variety of different initiatives in order to drive forward the
commercialisation of electric vehicles as well as the necessary infrastructure
measures. Daimler AG has therefore launched an initiative together with Linde
AG, for example, with the aim of developing a national hydrogen filling station
infrastructure. In 2009 this resulted in the H2 Mobility initiative, through which
major energy suppliers, corporations in the mineral oil industry and also other
additional partners have come to an agreement on setting up a comprehensive
hydrogen infrastructure in Germany. This is because a necessary prerequisite for
the commercialisation of fuel cell vehicles is a corresponding hydrogen filling
2 McKinsey study: "A Portfolio of Power-trains for Europe: A Fact-based Analysis"
station network. Initial centres are in the process of development in large
conurbations, such as Berlin and Hamburg. "We have invested successfully and
to a large extend in the maturity of fuel cell technology in vehicle application.
Now the infrastructure needs to be developed. We are convinced that these
investments are not only worthwhile, but that there is no alternative for the
sustainability of a demand meeting, individual mobility," explains Thomas
Weber.
During the F-CELL World Drive, three Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL vehicles are
passing through 14 countries and 4 continents - to drive around the globe once.
Organised by Mercedes-Benz, the circumnavigation of the world started on 30
January 2011 in Stuttgart and is scheduled to last 125 days, until the vehicles
return to Stuttgart again at the beginning of June, after covering a distance of
some 30,000 kilometres. The aim of the tour is to demonstrate the technical
maturity and suitability for everyday use of electric vehicles with fuel cells, and
at the same time highlight the need for the development of a comprehensive
hydrogen infrastructure. Mercedes-Benz is being supported on the tour by Linde
AG, which is responsible for supplying the hydrogen.
Eva Wiese, tel. no.: +49 711 17-92311, eva.wiese@daimler.com