Mercedes-Benz F-Cell leads the way

In a dual-pronged promotion highlighting the 125th anniversary of Daimler and the birth of the motor car, but more importantly for the future, the real world application of its fuel cell technology, Mercedes-Benz embarked on a 30,000km plus global tour across four continents and 14 countries. The ambitious global trek demonstrates that Mercedes-Benz fuel cell cars are no longer just prototypes, but are ready for everyday use.

Some fuel cell cars are already on sale in Germany, and Mercedes-Benz aims for full commercialisation of the vehicles by 2015.

The F-Cell has a range of 400km and a refuelling time of just three minutes, both considerable advantages over a battery-powered electric car. Whereas an electric car is entirely powered from batteries, fuel cell vehicles create electricity to power an electric motor using stored hydrogen and oxygen from the air, with the only emissions being pure water.

The Mercedes-Benz F-Cell fleet consists of several Mercedes-Benz B-Class vehicles and JUST Cars was invited to take a test drive around Melbourne on the Australian leg of the 125-day tour. Inside, the left-hand drive B-Class was identical to a 'standard' combustion engine model. Turn the engine on and there is no noise whatsoever. Select drive and away you go, with only some tyre and wind noise. The electric motor uses a single reduction gear and acceleration is surprisingly brisk. Mercedes-Benz says that the F-Cell has a top speed of 170km/h and I would hazard a guess of a 0-100km/h time of around 10 seconds.

This is eminently usable performance, akin to that of a 2.0-litre vehicle. Mercedes-Benz have demonstrated the maturity and suitability of electric vehicles fueled by hydrogen fuel cells, with the next step needing urgent attention being fueling infrastructure. BOC Gases, who provided the hydrogen for the vehicles on the test run, say they are already producing quality hydrogen from their Melbourne plant and refuelling points need to be established at service stations across the country. While our Federal government pursues questionable carbon taxes, hydrogen fueled vehicles offer a virtual immediate green solution to vehicle emissions, and Mercedes-Benz must be given credit for developing and enabling the technology. It is now up to the government to get its head out of the sand and start planning alternative fuel infrastructure, as Mercedes-Benz and its partners can't be expected to solve this problem as well!