Mercedes F-CELL in California for DOE tech validation project
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 77 KB
- Volume
- 2010
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1464-2859
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✦ Synopsis
The German automaker intends to deploy 70 fuel cell vehicles by 2012, as a growing industry commitment to advanced technology vehicles and international collaboration to bring these technologies to fruition. This project will bring vehicles with the latest technology to US roads, and allow DOE to validate the technologies for ultimate market acceptance.
DOE's 50/50 cost-shared project is validating fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen fueling stations under real-world operating conditions, and demonstrating advances in research. A total of 152 vehicles and 24 fueling stations have reported data to the DOE project, including vehicles from General Motors, Ford, and Hyundai-Kia, in addition to Mercedes-Benz. These vehicles have traveled more than 2.8 million miles in total, and have shown a durability of 2500 hours, equivalent to about 75 000 miles.
Mercedes-Benz North America has been involved since 2005, and will continue to provide critical data to DOE from 20 of the new F-CELL cars. The second-generation Mercedes-Benz B-Class vehicles are designed to have a 270 mile (430 km) driving range, and take less than five minutes to refuel. The car is currently certified by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) as a zero-emission vehicle for the 2011 model year.
Vehicles will be delivered to a representative cross-section of customers in California before the end of 2010, with the full fleet of 70 vehicles deployed in the state by 2012 (as well as 130 vehicles in Europe). The typical full-service monthly lease rate will be $849 (excluding tax) over the 24-month term, and includes the cost of hydrogen fuel.
Mercedes-Benz anticipates commercialization of fuel cell vehicles in the 2015 timeframe, in line with a commitment announced a year ago by the world's leading automakers working on fuel cell vehicle technology [FCB, October 2009].