The Mercedes-Benz F-CELL World Drive back in Stuttgart: Daimler to invest in Hydrogen Infrastructure

The longest continuous drive of three Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELLs ever was completed on June 1, when the F-CELL World Drive returned to Stuttgart Germany. Daimler used the arrival to announce that the Stuttgart car manufacturer together with Linde AG will build 20 Hydrogen filling stations in Germany by 2013. In addition Mercedes-Benz will start mass production of its B-Class F-CELLs in 2014 one year earlier than expected.

Hundreds of people cheered when the drive finally arrived at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Daimler CEO and Head of Mercedes Car Group Dr. Dieter Zetsche greeted the world drivers and congratulated them to their success.

With the drive around the world Mercedes-Benz has proven that this locally emission free technology is ready to use. The F-Cell full electric vehicles have a range of up to 400 kilometres or 250 miles and can be refilled with hydrogen within 3 minutes. However a hydrogen-filling infrastructure is not yet in place. Therefore the F-CELL world drive was travelling with a mobile filling station and hydrogen provided by its partner Linde. Car manufacturer Daimler and the technology company The Linde Group are pressing ahead with the development of an infrastructure for hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles. Over the coming three years, the two companies plan to construct an additional 20 hydrogen filling stations in Germany, thereby ensuring a supply of hydrogen produced purely from renewable resources for the steadily increasing number of fuel-cell vehicles on the roads. The initiative links in with the existing H2 Mobility and Clean Energy Partnership infrastructure projects, which are being subsidised by the National Innovation Programme for hydrogen and fuel-cell technology (NIP). This places Germany at the international forefront of hydrogen infrastructure development.