F-Cell Shows Technical Maturity Through 4 Continents and 14 Countries

Content provided by BenzInsider.com

Driving around in an alternative-fuel automobile is a cool thing nowadays, specially with the increased collective consciousness towards all things green. Come the end of this month, Mercedes-Benz will flag off a B-Class F-Cell on a historic long-distance journey. Projected to last 125 days, the epic journey aims to demonstrate that hydrogen-powered cars can travel around the world and find the fuel necessary to make that journey. The route starts in Stuttgart and from there, the clean-burning B-Class will travel on down to Lisbon, air-freighted to the continental U.S. which it will travel across and then over to Australia. From there, a boat will take the globe-trotting B-Class F-Cell to Shanghai, where it will then drive across Asia and head on back towards Stuttgart. Estimated range per tankful is 400 km, so a lot of filling up will take place as the trip progresses.

Mercedes hopes that this event will demonstrate the F-Cell’s
technical maturity to the non-believers. Mercedes claims that such an
undertaking will demonstrate that this is something hydrogen-powered
cars can do as opposed to battery-driven cars, which would not be able
to complete the journey for lack of facilities and other support
infrastructure.

Partnering with Mercedes-Benz for this venture is Linde AG, which,
thanks to its sites and subsidiaries located throughout the world,
guarantees a reliable supply of the hydrogen required by the cars. A
tanker vehicle as also been developed to be able to supply the vehicles
with the necessary hydrogen on remote routes.