Fuel cell electric vehicles have been the topic of several lively discussions over here at CleanTechnica, but while weve been busy talking, Mercedes-Benz has been walking the walk, or driving the drive as the case may be. Earlier this week the company pitched its forthcoming 2017 hydrogen fuel cell EVs with a splashy publicity tour in California, involving almost 1,000 miles split among five of the companys B-Class F-CELL vehicles over a three-day period.
Alright Already With Hydrogen The Fuel Station Infrastructure
For those of you new to the topic, an FCEV is an all-electric vehicle but instead of getting its juice from electricity stored in a battery, it literally makes its own electricity on the fly, deploying the chemical reaction in a fuel cell.
The fuel of choice is hydrogen, and therein lies the problem. Until FCEV ownership reaches critical mass, there is little incentive to build hydrogen fuel stations, or to make room for them at existing gas stations. So, fuel availability is currently a big obstacle to FCEV ownership.
Thats similar to the dilemma faced by potential battery EV customers up until just a few years ago. However, while battery EV owners at least have the option of plugging in at home, FCEV owners are totally reliant on public fueling infrastructure (at least, for now they are).
Thats where California comes in. California is hot on the trail of any zero-emission vehicle it can lay its hands on, with the goal of reaching 87% saturation by mid-century. So, in addition to building up its battery EV charging network, the state is also building up its hydrogen fuel station infrastructure, partly with the help of auto industry stakeholders (and this one, too).
With that in mind, this weeks Mercedes-Benz publicity tour was just partly designed to leverage the B-Class F-CELL sedan, which readers of our sister site Gas2.org may recall from its introduction to the California zero-emission vehicle market back in 2010 when it was practically the only consumer model FCEV around.
The real point was to highlight the growing hydrogen fuel station infrastructure in California. The five F-CELLs were tasked with refueling only at public stations over the three-day trip between Los Angeles to San Francisco along the states Hydrogen Highway with stops at Burbank, Coalinga, West Sacramento, and Emeryville...SNIP Full Article: http://cleantechnica.com/2015/10/28/mercedes-benz-fuel-cell-ev-doubters-hahahahahahahaha/
"Fuel Cells are SO BULLSH*T" - the now discredited Elon Musk, who has his hands full with a burn rate problem. Hahahahah! $300 million + loss per Quarter adds up- even if you're a 2 bit billionaire.
Thats where California comes in. California is hot on the trail of any zero-emission vehicle it can lay its hands on, with the goal of reaching 87% saturation by mid-century. So, in addition to building up its battery EV charging network, the state is also building up its hydrogen fuel station infrastructure, partly with the help of auto industry stakeholders (and this one, too).
I'm not sure why it is supposed to be a profound discovery that the only significant system of hydrogen fuel stations (which we ought to have a snappier name for like 'hy-station') is in California. Where else do you have the armies of mindless deep-pocket liberals to support it?
Germany certainly has miserable hy-station development, though they are expanding. Japan is better but far from the hy-station density needed for a significant change to be realized.
So Mercedes may make a splash as a premium vehicle against the more basic hy-cars like Toyota's. But there are other contenders upcoming from GM and Nissan and other with considerable experience in fielding new technologies.
I don't see anything about the Mercedes product that is especially compelling. It's just a hydrogen vehicle trading on the Mercedes brand name and luxury status. Where's the vaunted German engineering?