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 “Mercedes-Benz F-CELL World Drive” – the first round-the-world drive with fuel-cell vehicles - successfully concluded on schedule today in Stuttgart. After more than 30,000 kilometers, three Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL vehicles with zero local emissions drivelines crossed the finish line in front of the
Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. The hydrogen-powered B-Classes and their support vehicles set off from Stuttgart at the end of January on the occasion of the official 125th birthday of the automobile, and on their way have crossed through 14 countries on four continents.
On May 30, the fuel cell vehicles will embark on the last leg of the F-CELL World Drive, leading them from Hamburg via Berlin and Nuremberg to the Mercedes-Benz Headquarters in Stuttgart. Hundreds of people will then welcome the convoy after its 125-day trip in the course of a festivity, taking place in the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Furthermore, the Stuttgart-based automotive manufacturer hosts events in Hamburg, Berlin and Nuremberg in order to draw attention to the potential of fuel cell technology and the need for a comprehensive hydrogen infrastructure.
On May 28 the F-CELL World Drive embarks on a two-day trip, leading it towards its destination Germany, where the tour departed from in January. From Oslo in Norway via Malmö in Sweden the route leads to Hamburg. The vehicles thereby cover a distance of 1.200 Kilometer in four countries. Before the beginning of this leg, media representatives in Oslo took the chance of a press event to learn about the emission-free fuel cell technology, which will soon be available in Norway.
From Stockholm in Sweden, the tour embarks on a 550 kilometers-journey to the neighbouring country Norway, to Oslo. The interest in fuel cell technology there is great: After Germany and the USA, Norway will be the third market where the
B-Class F-CELL will be introduced. Also, on May 27, representatives of the local media have the opportunity to learn about fuel cell technology in Oslo.
On May 23, the F-CELL World Drive embarks on one of the shortest legs of the world tour: the one-day trip leads the participants from St. Petersburg in Russia into the finish capital Helsinki, thereby covering 450 kilometers. The journey then will continue from Helsinki to Stockholm via ferry.
From the Russian capital Moscow, the F-CELL World Drive starts on its 24th leg on May 20. During three days, the vehicles travel 800 kilometers to St. Petersburg. One day before, local media took the opportunity to test drive the locally emission-free B-Class F-CELL in Moscow.
After a 9000-kilometre journey through China and Kazakhstan and some 25,000 locally emissions-free kilometres covered, our three fuel-cell vehicles crossed the final continental boundary of the tour on 15 May 2011: the 107th day of the F-CELL World Drive saw the tour head from Chelyabinsk to Ufa in Russia, and from there back to Europe, marking the successful crossing of the fourth continent of the journey, Asia.
The first leg in Russia and 23rd of the round-the-world-trip leads the F-CELL World Drive from Chelyabinsk to the capital Moscow. During four driving days, the vehicles cover more than 1,900 kilometres. Furthermore, after their long drive through Asia, the participants finally reach the European continent again.
23 days and about 8,500 kilometres after the start in Shanghai, the 22nd leg takes the F-CELL World Drive across the second national frontier on this stage. On May 13 the three fuel cell vehicles embark on a two-day leg over 1,000 kilometres from Astana in Kazakhstan to Chelyabinsk in Russia. They thereby already reach the 10th of an overall of 14 countries, which are part of the world tour.
As the F-CELL World Drive, organized by Mercedes-Benz, is currently driving through Kazakhstan, today a slight accident occurred. The B-Class F-CELL „Number 3“ is, after having travelled more than 23.000 locally emission-free kilometres, for he moment not able to continue its journey due to the resulting damage.
On May 11, the F-CELL World Drive embarks on its 21st leg, taking the tour for more than 1,200 kilometres and two days through Kazakhstan. Starting from the former capital Almaty, the route leads through Balkhash towards today’s capital Astana in the north of the country. The day before, on May 10, numerous representatives of the local media took the opportunity of a press event to learn about the advantages of fuel cell technology.
Starting on May 3, the 20th leg of the F-CELL World Drive leads the participants from Jiayuguan, across the Chinese border towards Almaty in Kazakhstan. The route of the five-day trip runs about 2,100 kilometers throughout the Chinese west, until the tour crosses the border to Kazakhstan on May 7. In Almaty, the tour takes its time for a several days lasting stopover, therewith offering the local media the opportunity to experience fuel cell technology using the example of the B-Class F-CELL.
On April 29, the three fuel cell vehicles embarked on their 19th leg, leading them from Xi’An to Jiayuguan and thereby covering a distance of 1,400 kilometers in three days time. All in all, the tour therewith travelled about 4,000 kilometers in China. On May 2nd the tour therefore takes a one-day break in Jiayuguan before the F-CELL World Drive finally sets off for Kazakhstan.
From the automobile exhibition "Auto Shanghai" the three Mercedes-Benz
B-Class F-CELL cars set off on their journey through China, which took them to the capital Beijing on 24 April. With this leg, the final and longest leg of the F-CELL World Drive began: all in all, the fuel cell powered cars will each absolve around 9000 kilometres until they again reach European soil in Russia 20 days later.
Setting of from the Chinese capital Beijing, the F-CELL World Drive embarked on its 18th leg on April 26. The green B-Class F-CELL vehicles with fuel cell drive will cover about 1,300 kilometers on their way to Xi’An. On April 25, the tour took the opportunity to inform local politicians in Beijing about the advantages of the emission-free fuel cell technology.
On April 22, after a stopover at the largest automobile exhibition of Asia, the “Auto Shanghai”, the F-CELL World Drive started the last and longest stage of the world tour which leads through China, Kazakhstan, Russia and Europe. The first leg in China leads the vehicles over a distance of 1,400 kilometers from Shanghai to Beijing in three days time.
On 22 April the F-CELL World Drive will depart from the "Auto Shanghai" show in China for the last and longest leg of its round-the-world tour. From Shanghai the route will take it via Kazakhstan and Russia back to Europe, where the tour began in January. In 41 days the three fuel cell powered B-Class F-CELL cars will cover around 14,000 kilometres on this final leg. The F-CELL World Drive is one of the highlights of the show in Shanghai. Before starting off from China the cars already absolved around 5300 kilometres in Australia, and were transported to another continent by air for the last time of the tour.
Starting on April 6, the participants will face the longest leg of the F-CELL World Drive, leading them from Ceduna to Perth. During four days, the vehicles cover more than 2,000 kilometres until they arrive at the west coast in Perth. The Australian stage ends in Perth. On eleven driving days, the vehicles will then have managed a distance of a total 5,300 kilometres on this continent.
On the 4th of April, the F-CELL World Drive starts its 15th leg from Adelaide to Ceduna. With that, the second half of the F-CELL World Drive begins: the participants have already gotten over with one half of the 125-day tour. Until they reach Ceduna the vehicles will have to drive more than 900 kilometres on this leg.
After an event for representatives of the local media on April 1st, the
F-CELL World drive will embark on its 14th leg towards Adelaide on April 2nd. On this two-day journey the vehicles will cover a distance of 1,000 kilometres. Furthermore, the tour will have a reason to celebrate upon arrival in Adelaide: one half of the 125-day world tour will then have been accomplished.
On March 29, the three B-Class F-CELL vehicles started in Sydney and embarked on their 13th leg, therewith starting the third stage of the F-CELL World Drive. Within three days the tour will cover 1,300 kilometres. On top of that, Australian media took the chance to test drive the B-Class F-CELL during a press event, one day before its start in Australia.
59 days after setting off from Stuttgart, the F-CELL World Drive has reached the third continent of its round-the-world tour. On 29 March the locally emission-free cars left Sydney for their journey to Melbourne. The next destination after Melbourne is Adelaide, after which the cars will start a 6-day journey to Perth that takes them through sparsely populated regions.
On March 14th, prior to the start of the 12th leg, Mercedes-Benz hosted an event for local politicians, in order to increase their awareness for the potentials of fuel cell technology. On March 15th the vehicles will then continue their journey towards Seattle, before they will cross the border to Canada on the next day. The destination of the 46th daily leg is Vancouver. The shortest leg of the USA-Tour will add another 580 kilometers to the mileage.
On the eleventh leg, the F-CELL World Drive embarks from Sacramento, California, to Salem, which is the capital of the state of Oregon. Each of the vehicles covers a total of 870 kilometers – locally emission-free.
On day 39 of the circumnavigation, the F-CELL World Drive embarked on the tenth leg, which leads north through the coastal state of California. The route takes the participants through San Francisco as well as to the Californian capital Sacramento. During this leg, the vehicles cover a total of 950 kilometers. By staging local activities, like in San Francisco and Sacramento, Mercedes-Benz furthermore offers interested parties the possibility to gather information about the potential of fuel cell technology and the B-Class F-CELL. Moreover, a visit at Tesla Motors is part of this tenth leg.
On March 6th, the ninth leg led the B-Class F-CELL vehicles from Phoenix to Los Angeles, California. On its way to L.A. via San Diego, the F-CELL World Drive covered more than 770 kilometres. At the end of the leg in Los Angeles, the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL – for the first and only time in the U.S.A. – were refuelled at a public station within only three minutes of time.
Starting from San Antonio on March 3rd , the three B-Class F-CELL vehicles set off on the eighth leg. The ride across the state of New Mexico to Phoenix in Arizona is the longest leg of the US-stage, covering a distance of more than 1.600 kilometers. On March 2nd the tour therefore used the opportunity to allow the participants a break in San Antonio.
The seventh leg of the F-CELL World Drive led the vehicles from New Orleans in Louisiana over a distance of more than 1.070 kilometers to San Antonio, Texas. Along the way, the tour made a stopover at the mobility project car2go in Austin.
On March 1st, the vehicles embarked on their fifth leg of the USA-tour from Houston to San Antonio. Along the way, the participants stopped for a visit at car2go in Austin and gained insight into the innovative mobility program. Mercedes-Benz thereby emphasizes, that both, alternative drives like the fuel cell technology as well as intelligent utilization concepts can make a contribution to the individual future mobility.
On February 25th, 2011, the F-CELL World Drive embarked on the first leg in the USA from Fort Lauderdale to New Orleans. From 25th until 27 th of February, the vehicles passed through the four states Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and thereby covered 1.460 kilometers.
On 25 February the F-CELL World Drive embarked on the second leg of its tour when three striking green B-Class F-CELL set out from Fort Lauderdale on the East Coast of the USA on their first North American leg towards New Orleans. In total, the vehicles will be covering around 7500 kilometres in the USA and Canada, after which they will leave via Seattle to continue their journey to Australia. So far the F-CELL World Drive has already clocked up more than 3600 km on the roads of Europe.
After the forth press event of the F-CELL World Drive in Madrid, the vehicles travelled for two days from 11th until 12th February – due to an overnight stop in Badajoz – to reach the Portuguese capital Lisbon. On the last leg in Europe, the vehicles have covered a distance of more than 660 kilometers. Every single
B-Class F-CELL has travelled a total of 3250 kilometers during the first part of the F-CELL World Drive, not including the distances, the cars covered in the course of local activities.
The third press-event of more than 20 similar activities during the F-CELL World Drive, took place on 7th February in Barcelona. On 8th February 2011, the three
B-Class F-CELL vehicles travelled further to Valencia. One day later, the Tour continued their journey towards the Spanish capital Madrid. 700 kilometers were added to the mileage during the fourth leg.
On 4th February 2011, the third leg of the F-CELL World Drive led the vehicles to Perpignan in France. The day after, the vehicles embarked on a 200 kilometers journey towards the Spanish coastal town of Barcelona. The vehicles covered an overall distance of about 690 kilometers. On 3rd February, the second event for local media took place in Lyon.
The second leg began in the early morning of 2nd February 2011 in Paris and led through Sermoise sur Loire, where the vehicles were refuelled for the first time, straight to Lyon. The three B-Class F-CELL vehicles covered a distance of 500 kilometers – locally emission-free. One day before, on 1st February, the first press-event of the F-CELL World Drive offered local journalists the opportunity to see for themselves that the B-Class F-CELL is technically mature.
The first leg of the F-CELL World Drive started on 30th January 2011 at 8:00 a.m. in Stuttgart, Germany. The vehicles first drove to Reims, via Loudres, where the first refuelling stop took place. The three B-Class F-CELL vehicles finally arrived at their destination Paris at noontime on 31st January. During the first leg, the three fuel cell vehicles covered a distance of 660 kilometres, while driving locally emission free.
As part of the ceremony to mark the 125th birthday of the invention of the motor car on 29 January in Stuttgart, German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, fired the symbolic starting shot for the Mercedes-Benz F-CELL World Drive. Setting out from Stuttgart on 30 January, three Mercedes-Benz B-Class vehicles featuring local zero-emission fuel cell drives are undertaking a 125-day circumnavigation of the world.
At the end of January Mercedes-Benz will give the starter's signal for what until now is an unparalleled long-distance journey – the F-CELL World Drive. This is what the automotive manufacturer from Stuttgart announced at the North American Auto Show in Detroit. Mercedes-Benz will circumnavigate the world with the first series-produced fuel cell vehicle, the B-Class F-CELL. The aim of the F-CELL World Drive is to demonstrate the efficiency and suitability for everyday use of fuel cell technology, and at the same time campaign for the development of a global hydrogen filling station network.
