Mercedes-Benz A-Class F-Cell in Iceland

A-Class F-Cell

DaimlerChrysler has delivered a fleet of Mercedes Benz A-Class F-Cell fuel-cell powered cars to two companies in Iceland – Landsvirkjun and Reykjavik Energy. This makes the A-Class F-Cell the first fuel-cell cars in the country.

The two companies are power utility companies, and the usage of the A-Class F-Cell in Iceland will be totally sustainable and environment-friendly as the hydrogen that fuels the car will be produced using geothermal energy or hydropower.

Many have criticized fuel cell technology as it merely moves the carbon-burning from inside the car to wherever the hydrogen is produced, thus not exactly helping the environment much in reality.

Reykjavik Energy wants one half of it’s company fleet to be fuelled by alternative sources by the year 2013. “We are convinced, that fuel cell driven vehicles are the concept of the future,” says it’s CEO Gudmundur Thoroddsson.

The Mercedes-Benz A-Class F-Cell uses a 65kW (87 horsepower) high-torque electric motor powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. It has a range of 160 kilometers. 0-100km/h takes 14 seconds, while the car’s top speed is rated at 140km/h.

A-Class F-Cell

A-Class F-Cell

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • 4G63T DSM (Member) on Jul 26, 2007 at 7:48 am

    I dont know..I have mix thoughts on Fuel Cell technology. If you are going to run electric, just build better batteries. Li-Ion batteries have come along way and I still haven’t see them on any so called hybrid cars. Only one on the pipeline is the Tesla Roadster and rumours that the new Prius will have li-ions.

    Yes, you stil lhave to plug in your electric car but, imagine the infrastructure headache of finding Hydrogen fill stations?

    Compared to the Tesla, the Benz has less than 1/2 the range and 1/5 the performance.

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  • BanyakMasukWorkshop (Member) on Jul 26, 2007 at 8:41 am

    “Many have criticized fuel cell technology as it merely moves the carbon-burning from inside the car to wherever the hydrogen is produced, thus not exactly helping the environment much in reality.”

    same problem with electric cars also.

    unfortunately, iceland is such a tiny country, and are only one of the few in the world who use geothermal power. The impact they will make in helping the environment would be tiny, but at least its a good start.

    i believe people are more worried about china today, they are without a doubt, the largest user of coal and probably will soon to have, the largest car population in the world.

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  • szw (Member) on Jul 26, 2007 at 9:45 am

    dis car looks so old d…

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  • 4G63T DSM (Member) on Jul 26, 2007 at 1:19 pm

    Rightly so, as Banyak has stated.

    However, Electric cars have less “conversion” and transportation lost. The process of making electrity and transmitting it, is more efficient than,…

    making electricity, transmission to plant to make H2, to compress H2, to transport H2, and then the conversion from H2 back to electricity via fuel cell.
    This is the problem that doesn’t add up. No process is 100% efficient, and there are losses at each stage.

    Cut off the middle man, so to speak.

    The carbon footprint of pure electric cars is smaller than that of Hydrogen cars. However, that could still be argued about the environmental impact and energy required to produce the battery pack.

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  • BanyakMasukWorkshop (Member) on Jul 26, 2007 at 2:25 pm

    the nice thing to know about the tesla electric sportscar is, its a product of Lotus engineering.

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  • mystvearn (Member) on Jul 26, 2007 at 9:18 pm

    It still in early stages, don’t think it will be widely accepted

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  • kei9 (Member) on Jul 26, 2007 at 9:38 pm

    the ZAP-X…..whereas uses the body og a lotus Apx…will be a success cos it only uses about 5 minutes to charge fully….aint it great!

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