Autocar - First for car news and reviews

Mercedes has launched its first-ever production fuel-cell vehicle, the B-class F-cell.

The first 200 models will be produced later this year and will be delivered to customers who have leased it in the US and Europe in early 2010.

See the Mercedes-Benz B-class F-cell picture gallery

Mercedes claims its hydrogen-electric hybrid is comparable in performance to a 2.0-litre petrol ...Read the full article

Autocar:

its zero-emission powertrain can manage the equivalent of 86.6mpg on the combined cycle

Equivalent how??

Gallons of Hydrogen used?
Cost per mile?
CO2 output resulting from the production of the Hydrogen?


Good to see the technology finally getting a chance to test itself against all-electric and petrol hybrids though.

Good stuff, things are moving forward! :-)

Ultimately this makes so much more sense than a 'Pius' . Good work .

Looks like an impressive piece of kit, but 'F-Cell'. What an underwhelming moniker. I'm also amused by the 'safety is unnaffected' claim. Is 50 litres of liquid hydrogen in a reinforced tank really as 'safe' as 30 litres of petrol in a smash?

And is it going to be cheap...and is the hydrogen going to be cheap?  Otherwise, what's the point?  The appeal of plug-ins is that you get cheap electric (about 10p per kilowatt-hour - or even cheaper overnight) and you can 'refuel' at home, so no more stopping at stations, and the electro-mechanics are simple.  How is hydrogen better than plug-ins?  And don't say you get better range, because you won't if there isn't a refuelling station nearby.  Carbon dioxide quite evidently isn't warming the planet so what's the point of alternative-fuel cars?  I can understand plug-ins because they should be cheap to run etc., but cannot understand hydrogen.

I see Merc is playing catch up again, this is brinning nothing new to the market, and as for the safety.Hydrogen is one of the unsafest fuels around and i am not convinced as yet that it can be used as safely as they say.