A German consortium made up of Daimler, Linde and OMV has opened the first hydrogen fuel service station near Stuttgart Airport. The project, subsidised by the State of Baden-Württemberg, is centred on the use of hydrogen as an environmentally friendly energy carrier.

Mercedes Benz with its BlueZero concept car based on the B-Class is part of a new German consortium to provide hydrogen fuel for use in cars and buses with water as the only waste from the new combustion process.

The hydrogen filling station will serve fuel-cell vehicles of the latest generation, such as the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL, with 700-bar high-pressure technology. Small-series production of this vehicle is to begin later this year in Germany.

With this new hydrogen compression process, cars and electric buses powered by fuel cells can be refuelled within a matter of minutes, just like vehicles powered by conventional engines, with hydrogen at a pressure of either 350 or 700 bar. Operation with hydrogen produces only electrical energy along with water vapour.

No hydrocarbons or sulphur oxides are generated, not even carbon dioxide (CO2), which arises during combustion of fossil fuels. Hydrogen as a fuel for automotive drive technologies is free of emissions detrimental to the climate and to the environment in both its production from renewable energy carriers and in its transformation into electricity.

The hydrogen required for the filling station is generated in what is known as the steam-reforming process. In the steam reformer, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide are initially produced at high temperatures from natural gas and water vapour in a reactor. In the following stage, steam is added to convert the carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

Since 1994, Daimler has invested more than €1 billion in fuel-cell development. With more than 100 test vehicles and around 4.4 million kilometres covered, the carmaker has one of the largest fuel-cell fleets in the world. The start of small-series production of the B-Class F-CELL, planned for 2009, is now continuing the story of this drive concept.

The electric motor for the B-Class develops a peak output of 100kW/136hp and a maximum torque of 320Nm. The car claims to fulfil high driving dynamic requirements of a two-litre petrol car and has an operating range of up to 400 kilometres.

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