Trio unite to develop fuel cells 29 | 01 | 2013

THREE LEADING GLOBAL brands — Daimler, Ford and Nissan — have teamed-up to to develop fuel cells and speed up the commercialisation of its technology.

The news comes less than a week after BMW and Toyota announced a similar joint venture.

As sales of electric vehicles around two world continue to stall, the newly-formed trio have committed to work together aimed at developing a common fuel cell system.

The ultimate aim is for the new power source to be used as early as 2017 in what they call “highly differentiated, separately branded fuel cell electric vehicles”.

Between them, they also plan to help define global specifications and component standards.

Perhaps more significantly, they also plan to develop infrastructure solutions which are required to allow fuel cell electric vehicles to be mass-marketed.

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Fuel cell technology has long been seen as the ultimate mantra of car manufacturers, as they only emit water while driving as the electric is produced by hydrogen and oxygen.

An electro-chemical reaction between hydrogen, which is stored in a high-pressure tank, and oxygen from the air, produces electricity in the on-board fuel cell stack.

“We are convinced fuel cell vehicles will play a central role for zero-emission mobility in the future," Thomas Weber, head of R&D at Daimler, said.

"This co-operation will make technology available for many customers around the globe,” Thomas Weber, head of R&D at Daimler, parent company of Mercedes-Benz, said.

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Jim McGill