On October 3, the Wall Street Journal ran an article titled, “Daimler, Renault Chiefs Knock Hydrogen Cars” which isn’t exactly true, especially the Daimler part.
Chief executive of Daimler AG Dieter Zetsche, said that he is concerned about the rollout of the hydrogen fueling infrastructure to support the cars and that all of the major car companies with fuel cell vehicles need to be on the same page.
While Toyota, Honda and Hyundai have gotten much attention for their fuel cell vehicles, it’s Daimler AG that has built the largest fleet of hydrogen cars worldwide. The Daimler Mercedes-Benz B-class F-Cell is pictured above.
According to AutoCar India, “Produced under series production conditions, the Mercedes-Benz B-class F-Cell has already been in day-to-day use with customers in the European and American markets since 2010. Today, the total mileage of the Daimler fuel cell fleet, which now numbers more than 300 vehicles, including numerous research vehicles, reaches far more than nine million kilometres, the company has said.
“Based on the current and pending results, Mercedes engineers expect to identify further potential for optimisation, which will flow directly into the development of the next generation of fuel cell electric vehicles. The company has the clear objective to develop a common drive train in cooperation with Ford and Nissan, and to bring competitive fuel cell electric vehicles in large numbers on the streets by 2017.”
So clearly, Dieter Zetsche is not knocking hydrogen cars as his company currently owns the world’s largest fleet. He simply wants a strategic plan that involves all of the fuel cell car companies with the same vision for rolling out the supporting infrastructure in the months and years to come.