Five Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL vehicles completed an emission-free drive from Los Angeles to Northern California, refueling at four public hydrogen stations. The trip highlighted California's growing hydrogen fueling network and the vision of a statewide "Hydrogen Highway". Early customers of the F-CELL have now accumulated over 2 million miles since 2010, showing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can meet drivers' long-distance needs.

1. Daimler Communications, 70546 Stuttgart, Germany
Mercedes-Benz – A Daimler Brand
Nearly 1,000 fuel cell electric miles
CrossingCaliforniaon Hydrogen
• Five Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL complete emission-free drive from Los
Angeles to Northern California while only filling up at public hydrogen stations
• “California Hydrogen Highway” is connecting the dots
• U.S. F-CELL customers have accumulated over 2 million miles since 2010
Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL customers ventured beyond Southern
California last week for the very first time, while only filling up at existing public
hydrogen stations along the route from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The
opening of a new hydrogen station in Coalinga along the I-5 corridor made this
opportunity possible. A team driving five B-Class F-CELL refilled at four
permanent hydrogen fueling stations located in Burbank, Coalinga, West
Sacramento and Emeryville, accumulating nearly 1,000 miles over the course of
their three day trip. Three F-CELL customers were accompanied by a team from
Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America based in Long Beach.
The purpose of this unique road trip was to highlight the growing hydrogen
station network and to show that the vision of the California Hydrogen Highway
is becoming reality.
Early adopter Loki Efaw who has been an F-CELL driver since 2011 believes
fuel cells are the future: “I don’t want a car that only takes me to work and back
before I have to plug it in. I want a car that I can drive and drive. And the
refuelling only takes a few minutes. That’s how it should be, and that’s why a
successive build-up of hydrogen stations is absolutely necessary. This trip is the
evidence.”
The current hydrogen station network is limited to 10 stations and is in position
to grow significantly over the next year. More than 40 public retail hydrogen
stations are planned to be opened in 2016. Tyson Eckerle, Zero Emission Vehicle
Infrastructure Project Manager in the California Governor’s Office of Business
and Economic Development, joined the road trip to observe the progress
Press Information
October 26, 2015

2. Daimler Communications, 70546 Stuttgart, Germany
Mercedes-Benz – A Daimler Brand
Page 2firsthand: “It is incredibly exciting for the state to connect the two markets. It
was a realpleasure getting to roadtrip with real drivers and learn how well Fuel
Cell Vehicles can fit into their lives, especially as the network expands. Thanks
to Mercedes-Benz,the station owners Linde, First Element Fuels and Hydrogen
Frontier for their work in building up the network.”
The electric power driving the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL is generated
directly on board in the fuel cell stack by a reaction between the oxygen in the air
and hydrogen. There is no emission of pollutants, only pure water vapour.
Thanks to the 700-bar high-pressure fuel tank system, the car has a long
operating range of around 250 miles (400 kilometers) and can be refuelled in the
short time of less than three minutes. The car combines local emission-free
mobility with long-distance and day-to-day suitability and good performance
figures. 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. The total mileage of the Daimler
fuel cell fleet, which now numbers more than 300 vehicles including numerous
research vehicles, has now reached more than 7.4 million miles (twelve million
kilometers). Numbering around 70 vehicles, the F-CELL fleet in the USA has
now covered about 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers).
The development of the new generation Mercedes-Benz fuelcell electric vehicle
is on track and the company plans to launch the model by 2017.
Contact:
Madeleine Herdlitschka, +49-711-17-76409, madeleine.herdlitschka@daimler.com
Anja Weinert, +1 (408) 991-6689, anja.weinert@daimler.com
Further information about Mercedes-Benz is available online:
www.media.daimler.com and www.mercedes-benz.com and www.mbrdna.com