“We can expect to see a commercialization of fuel-cell cars in 10 years,” DaimlerChrysler’s Head of Technology and Environmental Communications Edith Meissner said in Singapore, as the company delivered five cars for road testing in the Southeast Asian city-state.
Since 1994, DaimlerChrysler has invested US$1 billion in the technology, which powers vehicles with compressed hydrogen. The engines emit no pollutants, as the only waste material is pure water.
Prototype hydrogen-fueled vehicles typically cost $1 million to $2 million each, including the $200,000 cost of making the fuel cell itself, according to industry estimates.
“At the moment, the cost is the biggest challenge we face. We are sure that with the economies of scale and the development of the techniques we will reach the goal,” she added.
DaimlerChrysler is loaning five Mercedes-Benz A-class “F-Cell” cars to companies and a government department in Singapore for two years of road testing. It did not say what each model cost.
Worldwide there’ll be 60 such DaimlerChrysler vehicles in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Berlin by the end of the year, the company said.
The tiny city-state was chosen as one of the test sites because of its tropical climate and government support for cleaner technologies, DaimlerChrysler’s fuel cell director Dr Andreas Truckenbrodt said.
It’ll cost 50 Singapore dollars (US$29.43) to refuel the car with a tank that can travel 100 miles (160 kilometers). Refueling can be done at a specially equipped gas station in the eastern part of Singapore.