Mercedes-Benz to set fuel cell stacks factory in Vancouver

Vancouver, in Canada, has been chosen by Mercedes-Benz as the future location of the brands’ factory of fuel cell stacks. The goal is to establish the development and production of one of the key components of fuel cell powered electric vehicles in the British Columbia city.

Prof. Herbert Kohler, Head of e-Drive and Future Mobility: "To consolidate our leading position in the field of alternative drive systems, we are ensuring direct access to the key technologies involved. Following our systematic development of battery expertise together with Accumotive GmbH in Germany, this decision is a further, major step on the road to emission-free driving."

With this investment Mercedes-Benz is trying to cover the entire value chain, from materials research and development of a production technology for a large-scale production.

Mercedes-Benz will be investing in the construction of a factory for the production of the fuel cell stacks with a 2000 square metre space in a new Burnaby location and should be completed in early 2012.

After a graduated test and commissioning phase, the production of small-series of next-generation fuel cell stacks should begin in 2013. Offering higher output and efficiency, the fuel cell stacks benefit from compact construction. Thanks to this new generation of fuel cell stack Mercedes-Benz will be able to use this technology in sedans such as the Mercedes-Benz C-Class or E-Class.

Currently the Mercedes-Benz is only producing a model with fuel cell technology under large-scale production conditions: the B-Class F-CELL. Those vehicles are being driven on a day-to-day basis by customers in Europe and the USA.

At the moment there are three B-Class F-CELL models that are driving 30,000 kilometres in order to show the world the high technical maturity of fuel cell technology. This also a way to appeal different parties in industry and politics to accelerate the construction of the necessary network of hydrogen fueling stations.