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NECAR
2000 November:
DaimlerChrysler will begin tests of hydrogen fuel-cell powered
Necars (new electric cars) in California.
The "California Fuel Cell Partnership", formed in April 1999,
involves car makers, fuel suppliers and government.
It includes Ballard Power Systems,
DaimlerChrysler, Ford, ARCO, Shell, Texaco, California Air Resources Board,
California Energy Commission and, more recently,
Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, VW,
International Fuel Cells,
US Dept. of Energy & Transportation,
South Coast Air Quality Mngmt. District.
The Californian Necars will run on hydrogen carried
in three tanks at pressures of up to 350 bar,
and giving a range of about 200km.
A 75kW Ballard Mk900 fuel cell stack
supplies a 55kW electric motor;
a top speed of 145km/h (90mph) is claimed.
2000 November:
The Mercedes Benz NECAR 5
(new electric car, right) is based on
the A-class
but is powered by a
fuel cell.
The Necar 5 uses a reformer to extract the hydrogen fuel for the fuel cell
from methanol which is a liquid at room temperatute and
can be easily transported and stored with current infra-structure.
Methanol is a by product of oil refineries and
can be made by fermentation of plant material.
The methanol reformer and the fuel cell are fitted in the underbody
of the modified A-class.
DaimlerChrysler says that it will
"invest about DM 2 billion to develop the
new drive system from the first prototype to the point of mass production.
In the past six years. DaimlerChrysler has already equipped and presented
16 passenger cars, vans and buses with fuel cell drives
- more than the total of all its competitors worldwide."
"... In 2002,
DaimlerChrysler will deliver the first city buses with fuel cells, followed
in 2004 by the first passenger cars...".
Go to the
Mercedes Benz
pages
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