13 Oct 05
It's safe too - mounting those hydrogen tanks between the axle lines makes them less precarious in a smash. Worries that hydrogen-powered cars are carrying a couple of mini Hindenburgs ready to blow at any minute are complete bunkum. If anything were able to pierce the hydrogen bottles - which itself would be very difficult, as the bottles are extremely strong as they hold the hydrogen under 350bar (that's 5000psi) of pressure - the hydrogen would just escape harmlessly out of the hole. If a spark were to ignite the hydrogen, all that would be produced is a flame that would burn through all the hydrogen in around two minutes. If a spark ignites a leak from a petrol tank, the fire can last for hours.
Mercedes hopes to have hydrogen-powered cars on general sale by 2015, costing around 10% more than conventional petrol-engined cars.
However, whether there can be a hydrogen-powered future is dependent on energy companies creating a refuelling infrastructure to support mass use of hydrogen power. Currently, hydrogen can be difficult to produce - in some cases, it's reliant on fossil fuels for its production - and inherently tricky to transport. Some car companies are investigating onboard reformers so that cars produce their own hydrogen from an onboard water supply, but there are problems with producing enough hydrogen to be worthwhile from this method.
Mercedes sees hybrid-powered cars - where an electric engine is supplemented by a regular petrol or diesel engine - as a stop-gap rather than the final answer. It's currently developing hybrid cars- the new S-Class gets the treatment - partly because some of the technology in hybrids is the same as found in fuel cell cars.
Ultimately, the motor industry must address the wider environmental concerns relating to fossil fuel-powered vehicles and needs to pioneer solutions to reduce our dependency on the world's limited natural resources.
Cars like this A-Class prove that there is a viable alternative and, with the advances the next decade will bring, will make emission-free motoring fact, rather than fiction.
