DaimlerChrysler Delivers Fuel Cell Buses to Beijing

December 20, 2005

DaimlerChrysler delivered three hydrogen-powered Mercedes-Benz Citaro fuel cell buses to the City of Beijing at the opening of the 4th International Clean Vehicle Technology Conference and Exhibition in November 2005.

The buses were provided to the City of Beijing under the auspices of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the United Nations Development Program/Global Environmental Fund, Demonstration for Fuel Cell Bus Commercialization in China.

These buses are part of a fleet of 36 buses DaimlerChrysler now has in operation in Europe, Australia and Asia. In October 2005, the fuel cell buses passed the one million kilometer mark, a performance that surpasses all previous trials of fuel cell buses, having clocked a total of 70,000 operating hours.

“These buses have convincingly demonstrated the reliability and robustness of fuel cell performance in various climatic zones and topographies,” said Prof. Herbert Kohler, vice president, Body and Powertrain Research and chief environmental officer of DaimlerChrysler. “They have withstood the winter cold of Reykjavik and Stockholm as well as the heat of Madrid. They have performed well in flat terrain as well as with gradients of up to 8% in Porto and Stuttgart. We are convinced that the experience from the streets of Beijing will contribute significantly toward our goal of series production of fuel cell vehicles.”

The worldwide trials of fuel cell vehicles give the developers of the fuel cell stack valuable information for the extension of fuel cell lifetimes. The performance of the current generation of stacks is well above expectations: more than 2,000 operating hours without any power losses. This brings fuel cell lifetimes even closer to those of conventional gasoline and diesel engines.

DaimlerChrysler is working with Ford Motor Company to integrate fuel cell drives into vehicles and with Ballard Power Systems to develop and manufacture fuel cells and electric drives for fuel cell vehicles.

Source: DaimlerChrysler.