Mercedes-Benz to build its own production of fuel cell stacks in Canada

Preparation for the next generation of fuel cell drive systems

Vancouver/Canada/Stuttgart/Germany - Mercedes-Benz announced today that it will set up its own production of fuel cell stacks in Canada. By doing so, the company will bundle the development and production for one of the key components of fuel cell powered electric vehicles in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The decision was made to create and build a new production facility under the aegis of Mercedes-Benz Canada as the logical next step of Daimler’s successful cooperation with partners in Vancouver. In February 2008, the “Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation” (AFCC) in Burnaby, east of Vancouver, was founded as a joint venture between Daimler (50.1percent), Ford (30 percent) and Ballard (19.9 percent).

This is where the fuel cell stack, now used in the current Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL and the Citaro FuelCell Hybrid city bus, was developed.

The aim of this new operation is to cover the entire value chain, from materials research and development of a production technology for a large-scale production.

Construction of a facility designed for the production of stacks for fuel cell vehicles will begin immediately in a 2000 square metre space in a new Burnaby location. Completion of the production facilities is scheduled for early 2012.Following a graduated test and commissioning phase, small-series production of next-generation fuel cell stacks will commence as of 2013. Apart from delivering a higher output and efficiency, these fuel cell stacks excel with their compact construction. This next generation fuel cell stack will also be suitable for use in sedans such as the Mercedes-Benz C-Class or E-Class.

Since 2009, Mercedes-Benz produces the fuel cell powered B-Class F-CELL under large-scale production conditions. These are currently being driven on a day-to-day basis by customers in Europe and the USA. In addition, three B-Class F-CELL models are traveling 30,000 kilometres around the globe in the “Mercedes-Benz F-CELL World Drive” to demonstrate the high technical maturity of fuel cell technology. At the same time, this round-the-world journey is an appeal to all involved parties in industry and politics to accelerate the construction of the necessary network of hydrogen fueling stations.