Fuel cell car coming from Mercedes

Germany's Mercedes-Benz said yesterday that it plans to start production on a small, hydrogen fuel cell powered car.

"The small-scale series production of the B-Class F-Cell will begin in early 2010," the carmaker said in a statement at the Frankfurt International Motor Show.

The company, a division of DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DAI), said the car will have a new generation of fuel cell engine "that is much more compact and yet at the same time more powerful and completely practicable for everyday use."

No word on how much the car will cost or how many vehicles the company plans to sell, but Mercedes said it will be in limited serial production.

The B-Class car's electric engine is expected to generate 136 horsepower and perform on par with a two-liter gas engine.

Mercedes said it will use the equivalent of 2.9 liters of diesel fuel for every 100 kilometers driven.

DaimlerChrysler, which is already testing around 100 fuel cell vehicles on the street, had earlier estimated that fuel cell cars would make their commercial debut between 2012 and 2015.

Fuel cells use the interaction between hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity, emitting only water as a byproduct of the process.

But many in the industry believe hydrogen is nowhere near ready for prime time, and that the future is electric (see Hydrogen cars non-starters).

Mercedes may be hedging its bets, as earlier this week it said it would use ultracapacitors from San Diego's Maxwell Technologies for an advanced engineering hybrid-electric drive train program (see Mercedes to use Maxwell Tech ultracapacitors).

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