Daimler F-Cell vehicle testbedding in Singapore ends successfully

Daimler successfully ended its F-Cell vehicle testing in Singapore after nearly 5 years. The trial was supported by local government agencies, environment institutions and partners in the private sector.

The project started in 2004 with 6 vehicles in Singapore in Phase One and continued with 4 vehicles from 2007 until March 2009 in Phase Two. In total 5,400 operational hours and some 160,000 test km were accumulated.

The objectives of this testing of new technology were to obtain and analyze operational data under real-life conditions, to test system stability and endurance and to undertake reliability testing. After-sales requirements and infrastructure needs were also analyzed
as part of the trial.

Singapore was selected as one of four countries worldwide, along with Germany, USA and Japan, to participate in the F-Cell test program. The F-Cell vehicles are based on Mercedes-Benz A-Class passenger cars. Singapore was selected because of its unique city-state location, tropical climate and governmental support to test vehicles which needed a tailored refueling infrastructure.

The findings of the trial were extremely encouraging: the technology was stable in daily use and performed well in the warm and humid environment and it was discovered that reliability is not affected by different driving patterns and driving cycles. Improvements in
operational functions and components were identified for implementation in both, the next generation of test vehicles and finally, for the commercialization.

The Mercedes-Benz A-Class F-Cell vehicles were a familiar sight on Singapore roads over the past few years with numerous appearances and features at environmental events, presentations, conferences, seminars, lectures and school educational outreach programs. The easy-to-drive F-Cell vehicles were very popular with media and public at large.

Daimler’s approach is to create individual vehicle concepts with modular powertrain technologies. The focus is on several key areas: the optimization of vehicles with combustion engines, increase of efficiency with hybridization and the development of zero-emission mobility with battery and fuel-cell systems.

Wolfgang Huppenbauer, President & CEO, Daimler South East Asia explains: " We are very proud that Singapore could play a substantial role in the global testing of the F-Cell vehicles. We would like to thank all partners involved, specifically the Singapore government agencies EDB and NEA, who supported the testing and helped make it such a success. We take environmental issues very seriously and continue to test alternative energies and green technologies globally and we pro-actively work towards improvement of the conventional technologies."

"First results of the F-Cell testing show that the technology is reliable and driving a ‘zeroemission’ car is fun and trendy. Our F-Cell development team is working hard towards the full market introduction. Customers will then be able to buy and enjoy a truly 'green car'. In addition to this, our researchers are working on an even earlier commercialization and marketing of pure battery-electric vehicles.

We have had a very good experience in Singapore with our F-Cell testing and this makes us eager to look for opportunities to bringing in alternative drive solutions to Singapore. We are intensively exploring possibilities to integrate Singapore in the testing and marketing of our future electric vehicle technology."

Credits: JRC