Since September 2004, residents and visitors in Perth, the capital of the state of Western Australia, have been able to experience how comfortable it is to ride through the city in a bus with a zero-emissions drive system - simply by buying a ticket for an ordinary bus trip.

DaimlerChrysler has provided the government of Western Australia with three Citaro fuel cell buses, which will be thoroughly tested over a period lasting two years. Path Transit, the public urban transit company that serves the city of Perth, has already begun to use the innovative buses in regular everyday service.

In Perth, Australia, three fuel cell buses demonstrate their road capability in local transportation.

Chemically pure water vapor is the only substance that flows out of the stainless steel exhaust pipe of the Citaro fuel cell bus. The 12-meter-long low-floor city bus accommodates up to 70 passengers and features two doors with stepless entrances. What’s more, the electric drive of the innovative Citaro is exceptionally quiet.

Worldwide field test

The trio of Australian buses supplements the 30 fuel cell Citaros that are currently undergoing field testing in ten major European cities within the framework of a project sponsored by the EU. “Providing service for urban bus routes under everyday conditions is the ideal testing environment for the fuel cell as a drive technology of the future,” emphasized Dr. Thomas Weber, the DaimlerChrysler board member responsible for Research and Technology and for development within the Mercedes Car Group.

The fuel cell drive of the 12-meter-long urban bus delivers an electrical output of 250 kilowatts and drives the 200 kW electric motor, which enables the bus to reach a maximum speed of approximately 80 km/h. A fuel supply of hydrogen gas, which is compressed to 350 bars and stored in pressurized tanks on the roof, gives the bus a range of around 200 kilometers.

Ultimately, three additional Citaro fuel cell buses will be used for regular passenger service in Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic of China, beginning in 2005. One question is paramount at each of the sites where these buses are being used: How reliably will this innovative drive technology function under the tough conditions encountered in everyday service?

Anything but “Business as Usual”

UPS puts the Dodge Sprinter with fuel cell powertrain through its paces. A Dodge Sprinter, one of the approximately 100 DaimlerChrysler fuel cell vehicles out on the roads getting a taste of everyday use around the world, will be subjected to particularly demanding conditions when the United Parcel Service (UPS) company puts it into daily delivery operations in the state of California.

The constant stopping and starting that is an unavoidable part of urban traffic will be a grueling test for the innovative fuel cell drive of a vehicle that is sometimes packed to the roof with cargo.

In Greater Detroit UPS is testing the F-Cell A-Class and benefits from emission-free driving also in warehouses. DaimlerChrysler and UPS agreed in late August 2004 to conduct this field test. At that point in time, UPS had already experienced the benefits of using another DaimlerChrysler fuel cell vehicle, which had been delivering packages in the Detroit area. The vehicle in question, the F-Cell, which is based on the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, had already successfully completed six months of service.

This use of the Dodge Sprinter is a first in three respects, however. The Sprinter is the first delivery truck in the U.S. to be powered by a fuel cell drive; it is also the first fuel cell vehicle of the Dodge brand; and it is the first such vehicle to be put into service in a large vehicle fleet operated by a commercial customer in California.

The fuel cell power system of the Dodge Sprinter is stored in the underbody.

The technological centerpiece of this vehicle is actually not at all easy to locate. That’s because the fuel cell stacks and the pressurized tanks for the hydrogen are installed in the underbody of the vehicle. That means the cab and the cargo area can provide every bit as much room as the conventional Dodge Sprinter. And with a top speed of 80 mph and a maximum range of 155 miles, the fuel cell Sprinter is all geared up for daily use on California’s roads.

Besides the cooperation with UPS DaimlerChrysler is very active in the California Fuel Cell Partnership.

For DaimlerChrysler, the field test conducted in cooperation with UPS is a key part of its ongoing effort to test the reliability and road-readiness of fuel cell vehicles and to create the basis for an automotive infrastructure based on hydrogen technology.

DaimlerChrysler is participating in several cooperative projects in the United States that involve partners from industry and the public sector, including the California Fuel Cell Partnership and the “Fuel Cell Validation” program of the U.S. Department of Energy.