There should have been someone there who made wine out of water and everyone went crazy. His business model then lasted for a long time. Today the requirement is different, someone has to leave the "pöhsen"Make diesel some wine - or at least water?

Mercedes-Benz EQ GLC F-Cell - ride along

When water replaces diesel

The dream of an automobile with only water dripping out of the exhaust pipe is older. And almost all manufacturers have already dreamed of it. Toyota, Honda and also Mercedes-Benz. With the Stuttgarters it was even enough for a “world tour” with B-classes. A big number purely from the PR effect and one still lives on it today. But the fuel cell never went into series production. Until now. Everything should be different now.

Skepticism is advised

The whole process of hydrogen production is relatively simple. But energy intensive and not exactly cheap when it comes to hardware. The Mercedes-Benz GLC F-Cell, which will be launched on the market in autumn in a small series, will initially offer a combination of the two worlds of future mobility. Battery technology charged via plug-in and as a bundle of energy for subsequent supply, a manageable fuel cell on board.

At first glance, the combination of plug-in hybrid technology and fuel cells looks like the most stupid and, above all, the most expensive solution. It's no wonder that the small series is packed into a hip SUV, because of course more is possible than with boring limousines.

The product itself can convince

With the Mercedes-EQ GLC F-Cell, as its complex name is, the future, solvent tenant gets an SUV that can convince even when driving in the pre-series vehicle. There is no handicraft solution on the road here, everything looks like you would expect when a vehicle rolls from a Mercedes plant. The GLC is manufactured in Bremen, its drive train comes from Untertürkheim. And because fuel cell technology - thanks to diesel hysteria - is now seen as a real alternative, the technology has been designed in such a way that the drive of the GLC does not have to be soldered together in a special production process. No, the modular technology of fuel cell technology was planned in such a way that it fits the modular architecture of the MRA platform at Mercedes-Benz (rear-axle drive). The GLC could also have been a C-Class, an E-Class or an S-Class. Only the SUV character allows a possibly greater acceptance for the start. In detail, only the question of all-wheel drive disturbs. Because in the current construction this is not possible.

The technology is awesome

The fuel cell stack is housed in the same place where the engine is otherwise installed lengthways. The hydrogen tanks, which hold up to 4,4 kilograms, are solidly packaged in the underbody and, on the one hand, use the space in the tunnel that is freed up by the missing cardan shaft and the missing gearbox - and the exhaust is also eliminated. On the other hand, a tank sits under the rear seat and shares the space there with the plug-in drive, which can now be described as classic. The battery of the EQ F-Cell GLC contains 13.6 kWh gross, 9.3 kWh of which can be used effectively. In the WLTP cycle, a realistic range of up to 50 kilometers should be possible, purely by socket charging.

The fuel cell under the front hood converts hydrogen into hydrogen in a chemical process at the push of a button or stopped by the control logic. What is left of it, unlike all other drive technologies, is a little water vapor.

In the EQ GLC F-Cell, the battery and fuel cell together provide up to 147 kW, i.e. 200 PS. Due to the structure, the power is converted into propulsion only on the rear axle. And thanks to the torque from a standing start, it is quite impressive. Although you have to accept restrictions. Maximum speed 160 is announced and an SUV with rear-wheel drive could cause amused faces in winter.

Hydrogen becomes a diesel replacement

So far, Mercedes-Benz has manufactured around 200 fuel cell drives by hand on a test production line in Nabern, a location of the Untertürkheim plant. Made in Germany and based on the AMG manufactory character, one-man-one-engine. That is certainly not the future, because even without valuable manual work, the technology is simply incredibly expensive in the first step. But the penny seems to have fallen at Mercedes-Benz. What hydrogen lobbyists have been shouting about for decades and physicists call the most sensible solution could solve two problems of the future with one technique.

The fuel cell offers the possibility of quick refueling, so you take away the fear of range. 1 kilograms of hydrogen currently represent around 100 kilometers. The refueling process is child's play and is done quickly. The large plug-in hybrid battery joins as a partner for extensive recuperation success on long-haul and for short-haul operation. Will the fuel cell replace the diesel engine?

The - unnecessarily and nonsensically - disreputable diesel engine is currently difficult to communicate and increasingly difficult to sell. At the same time, the question must be allowed: how big can a battery be, how heavy, how complex, how expensive to manufacture to take away the fear of range and bring the purely electric car forward? And, of course, it would be a manageable task for Mercedes-Benz to take over the production line, which was previously set up as an experiment, in series production. In general, suddenly you see an unimagined energy at Mercedes to drive the changes forward. Who says that an engine manufacturer always has to screw four, six, or eight pistons into cylinder blocks? There could also be almost 500 membrane cells in an aluminum housing.

We don't have electricity for everyone and at all

A popular argument from people who are afraid of change: the question of “Where should all the electricity come from?”. And with hydrogen, e-cars (battery-electric) like to scream for well-2-wheel efficiency. And somehow all sides are a little right, right?

2016 were more than 50 TWh electricity exported from Germany to other EU countries, 3.7 cents per kWh were paid for by foreign buyers. (What do you pay for the kWh?). If this surplus of electricity, which came largely from the difficult to control sources of renewable energy, had been converted into hydrogen, you would have had enough hydrogen to run 7 million fuel cell vehicles with it for one year! Ask? Here, too, you would kill two birds with one swatter, you would store electricity from solar and wind energy and then call it up when you needed it and you would be CO2-neutral. Despite the poorer efficiency of the fuel cell compared to the battery, there are further advantages. Quite apart from the question of battery production and its raw materials.

So it goes on now

Will everyone freak out? How back then? Probably not - because the new technology is expensive and Mercedes-Benz will initially only be able to bring a small series of fuel cell SUVs onto the road. None of the vehicles can be bought, they are all rented out. Nothing is known about the prices yet. But it is now foreseeable that Mercedes-Benz wants to make fuel cell technology a core competence in-house. And since the fuel cell stack has a modular structure, 100 kW output is only an intermediate step. 200 kW? 6 kg of storage for a range of 600 kilometers and all in the upcoming S-Class? Yes, why not? And another tip for the skeptics at the end: Germany is not the navel of the world. If you want to know what the future looks like, you should take a look at China, California or Norway ...