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Mercedes B-Klasse F-Cell Damaged in Kazakhstan While on World Tour

Mercedes B-Klasse F-CellMercedes B-Klasse F-CellMercedes B-Klasse F-Cell
Three brand-new Mercedes-Benz B-Klasse F-Cell models set off on January 30th, 2011, from Germany on a journey that would take them around the world. During the 125 estimated days that the trip would take, the trio would cover 30,000 kilometers (about 18,700 miles) in order to prove that the technology that underpins them is reliable enough for the world’s first fuel cell car to go into mass production.

For the “Number 3” car it all turned bad in Kazakhstan after it was involved in an accident on Wednesday, May 11th. No one was actually hurt in the incident and the damage is not that severe to turn the car into a write-off, but the B-Klasse F-Cell can't complete the trip as is and local repairs seem unlikely. The German carmaker has added that it is trying to decide whether to fix the car at the next scheduled stop or to replace it with the spare one they have at their disposal.

Based on the regular B-Klasse hatch, the F-Cell uses a new generation fuel cell system, in which gaseous hydrogen reacts with atmospheric oxygen at 700 bar to generate a current for the electric motor, with water being the only by-product.

As in conventional gas-electric hybrids, the fuel-cell car makes use of a lithium-ion battery with an output of 35 kW and a capacity of 1.4 kWh to boost power and recover braking energy.

The vehicle's electric motor produces about 100 kW or 136 horsepower and a maximum torque of 290 Nm or 214 lb-ft, allowing the Merc to reach a top speed of 170km/h (105 mph).

We were not able to confirm if Borat had anything to do with the accident...
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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