The F-Cell Roadster on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route

The F-CELL Roadster, a fuel cell powered car, recently covered a small section of the Bertha Benz memorial route, the first long-distance journey in automobile history in August, 1888. Over the past weekend, the F-CELL Roadster started its journey from Mannheim, via Ladenburg and Heidelberg.

The town’s pharmacy in Wiesloch or the world’s first filling station as locals call it, where  Bertha Benz stopped to refuel, was also the place where the F-CELL Roadster ended its first official journey. If you wonder what could Bertha Benz buy from a pharmacy to keep the Patent Motor Wagon going, let us tell you that the vehicle was running on “Ligroin”, as petrol was called then, and it could be purchased from chemist's shops those days.

The F-CELL Roadster has a similarity with the Benz Patent Motor Wagon, being equipped with large, spoked wheels. Other styling elements are from cars launched in the past in various historical times. It uses a drive-by-wire technology and has a joystick to replace the steering-wheel. As for the operating range, it can travel for a maximum of 350 km, with a top speed of 25 km/h, while keeping emissions and fuel consumption down to zero.

"This trip by the F-CELL Roadster is symbolic of the current change taking place in automobile engineering", said Dr. Thomas Weber, member of the Daimler AG Executive Board.

"At that time Bertha Benz was not yet able to purchase the petrol she needed at a filling station, and for emission-free mobility we are also dependent on the widespread distribution of fuels for the future – electric power and hydrogen. But just as Bertha Benz refused to be discouraged by inconveniences in her day, we are just as determined to help ensure that these technologies achieve their breakthrough."

According to Daimler representatives, before the end of this year, they will start the small-series production of the B-Class with a fuel cell drive system, and by the end of 2009, the smart fortwo electric drive model will also leave the production line to enter service in the "e-mobility Berlin" project at the beginning of 2010.