Daimler, Ford & Nissan Hydrogen Alliance

Daimler (Mercedes), Ford and Nissan-Renault have formed an alliance to co-develop hydrogen fuel cell technology for a range of new cars.

Yesterday, we reported that Mercedes has postponed the launch of their hydrogen fuel cell B Class until 2017 and is in talks with Nissan and Ford to co-develop hydrogen fuel cell technology. Those talks have now turned in to an alliance between three of the world’s biggest car makers.

The aim of the unusual alliance between the three car makers is to jointly develop a common fuel cell electric vehicle system that can be used in clearly differentiated models from the individual car makers and do so in a more cost-effective way thanks to the economies of scale the co-operation between the three offers.

It seems car makers have learnt lessons from the costly implementation of production Battery electric cars, and want to make sure that the hydrogen car rollout is more successful – and more profitable – than that of battery EVs has been,

Nissan’s Mitsuhiko Yamashita said:

Fuel cell electric vehicles are the obvious next step to complement today’s battery electric vehicles as our industry embraces more sustainable transportation.

We look forward to a future where we can answer many customer needs by adding FCEVs on top of battery EVs within the zero-emission lineup.

Prof. Thomas Weber from Daimler said:

We are convinced that fuel cell vehicles will play a central role for zero-emission mobility in the future. Thanks to the high commitment of all three partners we can put fuel cell e-mobility on a broader basis. This means with this cooperation we will make this technology available for many customers around the globe.

And the man from Ford, Raj Nair, said:

Working together will significantly help speed this technology to market at a more affordable cost to our customers.

We will all benefit from this relationship as the resulting solution will be better than any one company working alone.

The three hope that the alliance will not only speed up the cost-effective rollout of FCEVs but will galvanise suppliers, policy-makers and the industry to develop the hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and supply chain.

Sounds like a proper joined-up plan.

By Cars UK