This report summarizes the work conducted under U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under contract DE-FC36-04GO14285 by Mercedes-Benz & Research Development, North America (MBRDNA), Chrysler, Daimler, Mercedes Benz USA (MBUSA), BP, DTE Energy and NextEnergy to validate fuel cell technologies for infrastructure, transportation as well as assess technology and commercial readiness for the market. The Mercedes Team, together with its partners, tested the technology by operating and fueling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles under real world conditions in varying climate, terrain and driving conditions. Vehicle and infrastructure data was collected to monitor the progress toward the hydrogen vehicle and infrastructure performance targets of $2.00 to 3.00/gge hydrogen production cost and 2,000-hour fuel cell durability. Finally, to prepare the public for a hydrogen economy, outreach activities were designed to promote awareness and acceptance of hydrogen technology. DTE, BP and NextEnergy established hydrogen filling stations using multiple technologies for on-site hydrogen generation, storage and dispensing. DTE established a hydrogen station in Southfield, Michigan while NextEnergy and BP worked together to construct one hydrogen station in Detroit. BP constructed another fueling station in Burbank, California and provided a full-time hydrogen trailer at San Francisco, California and a hydrogen station located at Los Angeles International Airport in Southern, California. Stations were operated between 2005 and 2011. The Team deployed 30 Gen I Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs) in the beginning of the project. While 28 Gen I F-CELLs used the A-Class platform, the remaining 2 were Sprinter delivery vans. Fuel cell vehicles were operated by external customers for real-world operations in various regions (ecosystems) to capture various driving patterns and climate conditions (hot, moderate and cold). External operators consisted of F-CELL partner organizations in California and Michigan ranging from governmental organizations, for-profit to and non-profit entities. All vehicles were equipped with a data acquisition system that automatically collected statistically relevant data for submission to National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which monitored the progress of the fuel cell vehicles against the DOE technology validation milestones. The Mercedes Team also provided data from Gen-II vehicles under the similar operations as Gen I vehicles to compare technology maturity during program duration.
