The hydrogen-powered Mercedes-Benz Concept Sprinter F-CELL campervan has been revealed boasting a 530km range.

CAR MAKERS ARE hedging their bets with battery-powered electric vehicles and hydrogen-powered machinery. But, while the infrastructure for the former is booming, the latter is struggling. Despite this, most car execs will tell you that hydrogen is the future and battery-electric vehicles merely a stop-gap.

To that end, Mercedes-Benz has showcased its latest hydrogen concept in the form of the Sprinter F-CELL. Showing off the concept yesterday, Mercedes-Benz said fuel cell technology will eventually make its way into its electric vehicles.

“Looking to the future, Mercedes-Benz will enhance the eDrive@VANs strategy with the fuel cell. The Concept Sprinter F-CELL uses the example of a semi-integrated motorhome to show the full breadth of the characteristic benefits of a fuel cell, from long range to zero-local-emissions mobility. These are characteristics that are also ideally suited to other use cases such as longer courier routes or minibuses in inter-urban operation,” The German car maker said in a statement.

The Sprinter F-CELL combines both battery and fuel cell technology as a plug-in hybrid. With the battery and fuel cell, total output is 147kW and 350Nm of torque. The three tanks in the substructure store a total of 4.5 kilograms of hydrogen and facilitate a range of around 300 kilometres. If a longer range is required, another tank at the rear of the vehicle can be added, lifting the range to as much as 530 kilometres.

The F-CELL is a reworking of the GLC F-CELL which sees a fuel cell stack sit under the bonnet in place of an internal combustion engine. The electric motor and transmission is rear-mounted.

Question: Hydrogen filling stations are as rare as hen’s teeth and M-B hasn’t said whether it’ll put the F-CELL tech into production. Do you think hydrogen-powered vehicles will catch on?