iRuler
Premium Member
As expected, the feature concept car being shown by Mercedes-Benz at Frankfurt this year was the F 125! But Merc isn't actually calling it a concept, rather a "research vehicle" that will help the company work toward a gasoline-free future. In this case it's a hydrogen-filled future, with this car running on compressed gas and so giving off only water vapor and oxygen as emissions. But, it's also a plug-in, meaning you can charge this thing up on your garage in addition to topping off the tank at your local H2 filling station -- at some point in the future when you actually have an H2 filling station. Read on for more details.
Electricity is stored in a new 10kWh lithium-sulphur battery pack and the hydrogen gets pumped into carbon fiber tanks integrated into the bodyshell, combining to give a healthy 1,000km (621 mile) range. On the outside, the "trailblazing" exterior borrows a page from the classic Gullwing Mercedes cars of the past, but this is a much larger four-seater than the 'ol 300SL. It's also said to use 3D projectors for displaying of navigation and other driver information (not unlike Pioneer's Android-powered prototype) and the F 125! can even drive itself -- a requirement of any self-respecting car of the future.
Inside the swanky blue and cream interior lies an infotainment system that will sync with your media services in the cloud, letting you pick up on your favorite playlist right where you left off, everything controlled exclusively by your voice -- though a center console touchpad can be used if you prefer. The car will also push vehicle information to the cloud, so instead of wondering how much gas you've got left in the tanks you can just check on your phone.
Performance is expected to be quite good, making the run to 62MPH in 4.9 seconds and sprinting up to a more than adequate top speed of 137. Mercedes-Benz assures this is all quite possible and that we may see this very car in production -- but not for another 15 years or so. Yeah, patience never was our strong suit either.
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http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/16/mercedes-benz-f-125-looks-like-the-future-runs-on-hydrogen/