Generally it’s a bad idea to drink fluids that come out of your car, even if they look delicious. Mercedes wants to change all of that, though. In its new video “Death Defying Valley”, the German automaker forces Hollywood “stars” Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson to drink water straight from the tailpipe of its cars.
As it turns out though, Mercedes wasn’t trying to kill them in pursuit of reality TV gold; this Mercedes B-Class F-Cell is powered by hydrogen. Water is the only byproduct of the chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell, which should be no surprise to anyone who stayed awake through high school chemistry. It also means that hydrogen cars produce no pollution.
The fuel cells in this B-Class turn this humdrum Mercedes into a technical marvel. The compressed hydrogen tanks provide a range of 250 miles. And the Germans claim that the test fleet of 70 vehicles operating in the United States has already saved nearly 30,000 gallons of gasoline and 300 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. In fact, we drove one last year.
What better way to show off this amazing car and its technology than to send actors across Death Valley with only the water produced by their car to survive on? Lots of ways probably. But still, sending the stars of cinema classics like The Mighty Ducks and Troy wins points for imagination.
