Mercedes-Benz will launch 200  series produced B-Class F-Cell eletric car with a fuel cell  this Spring in Europe and US. The B-Class F-Cell has a range of about 400 kilometers or 248 miles, said Mercedes-Benz. That means it can travel twice as far as the Mercedes-Benz A-Class F-Cell.

“[The B-Class F-Cell] is some 40 percent smaller than the system in the A-Class F-Cell from 2004, but develops 30 percent more power while consuming 30 percent less fuel,” Daimler  said in a statement. The B-Class F-Cell bundles a compact fuel cell stack, a lithium-ion battery, three 700-bar tanks for the hydrogen and lightweight 136-horsepower drive motor at the front axle.

The B-Class also “boasts outstanding cold-start capability down to minus 25 degrees Celsius,” said the automaker. “The system features a new humidification system consisting of hollow fibers that ensures, unlike with the first-generation fuel cell, that water no longer freezes in the stack, a characteristic that used to impair cold-start capability,” Mercedes-Benz said. It noted that, even at low temperatures, the B-Class F-Cell “starts just as quickly as the very latest diesel engine.”

The design of the B-Class F-Cell includes what Mercedes-Benz calls a “sandwich floor,” which means key components for the electric drive with fuel cells are in the vehicle underbody. This helps to conserve space in the cabin. “In the event of a crash, safety valves close the hydrogen supply lines to the fuel cell and decouple the tanks from the other system components,” it said. “Even after a serious accident, the hydrogen poses no risk whatsoever.”