Fuel cell vehicles in Curtis ParkIf you have seen a strange looking Mercedes tooling about the neighborhood, you are not hallucinating. A few ARB employees, who live in Curtis Park, are fortunate enough to occasionally drive an F-Cell, a Mercedes A-Class that has been converted into fuel-cell electric vehicle, as well as a converted Ford Focus. These high-tech cars come to California from a U.S. Department of Energy demonstration program involving automotive manufacturers, energy providers and public and private fleets. In return, state employees help the automotive manufacturers demonstrate and improve the vehicles by using them in real-world applications like everyday work-related and personal driving and self-service refueling with compressed hydrogen gas. The cars also get a lot of exposure at schools and at events involving clean air, the environment and cars. One of the F-Cell drivers in Curtis Park is Catherine Dunwoody of 10th Avenue, executive director of the California Fuel Cell Partnership in West Sacramento. The CaFCP is a collaboration of 31 member companies including automobile manufacturers, energy providers, government agencies, fuel cell technology companies and transit authorities all dedicated to promoting the commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. If you are interested in test driving a number of different fuel cell vehicles, sign up for a public tour offered the last Friday of each month.
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