Daimler, Ford, Nissan to Partner on Fuel-Cell Vehicles

Daimler, Ford and Nissan have agreed to develop a common fuel-cell system in hopes of speeding the commercialization of electric vehicles that use the technology.

Each company has agreed to invest an unspecified equal amount in the project. Their aim is to introduce "affordable, mass-market" and highly differentiated hydrogen-powered vehicles as soon as 2017.

The companies hope to achieve combined initial output of at least 100,000 such vehicles per year.

The partners say that collaborating on a modular fuel-cell system will cut costs, accelerate development and encourage suppliers and governments to step up efforts to create a hydrogen refueling infrastructure.

All three companies have been working for years on fuel-cell technology, which generates electricity by chemically combining oxygen and hydrogen. The trio notes that its fuel-cell vehicles have already accumulated more than 10 million km (6.2 million miles) of test drives.

The partners expect to conduct engineering work at multiple locations worldwide. They say they also may collaborate to develop other fuel-cell system components.

The three-way partnership follows an announcement last week that BMW and Toyota will expand their collaboration to include fuel-cell system development. Those companies cited similar goals.