Powered by hydrogen, these Mercedes A-Class cars will emit no pollution and will be among the world's quietest vehicles.

The cars, not expected to be on the market until 2010, will be run here as part of a worldwide trial by German-American car giant DaimlerChrysler. It will custom build each car.

A fuel cell is a device that converts hydrogen and oxygen into water, producing electricity and heat. The car runs on the electricity, thus getting rid of the need for noisy, fuel-guzzling internal combustion engines.

The two-year trial will involve 60 such cars being tested in four countries - Germany, the United States, Japan and Singapore.

DaimlerChrsyler is also testing out its Smart Car here, which is 85 per cent recyclable.

The 600cc car, which is half the size of normal cars, is also one of the most efficient petrol-driven cars, as it can travel 16.7km on one litre of petrol. On average, a 1,300cc car can travel from eight to 11km on one litre.

In an interview with The Straits Times, Dr Udo Loersch, vice-president of external affairs for DaimlerChrysler South-east Asia, said that another big plus fuel cell cars have over normal cars is fuel efficiency.

A petrol-driven car uses only about 25 per cent of the fuel it takes in. A fuel cell car converts 37 per cent of the hydrogen pumped in.

Dr Loersch believes this could go up to 50 per cent with more research.

DaimlerChrsyler has been working with the Economic Development Board since 1998 to bring the cars here.

It has also tied up with fuel giant BP to set up two hydrogen refuelling stations before the cars are delivered here.

Each car can now travel for about 150km on a 'full tank', but the company is working on doubling the pressure so that the car can go twice the distance.

The global project will cost the company about a billion euros (S$2 billion).

In a separate two-year trial, it will roll out 3O Mercedes-Benz buses running on hydrogen in 10 European countries by the end of this year. These buses can travel 200km on one tank.

The first bus began running in Madrid on May 5.

Dr Loersch said DaimlerChrysler was open to the idea of running fuel cell buses here after the car trials.

Besides DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Ford and Honda are investing in this technology. -- Sharmilpal Kaur