Mercedes-Benz will establish an international fuel cell stack production facility in British Columbia. The announcement was made today at an event attended by Premier Christy Clark, Mercedes-Benz officials from Germany and Canada, and fuel cell industry leaders.

The new facility, to be located in Burnaby, will cover the research and the development of production technology leading to large-scale manufacturing of one of the key components of fuel-cell powered electric vehicles.

Construction on the 2,000 square metre facility will begin immediately with a completion date in early 2012 with production of fuel cell stacks starting in 2013.

More information about Mercedes-Benz's announcement can be found on the company's website.

Quick Facts about British Columbia's Fuel Cell Cluster:

* British Columbia is home to the world's third-largest clean technology cluster.

* Dozens of fuel cell companies and research organizations are located in B.C. including the National Research Council Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation (NRC-IFCI), the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, the Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation, UBC's Clean Energy Research Centre, NuCellSys, Powertech Labs, and Westport Innovations.

* Around 70 per cent of the Canada's fuel cell sector is centred in Metro Vancouver.

* A 2008 bibliometric study by Science-Metrix ranked British Columbia's fuel cell sector as the best in the world for research output.

* British Columbia is home to the annual Hydrogen + Fuel Cells conference, a leading international event for the hydrogen and fuel cell industry. The 2011 event (HFC2011) will take place in Vancouver from May 15 -18.

Quick Facts about Fuel Cell Technology:

* A fuel cell operates in a manner similar to a battery, but does not need to be recharged as it converts the chemical energy of fuel (hydrogen, natural gas, methanol, gasoline, etc.) and an oxidant (air or oxygen) into electricity. A fuel cell stack is made up of many fuel cells combined together.

* Fuel Cell technology is a near-zero emission solution that offers viable options to combat rising energy demands, climate change, and the demand for cleaner and fuel-efficient vehicles.

* In comparison to petroleum powered internal combustion engine, battery or hybrid vehicles, fuel cell vehicles offer high efficiency, fast refuelling, a long range, a quite ride, zero tailpipe emissions, and independence from oil.