Ford, Nissan and Mercedes in hydrogen fuel-cell collaboration The three-way agreement is expected to result in the launch of the "world's first affordable, mass-market fuel-cell electric vehicles" by 2017, as well as signalling to others in the industry that the time has come to invest more heavily in the development of hydrogen infrastructure. The companies will share the investment costs of a common fuel-cell electric vehicle system equally, with the aim of maximising economies of scale. The work will take place across three continents and the fuel-cell stack and system that results will be used by each company in the launch of what are described as "highly differentiated, separately branded FCEVs, which produce no CO2 emissions while driving." "We are convinced that fuel-cell vehicles will play a central role for zero-emission mobility in the future," said Thomas Weber, head of research and development and Mercedes-Benz. Thanks to the high commitment of all three partners we can put fuel-cell e-mobility on a broader basis. This means with this cooperation we will make this technology available for many customers around the globe, . Raj Nair, group vice president and head of global product development at Ford, added: "We will all benefit from this relationship as the resulting solution will be better than any one company working alone." Four days ago Toyota and BMW announced that they too would be collaborating on a fuell-cell system, as well as lithium-ion batteries and a feasibility study into a joint platform for a new mid-size sports car.