Taking Delivery: for a car of tomorrow, it's not all that different from today

So how does one take delivery of a car of tomorrow? Does a big futuristic rig show up at your home or office and unload a car to much pomp and pageantry as you're given an owner's manual that's all uploaded into some tablet device that also integrates into the car's on-board system?  Do the engineers sync your mental telepathy waves that allow you to unlock the doors merely by thinking about it?  Well, not exactly...

You get a call from an authorized Mercedes Benz dealer, in my case, it's Fletcher Jones down in Newport Beach, the largest Mercedes Benz center in the United States.  They get you financed, not by taking a sample of my hair and analyzing the credit score in my DNA, but having me fill out an old fashioned form and faxing it back.  And when the car finally arrived, I drove down to their big palatial showroom that makes those giant Mormon temples look like a FEMA trailer.  And once there, I didn't have a retinal scan to confirm my identity, but was greeted by some pleasant human beings who introduced me to the car and how to operate it.  Pretty standard procedure at this point.

The only real difference in the delivery of the Mercedes F-Cell was instruction on how to refuel the car.  Now if you asked a dealer how to refill a normal gas powered car, they'd probably give you a ride home in a County Services van wearing a tight white jacket.  But with a fuel cell car, things are a bit unique and special instruction on the refueling process isn't just a good idea, it's required by the lawyers at Mercedes Benz.

More on the actual refueling process in a future blog, but I guess the whole point of this hydrogen fuel cell car in many ways is that this technology is going to be sustainable and 'live-able' for the average driver because, quite frankly, it's absolutely no different than the cars we drive today.  We chug along inside these sleek designs made from metal and plastic and glass.  We schlep ourselves, our families and friends around from place to place and we do this while listening to music and talking on phones and getting there using in-dash navigation systems.  And on occasion, when our car runs out of energy, just like shoving hay to horses before it, we refuel our cars with energy.  A few minutes of standing around, maybe getting a beverage and a beef jerky stick at the quick mart, and we're on our merry way again.  And such is life, in most part, with the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle as well.