Today Riversimple have given the world a teaser picture of their first hydrogen powered car which will be unveiled at the rather precise time of 00:01 Wednesday the 17th of Feb.
Who are Riversimple?
They are an automotive company based in the UK and their mission is to provide "mobility at zero cost to the planet". After reading their wesbite it is clear they are very serious and passionate about this. They also say their purpose is “To pursue, systematically, the elimination of the environmental impact of personal transport”. The company is made up 25 members of staff from varying backgrounds and they work between their design studio in Barcelona and the R&D centre in the UK.
The Car
The car in question will be called the Mark II Alpha and will weigh just 520kg. It will be a two seater car sitting on a carbon fibre monocoque chassis which weighs less than 40kg which is around half of what I weigh and I'm not exactly a heavyweight! It will have 4 electric motors, one in each wheel which will recover over 50% of kinetic energy when braking. This also means that the car will be 4 wheel drive. This car comes after 15 years in the making and was designed by Chris Reitz, the man behind designing the Fiat 500. Riversimple say that the Mark II Alpha will manage 250mpg and it will only emit water.
Could this be one of the most important prototypes in years to come? Quite possibly.
More details can be found at www.riversimple.com .