Today marks the much anticipated of the hydrogen powered Riversimple Rasa which will be on the market come 2018. This little two seater car will have a range of a whopping 300 miles on 1.5kg of hydrogen and will emit nothing but water. It will also be light, topping the scales at a featherweight 580kg and will have a top speed of 60mph.
How does it work?
Hydrogen will pass through the 8.5kw fuel cell where it will mix with oxygen to produce water and electricity which drives the four wheels. In addition to this, over 50% of the energy used whilst braking will be recovered and turned back into electricity to provide more acceleration. As mentioned before it can do 300 miles on 1.5kg of hydrogen which works out to be 250mpg. As a result you can expect a CO2/km emission of 40g. The car itself sits on a carbon composite chassis and has just 18 moving parts in the drivetrain.
Later this year Riversimple will conduct a 12 trial of 20 Rasa prototype cars as part of the continued development to make sure the car is completely ready when it enters the market in 2018. When it does enter the market though customers will not actually 'buy' it as such. Instead they pay a monthly fee and will have a mileage allowance applied, similar to a lease. The cost will cover all running costs though such as insurance, service/repair and even fuel. Once the owner has finished with the car they simply hand it back to Riversimple, simple.
