The start-up Riversimple is teaming up with Siemens, the German industrial giant, to get zero-pollution cars on British roads.
A British start-up building hydrogen-powered cars has won backing from Siemens, which will help mass-produce the vehicles. Riversimple, based in Wales, has joined forces with the German industrial giant to collaborate on product design, supply chain management and industrialisation as well as helping secure financial backing for the “Rasa” cars, reports The Telegraph.
Powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, the Rasa - “clean slate” in Latin - is pollution-free. The two-seat cars, which have a top speed of 60mph and a 300 mile range, will be leased rather than sold to drivers. Riversimple estimates the total cost of ownership - including fuel, insurance and tax - will be about £500 a month to drive about 10,000 miles a year. That is about the same total cost of running a VW Golf, according to founder Hugo Spowers.
Rasas are expected to have a 20-year life and then be recycled, with many of the components going into new models, promoting environmental sustainability.
Brian Holliday of Siemens said the company was delighted to work with Riversimple and support firms producing "boundary-breaking products”.
Although they have a range comparable to conventional cars, the Rasa is intended for “local use”, hence their low top speed. It also eliminates concerns about the lack of hydrogen fuel stations, as customers are likely to be those who live near one.
As hydrogen becomes more popular as a fuel source, Mr Spowers said industry - rather than government - would build more hydrogen fuel stations to meet demand.
The marine industry is one of the dirty secrets of climate change as marine transport emits 940 million tonnes of CO2 annually and is responsible for 2.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to the dirty fossil fuel burned for propulsion. "If international shipping was a country, it would be the fifth or sixth highest in the world [for greenhouse gases], between Germany and Japan," says Simon Bullock, a researcher at the University of Manchester's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. More...