A multi-million pound investment to create a unique, ultra low carbon, hydrogen-fuelled car is being undertaken in Wales with Welsh Government support – and on track to be driving this summer.
Riversimple Engineering – the green team behind the project – is building its production prototype in Llandrindod Wells where it has opened its new R&D headquarters.
The £3.5m investment is backed by £2million research, development and innovation funding from the Welsh Government and Economy Minister Edwina Hart described it as an exciting project with great potential to deliver long term economic benefits to Wales.
If the vehicle design achieves certification and goes into volume production, manufacturing will in all probability be based in Wales, with the potential to create an additional 220 jobs assembling around 5000 cars annually. Locating the work in Wales is a condition of the funding unless it presents a commercial barrier.
The company is currently creating new highly skilled, well paid engineering jobs at its new R&D centre in Llandrindod Wells and has transferred ten jobs from its Ludlow office.
Riversimple’s overriding goal is mobility at zero cost to the planet and all their work is systematically focussed on that ultimate goal; The company is driven by the maxim that ‘Less unsustainable is still not sustainable’ and they aim to achieve this by minimising material usage, maximising service life and optimising energy usage, both in service and during manufacture.
The two seater local network electric car under development – and still under wraps – has a strong, light weight carbon fibre monocoque normally reserved for racing cars and high-end supercars.
Hugo Spowers, Technical Director and founder of Riversimple said the car will be nippy, fuel efficient, stylish and distinctive.
It is being designed by Chris Reitz, one of Europe’s most respected car designers with a track record having been design director at Fiat and Alfa Romeo.
It is powered by hydrogen fuel cells, with a regenerative braking system to recapture energy that will be stored in a bank of super-capacitors to provide most of the power for acceleration.
Theaim is for groundbreaking energy efficiency equivalent of around 240 mpg with a range of 300 miles, 0-50mph in 8 secs and a top speed of around 55-60 mph.
The Minister said:” This is exactly the type of advanced R&D technology investment we want to attract. I am delighted Wales is hosting this next stage of development, which is already creating highly skilled jobs with the potential for many more.
“We have a strong and diverse automotive component manufacturing sector in Wales where the development of low carbon vehicles is high on the agenda and Riversimple’s investment will add to the distinctive cluster of hydrogen energy activities in Wales.”
Riversimple also has a new business model and will retain lifetime ownership of the cars that will be leased and reused over a period of 15-20 years. Customers will pay a single monthly fee that covers everything – the car, the maintenance, the insurance and the fuel, removing the high cost of ownership.
Hugo Spowers said this approach changes the traditional automotive financial drivers, with a direct incentive to maximise the lifetime of the car and the recovery of materials at the end of the vehicle life, and minimise the fuel consumption and other running costs.
Riversimple has already built a technology demonstrator vehicle which achieved the equivalent of 300mpg and emitted nothing more than a cupful of water in a normal day’s use.
The next stage now underway in Wales is a Mk2 version that integrates the system into a prototype car designed for full type approval.
The production prototype will be a general working model to demonstrate the design and technical advances, when further design refinements will be incorporated for volume production.
Mr Spowers said Welsh Government support was absolutely critical to get to this stage, “We would not have been able to do it without this support as funding is very hard to find to bring something genuinely new to market.
“We are making a real step change in how cars are built, their environmental performance and the ownership model. This is a completely different vehicle platform compared to anything that has been developed over the last 100 years; nothing like it is being developed anywhere else in the world.”
Next year the company hopes to build twenty cars for a twelve month public trial, with future plans for volume production – at a location yet to be decided – that could create 220 jobs assembling 5000 cars a year.
Economy Minister Edwina Hart set up an expert steering group in 2014 under the chairman of the Welsh Automotive Forum Prof. Garel Rhys, to provide advice and recommendations on how to develop the Low Carbon Vehicle (LCV) sector in Wales to maximise opportunities for growth and jobs.
In a keynote speech to the Low Carbon Vehicle (LCV) conference in Cardiff last March Mrs Hart said she wants to create a Welsh model for the industry, that will benefit both the automotive sector and the environment
They are looking at three key benefits that the development of LCVs could bring to Wales – supporting the manufacturing industry, helping to increase energy security by diversification and reducing environmental pollution. Chris Reitz is a relative of Wolfgang Porsche and started his career in Volkswagen before moving to Audi, Nissan and onto Fiat Group where he worked on Fiat and Alfa Romeo models, most notably the Fiat 500.