Hydrogen-powered Riversimple Urban Car unveiled, makes your hybrid green with envy

Smug about your 65 mpg Prius potential? Don't be. A little car from up-start Riversimple looks set to deliver the equivalent of 300 mpg, running on hydrogen and utilizing a network of small fuel cells to power four motors, one per wheel. The recently unveiled prototype manages 240 miles on just 2.2 lbs of hydrogen, has a top speed of 50 mph, seats two (reasonably) comfortably, and looks a little like a smiling, new-age Citroen 2CV -- but will hopefully be a more enjoyable to drive. That considerable range means that the relative lack of hydrogen distribution stations is less of a problem (until you can get one for your garage), and an estimated monthly lease price of just £200 (about $330) makes it potentially affordable. The only question now is availability of the cars themselves, and since nobody's talking about that you needn't worry about delaying that appointment with your local Toyota dealer.

[Via TG Daily]

[untitled @ Jun 16th 2009 7:56AM]

Well, at least it looks happy.

[darkmax @ Jun 16th 2009 9:08AM]

Happy because it just won the ugliest new car award, and happy because it is actually green, not just trying to be liek the electric and the hybrid.

[Dave @ Jun 16th 2009 9:12AM]

It looks like the bizarre union of a Mazda 3 and and old french car... a Citroen?

And by bizarre union... I mean Harold and Maude.

[Dave @ Jun 16th 2009 9:28AM]

@myself

Learn to read before posting.

[coolblue @ Jun 16th 2009 10:37AM]

@darkmax

Apart from the fact that it is not that green..... Harvesting hydrogen is very energy intensive and shipping this to fuel stations and then converting it back into electricity is very wasteful. It would be far better to simply send the electricity down the lines to charge a battery.

[Christian Ritchie @ Jun 16th 2009 10:51AM]

I wonder how many know who Harold and Maude are? That was a sweet Jag!

[macserv @ Jun 16th 2009 12:04PM]

@coolblue: Do the separation with solar energy, and with the new tech that makes electrolysis much easier. Green.

[Ernesttechuser @ Jun 16th 2009 12:50PM]

Actually wind turbines driving electric generators are the best option for producing the hydrogen.

The problem is, refuelling stations are all owned by oil companies, and they want to use oil / natural gas to produce the hydrogen :(

So anything other than small-scale hydrogen projects - like this company - are an absolute non-starter as far as I'm concerned.

[---- @ Jun 16th 2009 1:24PM]

that is the ugliest pile of scrap metal i have ever seen

[Dan Fruzzetti @ Jun 16th 2009 2:57PM]

But my Prius can carry my eight-month-old and her mother and I on the freeway...

[a ham sandwich @ Jun 16th 2009 7:59AM]

holy mother of god that thing is hideous.

[kjb434 @ Jun 16th 2009 8:39AM]

And it's a coffin like all other green cars.

[mirakutea @ Jun 16th 2009 9:18AM]

A competent team could produce something green that is as safe as a standard car.

[Idlemind @ Jun 16th 2009 9:31AM]

being a coffin is part of the whole renewable resources thing dontcha know? When you rear-end a semi because the brakes are better at recharging the battery than stopping the car; they will just bury the whole smoldering mess and you get to feed a tree...

[Xenoterranos @ Jun 16th 2009 11:03AM]

The designers where so disgusted with themselves they couldn't even bring themselves to paint it!

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Jun 16th 2009 11:13AM]

Looks like kjb went to the "buy a tank" school of crappy driving.

[Ernesttechuser @ Jun 16th 2009 12:51PM]

kjb,

you're a moron. it uses a carbon-fibre safety cell. it is anything but a 'coffin'.

[Col. Readily Apparent Upon Cursory Inspection @ Jun 16th 2009 2:44PM]

@Idlemind

I thought that if the regenerative braking was more aggressive that the car tends to brake faster. Am I wrong in thinking this?

[Fred @ Jun 16th 2009 8:00AM]

I don't understand why your let people think that a 2CV has not an enjoyable drive ?
It's a faboulous car (once you get used to the windscreen being 2 cm from the steering wheel) !

[chris @ Jun 16th 2009 8:01AM]

In a nice finish that's not matte... I like it better than the Smart Car....

[John @ Jun 16th 2009 8:03AM]

New Batmobile?

[Anonymoose @ Jun 16th 2009 8:50AM]

i can think of no manlier car than this to replace the tumbler. this makes that old thing look like an electric scooter in comparison

[SewerShark @ Jun 16th 2009 8:03AM]

Now, if they can make it look like a car, it would be AWESOME.

[videoCWK @ Jun 16th 2009 8:09AM]

I'd rather have an EV, since they come with home chargers indefinitely and it costs way less to charge than it does to buy hydrogen.

[poke @ Jun 16th 2009 8:42AM]

How many mile do you get on a single charge? and how long does it take to fully charge as opposed to the couple of minute to fill this with hydrogen?

[Chasethebase @ Jun 16th 2009 11:16AM]

You'd be surprised, the hydrogen pumps are around the same price per litre as Petrol (As far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong). Also hydrogen is actually green rather than using electricity that's been produced by, wait for it, power stations.

[Brian! @ Jun 16th 2009 11:50AM]

You know, I don't have a single place anywhere near me that has hydrogen pumps. And I am sure not going in install a hydrogen pump at my home either - heh. Unfortunately, this type of fuel has such a hard road to ever become mainstream.

[TimmyRaa @ Jun 16th 2009 12:03PM]

@ Chasethebase

Hydrogen is green where electricity isn't, because it's produced by power stations? Please enlighten me on the process of creating the hydrogen in the first place. Please, look it up, and then take that smug knowitall look off your face.

[Tony C @ Jun 16th 2009 8:12AM]

Methinks the rub would be that one gallon (a kilo) of hydrogen costs a helluva lot more than a gallon of unleaded... Alas I would be wrong...

[Tarnation @ Jun 16th 2009 8:12AM]

Why aren't there more Hydrogen cars? Clearly they are superior to EVs. GM was pushing the whole we have a hydrogen fleet thing awhile back and I think Chrysler had theirs too, but I hadn't heard anything more about it until now.

[TimmyRaa @ Jun 16th 2009 8:31AM]

The hydrogen is just an energy medium - you need electricity to make the hydrogen in the first place (currently), and the efficiency of that process means it's better to just bypass that step and stick the energy in electrically stored form directly on the vehicle (batteries).

The reason hydrogen appears appealing at the moment is down to the poor capacity of batteries, in comparison to a kilo of hydrogen, but the overall process makes it less efficient down the entire chain. If we figure a way of making hydrogen efficiently and/or without the use of traditional fossil-fuelled power stations, or if battery capacity significantly improves, then one or the other will start to take a lead.

[Mel @ Jun 16th 2009 11:36AM]

Google hydrogen car, read up in Wikipedia and so on...there are so many if's and whens and targets and required breakthroughs it makes you dizzy. But if it all works out, good for the oil companies. They can keep pushing (probably liquid) fuel on us and won't go out of business like they would in a world driven by battery electric vehicles where you don't need them anymore.

[letstakeawalk @ Jun 16th 2009 12:24PM]

There are breakthroughs in hydrogen production occurring all the time:

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2007a/070515WoodallHydrogen.html

Hydrogen fuel cells are very good in situations where there is little infrastructure of any kind; deserts, underwater, outer space... Those who are working toward fuel cells are working on the next generation of power BEYOND current hybrid and EV vehicles.

[Shawn @ Jun 16th 2009 8:13AM]

Looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.

[Dax @ Jun 16th 2009 8:14AM]

"Obama Motors"

[Snowdog @ Jun 16th 2009 8:18AM]

Hardly the Obama administration recently cut funding to the Hydrogen boondoggle.

[Ernesttechuser @ Jun 16th 2009 12:56PM]

That and it's an entirely UK-based project ...

[nighttime__ @ Jun 16th 2009 8:14AM]

VATICAN SECRETS REVEALED! : Pope mobile runs on ball sweat.

[Swade @ Jun 16th 2009 8:18AM]

Anyone else think it looks like Darkwing Duck's airplane the Thunderquack?

[Dave @ Jun 16th 2009 9:09AM]

I have no idea 'cause my memory sucks and I'm too lazy to google, but I still like the thought.

[Xenoterranos @ Jun 16th 2009 11:06AM]

Holy Crap! I knew I'd seen it before! You sir have mad memory skills.

[Jon Acheson @ Jun 16th 2009 12:07PM]

I'm thinking it looks a little more Goofy.

[superhobo @ Jun 16th 2009 8:25AM]

Those tires....THOSE TIRES!!!


Anyway, one motor per wheel? Not a good idea.

[Steven @ Jun 16th 2009 8:37AM]

It might be a good idea. Efficiency of 1 larger engine is higher than 4 small ones, but think about the mechanical losses in the former; a four-wheel drive needs 3(!) differentials!
Synchronization is another thing, and I don't want to dream of what will happen if one of the engines hickups...

[superhobo @ Jun 16th 2009 8:56AM]

Exactly. Synchronization will be difficult in this.

[TimmyRaa @ Jun 16th 2009 9:02AM]

I think synchronisation will be quite capably provided by the road surface.

Do you have images of one motor/wheel going slow, and another one spinning out? If you put identical amounts of power into two identical motors, they'll spin at pretty much exactly the same speed.

[superhobo @ Jun 16th 2009 9:05AM]

As long as the motors are fine, it's fine. Some motors tend to lock up when they burn out, that would suck.

[Dave @ Jun 16th 2009 9:15AM]

"Some motors tend to lock up when they burn out, that would suck"

That's what we like to call a 'failure indicator'. How else would you know it's burnt out?

[superhobo @ Jun 16th 2009 10:12AM]

What if it that happens when you're driving at a considerably high speed?

[burzum @ Jun 16th 2009 10:28AM]

Superhobo: There is no high speed. It's top speed is 50mph with a 90lb driver, going down hill with a brisk tailwind.