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A ground-breaking hydrogen-powered city car, which has been designed in Britain and financed by the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, is to be unveiled next week.

Autocar can reveal that the Riversimple Urban Car will have a far smaller fuel cell than in current industry prototypes and thus needs less hydrogen to be stored on board and in fuelling stations.

The vehicle is no bigger than a Smart car, weighing just 350kg, and has been developed over three years by teams at Oxford and Cr...Read the full article

Seems like a great piece of engineering development, although atthe moment its relevance is limited. I do also worry that too much emphasis is placed on 'City Cars' when there is actually a very small market for them, with most users actually needing to venture onto the open roads on a regular basis.

Looks interesting . The basic design could surely be adapted to suit different power sources - eg compressed air , or electricity drawn from a supply beneath the road surface ( like recharging an electric toothbrush) or even plug-in electric. I fear hydrogen infrastructure is a lifetime away.

Uncle Mellow:

or electricity drawn from a supply beneath the road surface

I've often wondered about this sort of technology. I'm not a technical sort of person, but why hasn't (or is it "can't" ?) this been done before. I've read elsewhere that this sort of technology is likely to be used for all sorts of other items, like laptops and mobile phones, so it should be harmless under the road.

Uncle Mellow:

I fear hydrogen infrastructure is a lifetime away.

I thought it was cheaper and easier to have a local hydrogen producing machine installed at say petrol stations etc than to try and install a "national-grid" type system, it only needs a supply of water and electricity to produce apparantly.

There's loads of good alternatives to oil cars that could be built, but the oil companies won't allow the development as it'll ruin their sales...

The world is run by oil companies, the wars, what they tell you on TV etc. It's all about money...

Forget the rest of it - 350kg sounds an incredible achievement. My Caterham 7 weighs in at 500kgs, and that's with zero luxury frills and pretty rotten crash and weather protection.

 This all sounds very well but I'm afraid to get in and out of the vast majority of British cities some of the trip is on the motorway...a car that can only reach 50mph is simply not suited to the varied usage a car is put to. I would accept that during the rush hour reaching 50 would be a dream but I use my small hatchback for a range of trips outwith weekday commuting and the ability to hit 70 (in a reasonable time) is required - travelling at 50 on a motorway you simply become a mobile roadblock and have other cars welded to your backside...Doubtless these "researchers" will say that drivers would keep a second car for non-commuting use but surely this undermines its proposed environmental friendliness if I have to buy a second car (should I be able to afford to). An eco car is not a "car" unless it can fulfil the majority of uses that a current car can - this should be the starting point for the development of any such vehicle - not developing a vehicle that does not meet such basic requirements as being able to attain the motorway speed limit prevailing in most countries

I agree with the criticism up to a point; however I also think it's a great idea. I believe there needs to be a huge shift in the way we use personal transportation. This looks like a large step forward. Perhaps too large for some to get their heads around; hence the inevitable criticism.

A revolution is needed and this could be the first major step on the way.

I think there are some good aspects in here, but many draw backs; as I have commented before the hydrogen thing is not going to happen; the infrastruct is way too costly and hardly anyone will buy the cars; thus you will not make any money off selling the fuel (accouting for installation costs and costs of usage).  The new engines that are coming out are getting more efficient, they will be hyper efficient in the next generation and everyone has electricity! thus electricity will win; there is no question of that.

Petrol infrastruct was set up when there was only petrol, some people did not even have connection to the electricity grid all those years ago; but now is a different world and not only do you have to install all the infrastructure and pay for it you need to sell the hydrogen concept to the public, you then need to show it is easier than electric (which it is not) and you also need to refine the production of hydrogen sufficient that th energy cost is in favour of the cars usage; ask yourself, if you could just plug your car in and in 10 mintues (in a couple of years) or 5 minutes (in a couple more) or 2 minutes (in a couple more) drive off (electricity) or have to pull up and click in your hydrogen and fill up with a gas next to a big gas tank etc; people will pick electric; hydrogen is a non-starter.

I have not ever been convinced by Oxford or Cranfield; this is ill thought through work (some good bits) but overall totally bogus; Porsche or not.

I was referring to the open source design idea, lease over 20 years with the manufacturer taking responsibility for recovering and recycling the vehicle at the end of its life. It represents a change in thinking.

It doesn't matter if it's powered by hydrogen, electricity or orange peels for that matter.

Fred Dagg:

I was referring to the open source design idea, lease over 20 years with the manufacturer taking responsibility for recovering and recycling the vehicle at the end of its life. It represents a change in thinking.

 

It also suggests the design is not financially viable at a realistic price as the original manufacturers arent keeping it for themselves!