The Riversimple Urban car was unveiled today at Somerset House in London, is a new hydrogen-powered vehicle
Posted on 06/16/2009 8:29:37 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Plans to follow the initiative spearheaded in California by the Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former actor and now state Governor, were disclosed during the unveiling of Britain's first hydrogen-powered car.
The filling stations will be put in place by BOC, which is working with Riversimple, the company behind the car which will have a range of more than 200 miles on a tank of hydrogen.
The Riversimple Urban car was unveiled today at Somerset House in London, is a new hydrogen-powered vehicle
Backers for the project include a member of the Porsche dynasty, Sebastian Piech.
Britain's only hydrogen facility for cars is understood to be at Birmingham University. There are others in Cologne, Hamburg and Amsterdam.
BOC and Riversimple are looking for a city to act as guinea pig for the experiment. Oxford is understood to be one of a number of candidates.
The Riversimple vehicle, which is about the same size as a Smart car, is not the first hydrogen vehicle.
Honda has already launched the FCX Clarity, a larger saloon car. Nine have already been leased in California and Japan and there are expected to be 300 in circulation within three years. One is being brought to Britain later this year.
While using similar technology, the Riversimple vehicle is much smaller and relies on a 30-litre tank.
Riversimple expects to have 10 cars running by next year and that vehicle will be commercially available from 2012. Aimed at the urban market, it would cost £200 a month to lease along with 15 pence a mile to cover fuel and engine maintenance.
The company also hopes to stimulate interest in the technology by making readily available to other companies, rather than seeking an exclusive patent.
It believes that this would enable environmentally-friendly hydrogen cars to
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
How is the hyrdrogen generated? An electric powerplant that uses more energy to crate the hydrogen?
Still the Porsche?piech clan are pretty smart though the Porsche board screwed up on the VW takeover attempt.. They went deep into debt even after kicking the hedge fund shorts arses.
Hydrogen highway? Whats the big deal about that? Any US highway with fast food restaurants alongside them are already Methane highways.
Big question: Where is the hydrogen going to come from? Where is the energy source to free the hydrogen from all those molecules it’s now bound up in so that it’s available to put in cars?
Why is it illegal for an airship to use hydrogen, but its ok for a car speeding down a highway to use it?
The explosive collisions should be spectacular...!
Unlike us and despite all their hue and cry to the contrary, Britain is building more nuclear plants.
Interesting theft deterrence idea they have. Just make a really ugly car.
exDemMom: “Big question: Where is the hydrogen going to come from? Where is the energy source to free the hydrogen from all those molecules it’s now bound up in so that it’s available to put in cars?”
Aw! Don’t start with all that scientifical stuff.
Because they’ve got the containment issues resolved - the hydrogen is stored in a nice safe fuel cell (like a race car), unlike an airship where it is contained in fragile bladders.
Also, people aren’t dumb enough to paint their cars with thermite, an incendiary/explosive.
Except it wasn’t the hydrogen at fault, it was the fact that the damn thing was painted with EXPLOSIVES.
Great concept— an explosive deathtrap for a vehicle. Islamo-fascists can use them as suicide bombs....
I would feel much safer in a Helium-powered car. Didn’t the Hindenburg teach these people ANYTHING???
I bet even crash test dummies refused to test the car ...
The Magic Unicorn / Fairy Dust / Obama Glitter Hydrogen Highway
or
The Bend-Over-And-Get-Ready-To-Ride-The-Hershey Highway
They need to contract body styling to the Italians, stat!
“...ugly car”
First impression was that John Drake’s car got swallowed by The Islands’ bubble.
Morgan RiverSimple eco-car
yitbos
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