UK HYDROGEN CAR FIRM GETS CASH BOOST

A UK firm aiming to bring hydrogen fuel cell vehicles into mainstream use has been awarded more than £1m by the Government.

Riversimple, based in Wales, has been given £1.25m to expand its test fleet to 20 vehicles.

The grant, from the government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) will support the production of 17 more of Riversimple’s, ultra-efficient Rasa car, which will complement three other Rasa models.

The fleet will be user-tested in a 12-month trial in and around Abergavenny, in Monmouthshire.

The firm says the trial, involving 200 testers including households, businesses, car clubs and councils, will provide data and user insight that will be used to refine the design and the customer proposition further, ahead of volume production.

Founder and chief engineer of Riversimple, Hugo Spowers said: “This funding award will support us to complete our first production run of the Riversimple Rasa.

“In partnership with Monmouthshire County Council, these cars will form part of the pioneering Clean Mobility Trial which will see 12 months of user testing allowing us to improve our customer offer and to promote localised refuelling infrastructure.

“We are also hopeful that, following the trial, other local authorities will engage with us to explore similar deployments of Riversimple vehicles in their local areas”

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles said: “The innovative technology these vehicles use has long range (300+ miles) and fast refuelling (three to five minutes) capability, and will support the...challenge to place the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero-emission vehicles.”