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1 min ago 2 min read
Hydrogen car manufacturer Riversimple has been awarded £1.7m ($2.2m) to lead a UK government project aimed at delivering a lightweight, long-range, zero-emission vehicle.
The Zero Emission Lightweight Long Range (Zellor) project will focus on developing high-power and lightweight vehicle components for a car that meets the “triple-balance” of range, zero emissions, and light weight that Riversimple says has never been achieved.
The company’s current model, the Rasa, uses 10kW of power at 60mph, weighs just 655kg – more than one tonne less than a Tesla Model 3 – and is designed to have a range of 300 miles.
Under the project supported by the UK’s Drive35 R&D programme, the firm will aim to increase the range to 400 miles per tank of hydrogen.
Riversimple it will work alongside UK-based sustainable transport partners to develop high-power-density electric motors and power converters, while its fuel cell powertrain will be studied by London-based scientific engineering firm Pi Engineering Consultancy.
A timeline for the completion of the project has not been confirmed.
Hugo Spowers, founder of Riversimple, said that weight is an issue yet to be resolved by sustainable vehicle manufacturers.
“Weight is the feature that…correlates with all the negative impacts of cars – resource consumption, embedded carbon in manufacturing, energy consumption in use, road safety, air and water quality and ocean pollution,” he added.
This comes despite a wider reset in the hydrogen mobility sector toward heavy-duty transport rather than personal and passenger vehicles.
Many criticise the efficiency of hydrogen electric vehicles compared to battery electric alternatives due to efficiency losses in the process of converting electricity into hydrogen and back to electricity.
Proponents, however, argue that they offer fast refuelling and long driving range with zero tailpipe emissions, making them a practical low-carbon alternative in areas with grid constraints.
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