Photo: Riversimple
Have you ever heard of an automaker going by the name of Riversimple? Neither have we. As it happens, Riversimple is a Welsh company on a mission to popularize hydrogen as an alternative fuel and its weapon of choice is a midget of a car.
I mean, just look at it. It’s small on the outside and its wheels are thinner than an amateur supermodel. What boggles the mind more than its appearance is the curb weight. At 580 kilograms (1,278 lbs), the Riversimple Rasa is approximately half the curb weight of a Fiat 500C Abarth.
The key to this lightness is the engineering behind it. Thanks to know-how from the aerospace industry, Formula 1, and traditional automakers, Riversimple was able to develop a state-of-the-art carbon composite chassis.
The powertrain features only 18 moving components, and as common sense dictates, fewer such elements equals fewer reasons for something to go wrong with a vehicle. Supported by a £2 million ($2.85 million) grant from the Welsh government, the Rasa is motivated by four motors positioned in each of the four wheels.
The kinetic energy produced under braking is recovered and stored in supercapacitors to boost acceleration whenever the situation calls for it. Juice for the motors is produced by a fuel cell the size of a forklift truck battery. When hydrogen passes through the fuel cell, it combines with oxygen to form water and electricity. The product that results from this reaction is water, the only output produced by the Riversimple Rasa.
According to its manufacturer, the Rasa prides itself on the lowest carbon emissions for any vehicle “well-to-wheel,” which is the fancy way of saying that it produces nigh on 40 grams of CO2 per kilometer. The result of such an eccentric take on the hydrogen-powered car? An estimated range of up to 300 miles (482 kilometers) on 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of hydrogen and a fuel economy equivalent to 250 mpg UK. That's approximately 208 mpg US or 1.1 liters per 100 kilometers.
The question is, is this the future of clean motoring? Not quite, not before Riversimple does something about the Rasa’s 60 mph (96 km/h) top speed. The company will conduct a 12-month trial of 20 prototypes later this year in preparation of the first production model, which will come to market in 2018.
The key to this lightness is the engineering behind it. Thanks to know-how from the aerospace industry, Formula 1, and traditional automakers, Riversimple was able to develop a state-of-the-art carbon composite chassis.
The powertrain features only 18 moving components, and as common sense dictates, fewer such elements equals fewer reasons for something to go wrong with a vehicle. Supported by a £2 million ($2.85 million) grant from the Welsh government, the Rasa is motivated by four motors positioned in each of the four wheels.
The kinetic energy produced under braking is recovered and stored in supercapacitors to boost acceleration whenever the situation calls for it. Juice for the motors is produced by a fuel cell the size of a forklift truck battery. When hydrogen passes through the fuel cell, it combines with oxygen to form water and electricity. The product that results from this reaction is water, the only output produced by the Riversimple Rasa.
According to its manufacturer, the Rasa prides itself on the lowest carbon emissions for any vehicle “well-to-wheel,” which is the fancy way of saying that it produces nigh on 40 grams of CO2 per kilometer. The result of such an eccentric take on the hydrogen-powered car? An estimated range of up to 300 miles (482 kilometers) on 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of hydrogen and a fuel economy equivalent to 250 mpg UK. That's approximately 208 mpg US or 1.1 liters per 100 kilometers.
The question is, is this the future of clean motoring? Not quite, not before Riversimple does something about the Rasa’s 60 mph (96 km/h) top speed. The company will conduct a 12-month trial of 20 prototypes later this year in preparation of the first production model, which will come to market in 2018.
Google News