Air pollution concerns have really brought the need for clean cars to the fore. Now that combustion-engined vehicles have a ‘Sell By’ date of 2040, there is much greater focus on practical and viable alternatives and the question of scale is surfacing. What are the 34 million cars in the UK alone going to be replaced with?

On one level, this is clearly an opportunity to lower the total number of cars in circulation and move to more shared vehicle usage, especially in cities where owning a car is becoming ever more onerous.

But what will the cars of the future be running on?  Whilst battery electric cars will have a part to play, large-scale adoption is likely to be stymied by the ~50% of UK customers who do not have easy access to overnight charging.

Shell/ITM hydrogen station, Cobham Surrey

Each publicly accessible battery charger only supports a handful of cars. A hydrogen refueller, on the other hand, can be placed on an existing forecourt and, like a petrol station, support thousands of cars. Per car served they are massively cheaper, so at scale, hydrogen infrastructure is more economical.

Senior automotive executives share our perspective on the potential for hydrogen cars, according to KPMG, and a recently highlighted industry shift towards fuel cell investment has seen Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Nikola One refocus on hydrogen-powered models, which has put the spotlight on our engineering approach in this time of critical change for the auto-industry.

Riversimple remains ahead of the pack with the lightest, most efficient fuel cell car – which, incidentally, also makes it the cleanest. No emissions except pure water and a fraction of the particulates of other cars (thanks to skinny tyres, low weight and electrical braking).

We are now embarking on our next crowdfunding round. Our focus is on Beta testing the car and service with the public and the funding will get the Rasa into Beta series production.

Thank you to the hundreds of people who responded to our plea for Beta test drivers. We hope to engage with as many of you as possible in refining design and service features, even if  you are too far from Monmouthshire to be a driver.  .