The UK Government announced at the beginning of the month that they intend to bring forward by 5 years  to 2035 their ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans, and this includes hybrids, paving the way for clean cars.

The news hasn’t pleased everybody – the Society of Manufacturers and Motor Traders are up in arms about ‘changing the goal posts’. Of course, 15 years in ‘car years’ is very little time, and in practice this ruling might well kill the market for most new internal combustion engined cars well before 2035 – who would be investing in a new petrol or diesel car in 2030?

At Riversimple we are delighted.

Riversimple is the only manufacturer in the UK building hydrogen cars for everyday use.  The Rasa, our lightweight eco coupé, is planned to be our first vehicle – the trial we are kicking off this spring in Monmouthshire is designed to optimise the whole customer proposition and, providing that we hit our funding targets, we could be in full volume production in two years’ time with light, super-efficient, clean, zero emission electric cars powered by hydrogen – good news for anyone who lives in a house or apartment that doesn’t lend itself to overnight charging of a battery electric vehicle.

If truth be told, the infrastructure is very patchy for both battery and hydrogen electric cars at the moment – but we are convinced that service stations are just waiting for hydrogen cars to arrive to switch over a couple of pumps on their forecourts, and we are happy to oblige.

Consumer appetite for clean, hassle-free mobility is voracious. We have thousands of people signed up to be potential customers, and from all over the world: Tim in Chicago wants the first yellow Rasa; Pasi in Sweden would like to trial the Rasa in the snowy conditions in Swedish Lapland; we have queries for a test journey in the Rasa through the Alps; and the rare car importer in Tokyo, who passes three hydrogen pumps on his daily commute – we hear you, and we can’t wait to see our cars gliding quietly, and cleanly, on roads around the world!