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About Us
Reinventing the Wheel
Riversimple is aiming to offer customers affordable, hassle free, fun-to-drive hydrogen cars.
We are making cars powered by hydrogen because they have a vital role to play in decarbonising transport as quickly and effectively as possible. The only emission from our cars is water.
We will not be selling cars. Our vehicles will be offered to customers on a subscription basis. One all-inclusive, cost-transparent monthly payment will cover everything, even insurance and fuel.
This business model makes sustainability profitable – the longer the cars last, the more efficient they are, the more profitable we will be.
Our cars are on the road in trials with the public now and we are making preparations for volume production.
Our Story
Riversimple was founded by former motorsport engineer Hugo Spowers MBE. Hugo set up OSCar Automotive in 2001, which became Riversimple in 2007.
Our cars and company have developed under his leadership on the basis of whole system design, from the first car, the Morgan LIFECar shown at the Geneva Motorshow in 2008, to the latest Rasa.
Riversimple was awarded the SIMMS Medal by the RAC Club in 2016 for “outstanding contribution to motoring innovation” and elected as an Emerging Innovator member of the Circular Economy network CE100 by Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2017.
In 2018 the company was named at no.69 in the Disrupt100 list. In 2019 Hugo won the Unreasonable Person award at the London Business School’s Real Innovation Awards, for showing “enormous tenacity and stubbornness in pursuing an idea, despite the difficulties encountered along the way”.
In 2022 Hugo was awarded an MBE for his outstanding contribution of innovation and technology.
Key contacts
It takes a very special group of people to design and build the next generation of zero emission cars. Each one of our team has a passion for sustainability and is expert in their field. We pride ourselves in being at the forefront of innovation in the automotive industry and implementing new and exciting objectives in the circular economy. An email to info@riversimple.com will always get through to the appropriate person below.
Founder & MD
Hugo Spowers is an Oxford University trained engineer and entrepreneur. His first business designed and built racing cars and restored historic racing cars. He left motorsport for environmental reasons and set up OScar Automotive in 2001, which eventually became Riversimple in 2007. Hugo is recognised as a thought leader on the Circular Economy, on which he runs masterclasses for Exeter University, and a pioneer in corporate governance. He has been singleminded in designing the business to make sustainability profitable.
Chairman
Originally a building engineer specialising in sustainable development, Guy is an experienced business leader having set up and sold multiple separate businesses in the sustainability field. He sold his carbon consultancy firm, dCarbon8, to Deloitte in 2010, joining the firm as Lead Partner of the Sustainability Practice for three years. Guy is currently Founder and CEO of Social Value Portal, helping organisations measure, manage, and report social value.
Deputy Chair
Formerly CEO of Siemens UK, Juergen is Chair of the Digital Catapult, Vice-Chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and the co-founder of vocL. He is also a visiting Professor at both the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. Juergen is a renowned thought leader on British business and an advisor on the UK’s industrial strategy.
Communications Director
Fiona is responsible for the image and tone of voice of Riversimple. She is also supporting the development of the customer service side of the Riversimple offer. Before joining Riversimple in 2014, Fiona worked for TBWA, a global advertising and communications network, for 19 years, for a decade of which she was Head of Strategic Planning Worldwide.