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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 & Chief Engineer
Chief engineer and founder of Riversimple, Hugo Spowers is an Oxford University trained engineer and entrepreneur. His first business was in motorsport, designing and building racing cars and restoring historic racing cars. He left motorsport for environmental reasons and set up OScar Automotive in 2001 which eventually became Riversimple in 2007. In 2022 Hugo was awarded an MBE for his outstanding contribution to innovation and technology.
Chairman
Guy is Chairman of the Board. 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 consultancy giant Deloitte in 2010 and then joined as Lead Partner of the Sustainability Practice. After retiring from Deloitte in 2013, Guy set up the Sustainable Business Partnership, a management consultancy specialising is sustainable business solutions.
Communications Director
Fiona is our Communications Director, 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. She is no stranger to challenging convention and plays an integral part in Riversimple.
Board Member
Juergen is a member of the Riversimple board. A UK industrialist and former CEO of Siemens UK, Juergen works closely with a number of UK Universities including the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University as a visiting Professor of both. Chair of the Digital Catapult, Vice-Chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and the co-founder of vocL Juergen is a renowned thought leader on british business.. His knowledge and experience makes him a vital addition to the Riversimple team.