Hydrogen car to be ‘open-source’

The manufacturer of a hydrogen car unveiled in London recently will make its designs available online so the cars can be built and improved locally.

The Riversimple car can go 80km/h and travel 322km per re-fuelling, with an efficiency equivalent to 127 kilometers per litre. The company hopes to have the vehicles in production by 2013. Next year, it aims to release 10 prototypes in a UK city which has yet to be confirmed. Riversimple has partnered with gas supply company BOC to install hydrogen stations for the cars in the city where the prototypes are launched.

The car is an amalgam of high-efficiency approaches in automotive design. Its four motors are powered by a fuel cell rated at just six kilowatts, in contrast to current designs that are all in excess of 85 kilowatts – required because the acceleration from a standing start requires a great deal of power.
Riversimple’s solution is to power the car also from so-called ‘ultracapacitors’, which store large amounts of electric charge and, crucially, can release that charge nearly instantly to provide the power needed to accelerate from rest.
The ultracapacitors are charged as the vehicle brakes to a halt, converting the energy of the moving car into stored energy. Without a combustion engine, gearbox, or transmission, and with a shell made of carbon fibre composites, it weighs 350kg.

The company claims that it is closer to market than any of its start-up competitors, but what sets them apart is an unusual business model. The cars will be leased with fuel and repair costs included, at an estimated £200 ($315) per month. The company asserts that in the leasing model, the vested interest for the manufacturer is in producing long-lasting, fuel-efficient, high-quality products, since it bears the cost of both hydrogen and repairs.

The company will also distribute the engineering designs to the 40 Fires foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that will make the designs “open source”. The idea, they say, is to allow local manufacturing in small plants. This stands in contrast to the “economies of scale” that drive current plants to huge sizes and workforces. In addition, designs can be adjusted for local markets, using locally sourced parts or materials.

The agreement will be such that if the designs are improved by a local manufacturer, those improvements will be sent back, so that what the company refers to as its “network of manufacturers” can contribute to the overall development of the product line.

Original article. Jason Palmer. BBC. 16 June 2009. Read more…