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.
Read more