Riversimple open-source fuel cell car could cost just $315/month
by Sebastian Blanco on Jun 16th 2009 at 2:06PM 
The RiverSimple hydrogen fuel cell car – Click above for high-res image gallery
The Riversimple fuel cell car unveiled in London today breaks a lot of the rules for what we expect a hydrogen vehicle to be. First, it's not trying to be a replacement for a regular car (see: these SUVs or this truck). Instead, it's very small and only seats two. Second, the usual proprietary secrets that go into designing and building the fuel cell have been replaced with an open source model, with all the designs and information due to be placed online for free. Third, and most dramatically, this car is cheap.
According to Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, the company that developed the fuel cell used in the Riversimple, "This innovative car could be made available to consumers for just 200 pounds Sterling ($315) per month." Compare this to the lease or purchase prices of other advanced technology vehicles. The MINI E, for example, costs $850 a month for a year. The Honda FCX Clarity is $600 a month for three years. Sure, these are different vehicles and, with the MINI E, different technologies, but a lot of people shop with their wallets, and $315 beats $850, easy. When we first learned about the car last week, we heard that the lease period is a reported 20 years, so that will take the bloom off the rose a bit.
Riversimple plans to start leasing the car by 2013. It has a 240-mile range on a full charge of its small 1 kg hydrogen tank and can go up to 50 mph thanks to ultracapacitors and a 6 kW fuel cell. The company says it has "an efficiency equivalent to 300 miles to the gallon." Look for 10 prototype vehicles to hit the UK sometime next year. Of course, thanks to the open source model, if you want to DIY this one, you might be able to beat that timeline. There's a full press release and video of the car after the jump. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Gallery: Riversimple hydrogen fuel cell car
[Source: Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, Guardian UK, BBC, Riversimple | Photo by Leon Neal/AFP/Getty]
PRESS RELEASE:
Horizon's Fuel Cells Power the World's First Affordable Hydrogen Car
LONDON, June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Today a new generation of fuel cells developed by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has enabled the world's first low-cost and practical hydrogen car. The top secret UK development unveiled today in London is a two-seater zero emissions hydrogen-electric city car with an expected fuel consumption equivalent to 360 miles per gallon*, six times better than today's best available hybrid electric vehicles. What's more, this innovative car could be made available to consumers for just 200 pounds Sterling ($315) per month.
Developed by Riversimple, the small city car integrates a 6kW fuel cell from Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies. The vehicle maximizes energy efficiency by utilizing lightweight composite materials, eliminating heavy mechanical component, and by networking fuel cells with ultra capacitors and 60% regenerative braking energy into one symbiotic system. The result is ground-breaking: 240 miles (390 km) can be traveled on one small tank of hydrogen weighing only 2.2 lbs (1 kilogram).
Hugo Spowers, founder of Riversimple said, "Horizon's approach to commercialization of fuel cells perfectly complements our approach to bringing hydrogen fuel cell cars to market. Thanks to this partnership, we believe that we are closer to market with a commercially viable fuel cell car than anyone else in the world."
The networked fuel cell power-train design led to a reduction in fuel cell power requirements by a factor of 6 compared to other urban vehicles of similar performance and by a factor of 15 compared to other fuel cell prototype vehicles - an effort further magnified by Horizon's ability to supply high power fuel cells at greatly reduced costs.
"Many people lost track of the fact that fuel cell cars are electric cars, since fuel cells store and deliver electrical energy, just like batteries - only with significantly more storable energy per unit of weight. Batteries and ultra capacitors on the other hand, offer more power per unit of weight, but less storable energy," said Taras Wankewycz, one of Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies' founders. "Technologies have evolved, but more importantly, Riversimple brought them together as one system, in a way that greatly exceeds the sum of their individual benefits. This next generation hydrogen-electric car brings electric vehicles into a new stage where range, charge-time and cost are no longer commercial barriers."
The Riversimple car will be commercialized internationally using an "open-source" production model inspired by the software industry, creating new entrepreneurial possibilities around the world and the promise of car manufacturing jobs within the communities where the vehicle is used. Because the car can be produced and maintained locally, the carbon footprint associated to century-old models of centralized car manufacturing and distribution is also significantly reduced.
Fuel Cells and Refueling
A fuel cell converts the chemical energy of hydrogen into usable electric energy without combustion, with water as its only by-product. Unlike batteries, fuel cells separate energy storage and energy conversion functions. If used as a primary source of power like many fuel cell vehicle developments to date, fuel cells can become extremely expensive as power needs impacts their size. But when changing the configuration and coupling the high energy density quality of fuel cells with higher power density ultra-capacitors, it is possible to greatly increase the performance of electric vehicles while reducing their cost. Ultra-capacitors are charged by the car's regenerative braking system, providing power for acceleration. By de-coupling acceleration from cruising, a much smaller, lower power and lower cost fuel cell can be used.
With a smaller fuel cell consuming much less hydrogen, the vehicle no longer depends on large storage tanks, which greatly reduces the costs and complexities so far associated with hydrogen supply. Working simultaneously with BOC to make hydrogen affordable, sustainable and readily available for refueling, what many believed would be twenty or thirty years away can be done today by using an existing industrial hydrogen supply system.
Horizon started commercializing fuel cells four years ago from small and simple products to larger energy storage solutions. The company is emerging as a world leader in the commercialization of fuel cell integrated energy solutions and offers a complete range of products and solutions for the consumer, industrial and transportation markets. Horizon's new multi-kilowatt systems, which are currently being adopted in various applications including cellular telecommunication sites, can store significantly more electrical energy than batteries.
* Note:
mpg (UK) mpg US l/100km km/l
300.00 360.28 0.94 106.20
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jason 2:23PM (6/16/2009)
So this is what you get when a Smart Fortwo and a Aptera has a bastard child.
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polo 5:42PM (6/16/2009)
This car is the face of affordable hydrogen transportation. And at a 20 year lease its affordable!
Where are all the hydrogen fanboys?? They should be all over this!
ShaunneyCakes 2:24PM (6/16/2009)
I am a professional designer. I think I just threw up in
My mouth a bit after seeing the design of this... THING!?!?
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ShaunneyCakes 2:26PM (6/16/2009)
I am SHOCKED that the maker of this vehicle actually allowed it to be photographed. BURN IT!!! Pretend this never happened!!!
Ernie 3:49PM (6/16/2009)
That would have something to do with what happens when there's no designers working on the project. See also: any version of Linux that isn't Ubuntu, another famous open-source creation.
Also see also: nearly every small NEV manufacturer.
Isellbeachhomes 2:49PM (6/16/2009)
they can't be serious can they? a 20 year lease? that is close to $76,000 for the car. get out of here, who keeps a car longer than 10 years.
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Chris M 5:04PM (6/16/2009)
$75,600 to be exact, though part of that is interest. That is a awful lot to spend on a ugly, cramped, anemic city car, running on a very expensive fuel. That 240 mile range is kinda useless, considering the 50 mph top speed - who would want to drive it for nearly 5 hours straight?
By stating only that monthly payment, they can hide the true cost of this beast, which is likely over $40K. Is that a lease, or a 20 year mortgage? The news release doesn't say. If it is a lease, they may be planning to take them back and salvage all that expensive platinum after 20 years.
But wait! Most fuel cells won't last 20 years. I'm foreseeing a very expensive repair halfway through that lease...
Much rather have a Smart EV, or Volt, or Aptera, or iMiev, or Model S, any of which will be far better and much ess expensive in the long run.
Chris M 5:54PM (6/17/2009)
Reading about it on the Wired website, it turns out that, yes, it IS a lease only arrangement! It is supposed to include the fuel in the cost of the lease - perhaps that explains the limited speed - but I don't see how that could possibly make financial sense for Riversimple or the leasee. Perhaps they intend to take them all back for scrap and salvage after 20 years, and are hoping the price of platinum will go way up by then.
Considering the high cost of of the fuel cell and H2 storage and ultracaps and carbon fiber composites, then add in the interest costs of that 20 year lease, plus the cost of H2 fuel, they are going to go bankrupt really quickly. If they don't sell very many, they will just go bankrupt a bit more slowly.
meme 2:53PM (6/16/2009)
1. I love the comparison to overpriced prototype EVs rather than the more down to earth, affordable ones. Also, the comparison between a tiny two-seater that makes a Smart Fortwo look big and four-door sedans is also lovely. ;)
2. 6kW = 8 horsepower. That's amusing ;) This is the equivalent of building an EV with a 3kWh battery pack. Of course, that's the only way they can make their vehicle remotely possible -- by making it tiny, out of carbon fiber, and way underpowering it.
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Ernie 4:15PM (6/16/2009)
"6kW = 8 horsepower"
Unfortunately, it's not necessarily that easy. Electric motors are often rated at their continuous output, not their peak output like gas engines are.
Mind you, I really don't expect it to produce more than 30 horsepower at its peak. And performance would be roughly equivalent to a 1965 VW Beetle, which by comparison had all of about 60 horsepower.
meme 4:26PM (6/16/2009)
"Unfortunately, it's not necessarily that easy. Electric motors are often rated at their continuous output, not their peak output like gas engines are."
We're not talking about an electric motor. We're talking about a fuel cell. And yes, the cell only needs to provide for the "average" of the vehicle's needs if they use a buffer, but even then, that's tiny, tiny! There's a reason why this tiny light thing can't break 50mph. And I wouldn't be surprised if it couldn't cruise that fast.
atc98092 6:03PM (6/16/2009)
Ernie:
A 65 Beetle had all of 40 horsepower, which was a jump from the 36 they had until 1960. My wife had a '71 Super Beetle, and that had 53, if I remember correctly. However, the car was so light it was actually peppy. Not a sports car, by any stretch of the imagination! Just fun to putter around in.
Tohe 3:36PM (6/16/2009)
[b]$315[/b] with or without [b]infrastructure?[/b]
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Hollie 3:44PM (6/16/2009)
This is an old car salesman trick, saying "Only $315 a month!" instead of "Only $75000! Hey where are you going?" Is this vehicle primarily targeted at people who were born yesterday?
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Richard 4:00PM (6/16/2009)
The present value (at 8% discount rate) of the 20 year lease is about $37,660. This is still too much for what you get. The fuel use is negligible and compensates for the high cost, but on balance the Prius or Insight is a better deal even though they use a bit more fuel.
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polo 5:47PM (6/16/2009)
What are you talking about? A "gallon equivalent" of hydrogen costs around $5. Last I checked gas is under $3. I also don't see where you're getting this $37k figure from. It clearly says $350 a month for 20 years, making it over $75k.
matt 11:54AM (6/17/2009)
Richard you're the only poster who knows anything about finance apparently.
too many idiots here complaining about a 75k price tag... lol There is a time value to money folks!
bob 2:01AM (6/18/2009)
Hey Polo,
the last time I checked, gas was more than $3. in Europe, and also there weren't any cars getting 300 miles per gallon.....
Chris M 6:06PM (6/17/2009)
That $37,660 figure wasn't too far off from my "over $40,000" estimate for the actual cost of the car. But it turns out that lease is also supposed to include the H2 fuel, so unless they've found a magical hydrogen well, they've badly miscalculated the costs and are going to go very bankrupt, long before the leases are up.
Richard 8:13AM (6/18/2009)
If the lease includes fuel, then the present value, assuming fuel at about $1,050 a year for a Prius (15,000 miles, 50 mpg, $3.50 per gallon), the present value of the lease is $31,383. That is still too high. A Prius is a more comfortable car, larger and more functional, and costs less than $25,000 including tax.