New Green Car

Posted by Rolf Joho on December 9th, 2009 filed in Global Warming

The really cool thing about this Riversimple Urban Car is that the fuel cell is going to be much smaller meaning that you will need less hydrogen on board.

Another great thing about this car is that it is actually very small weighing at just a minute 350Kg and is no bigger than the smart car. It can reach 50mph and travel in excess of 200 miles, consuming the equivalent petrol energy of 300mpg in hydrogen.

The power actually comes from a 6kw fuel cell which is actually one of the smallest ever introduced into a car like this. Something that is very high in importance when it comes to this car is keeping the weight down which is why it is able to be quite speedy.

There is a bank of ultracapacitors to store this electricity, which in turn provides most of the accelerating power, allowing for a small fuel cell.

Design for the Riversimple cars will be placed online in an ‘open source’ environment, meaning any small manufacturer can lease the design, better suiting local environments and allowing for the car to be built almost anywhere in the world.

The cars themselves will also be leased over 20 years, with fuelling included in the leasing cost, and the materials will be recycled at the end of each car’s lifespan.

The head of Riversimple actually stated that we must push forward with the technology rather than get left behind. Of course we now realise that we much minimize the resource source of selling cars which is what these cars are trying to do.”

“The Riversimple Urban Car represents a major step towards practical 21st century personal transport and towards the fulfilment of my great-grandfather’s ambitions for accessible personal transport but this time combining his other passions: light weight and high efficiency,” said Piech.

The real question to ask is will they be upgrading things like used cars to make them greener? If you have recently gone out and purchased a  Audi TT Roadster then you are not going to be pleased when you cannot upgrade it to make it a bit greener.  New Audi are just one of the brands that needs to be looked into.