Debut of British hydrogen-powered Riversimple urban car

[grantchristy]

You don't need storage to have a hydro car you can produce it as you go along. 1st hydro car was patented in 1936 & it didn't have a fuel cell the hydrogen was produced with a battery. the Gov needs to tax the fuel so invents storage tank.

[HydrogenBarry]

How did they solve the storage issue?

The biggest issue hydrogen cars have is that it leaks throw the petrol tank (Hydrogen tank) so how do they prevent this issue. Once this is solved then hydrogen becomes the fuel of the future

[Th3BritishGuy]

I want to see some green motorcycles, not cars. Give me my motorcycles!

[zizuazi]

so true !

[pegefounder]

Very unpracticall. Always to go to a hydrogen station. I like my electric scooter, every day in the morning charged for 40 miles in the garage. Electric sockets everywhere. Also the cycle electrolysis -> high pressure tank -> fuel cell is very inefficient.

[tjwestbr]

The leasing idea is interesting, but conflicts with the open source idea.

How about a model like the personal computer. A company like Intel designs the 'brains' of the computer with open interfaces that allow other companies to build the rest of the computer.

Riversimple could build the 'brains' of the car, sell it at a premium, give away the rest of the design and there would be a lot of companies building different versions of the same car using Riversimples 'brains'.

[tjwestbr]

Riversimple would make great money and keep their business small and less cumbersome than a full scale car company. Meanwhile it would stimulate a flurry of activity around their basic design and start a revolution that would explode much like the Personal Computer market did.

Just a thought...

$315/mo is cheap, but the thought of paying that for the rest of eternity, even if it does cover the fuel cost is not that appealing, to me anyway.

[tjwestbr]

I like the idea of collecting energy from my rooftop and generating my own hydrogen.

By the way, when Intel was developing the PC, I doubt that the thought ever crossed their mind to lease the PCs and include the electricity with it.

My point is, let the customer figure out where they're going to get the hydrogen from..."build it and they will come"

- sell the core technology

- have an open design

- start a revolution

[tjwestbr]

if you want to lease, spin a subsidiary to do that, that will not interfere with the ensuing revolution.

[Reoon]

Good Idea. I support Your view. If riverside company would stick too much on idea of leasing only their cars it might hamper the spreading of this great inovation to the most of the people.

I would be reluctant to change the typ of the vehicle to use and the model of ownership of the vehicle at the same time.

Your metaphor with Intel is really nice one too. I am happy that they make it as open source right now anyway. If they wouldnt, I would bet that it would become another forgotten concept