Riversimple, maker of the brilliant Rasa, wants to tackle the problem of big, fat cars
Cars are too heavy. They produce too much power in a bid to offset this weight. They’re too wide and need fatter tyres to deal with the energy involved. The result uses more resources and increases pollution. None of this is really news to you.
Nor is it to a small company in Wales that, seven years ago, revealed the spark that aimed to change the narrative. Riversimple – maker of the brilliant little Rasa – now wants to follow up this spark and address the ‘weight crisis’ by means of [checks notes] a supercar.
Only, this supercar is different, because it’ll weigh just 620kg and be powered by hydrogen, unravelling a host of efficiency and performance gains as a result. Including bountiful speed and plentiful range.
“This car is an antidote to excess and power for the sake of it,” said Riversimple founder and chief engineer Hugo Spowers MBE, “and is an opportunity to redefine sports cars for the 21st century.”
It’ll redefine it using technology similar to the Rasa. There’ll be a lightweight carbon fibre chassis featuring four inboard electric motors, a lightweight hydrogen fuel cell making 29kW of electrical power and able to be refilled in five minutes, supercapacitors and 800V architecture.
So while on paper it appears to offer as much forward shove as your average sneeze – the equivalent of around 39bhp – the Riversimple supercar’s supremely low weight and aero-honed, lightweight body means it doesn’t need eleventy-million horsepower to go fast.
And there is plenty of fast. Riversimple is targeting 0-60mph in just 3.5s, 0-100mph in 6.4s, and a 100mph top speed. “A higher, academic top speed would result in weight, inefficiency, reduced range (or even more weight) and badly compromised vehicle dynamics,” the company said.
They’ll be ‘unrivalled’ dynamics, apparently, helped by a low unsprung mass (and low mass overall). And in turn, because it’s so light, it’ll go very far, Riversimple reckoning on 410 miles of range.
“These supercars will be immense fun to drive and demonstrate exceptional vehicle dynamics, range, refuel time, light weight and, with Coventry University students’ help, style,” said Spowers. About that latter point – Cov Uni students will be tasked with designing the body and interior, and Riversimple might use the winning proposals for the supercar.
Even the build numbers will be light, Riversimple confirming that it’ll build between 10 and 20, with a price floating in the ‘rare collectible’ bracket. More – or should that be less – as we get it.