Riversimple’s Open Source Hydrogen Car

With the whole “Green Movement” going on in the 21st century, one of the biggest topics of discussion in this eco-friendly arena is the issue of cars. Cars are a huge contributor to global warming, as they are not very environmentally friendly. We’ve slowly buy surely seen the automobile industry take steps to make cars that are both efficient and eco-friendly, but also affordable. Well, Riversimple’s Open Source Hydrogen Car is an excellent example of a company that has made great strides towards making a car that is kinder to the environment. This car is an 100% hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, which is much more eco-friendly than using regular gasoline! This company also is affiliated with other companies involved in various green initiatives, as they are working tirelessly to improve the quality of our environment, one vehicle at a time! Read more below:

Autoblog Green article:

Riversimple’s idea to turn open source ethics loose on the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle hasn’t exactly set the world on fire since being unveiled last July. Still, the project to develop a H2 vehicle with a 6 kW fuel cell that would cost just 200 pounds Sterling a month ($322 U.S. at current exchange rates) is moving along. The Ecologist spoke with project lead (if you can call someone so fervently behind open source a lead) Hugo Spowers, who said:

There is such a yawning gap between the environmental performance of cars and what is sustainable, that I don’t believe a purely competitive world can ever get us there. [Open source] really does produce this constant and very rapid drive toward absolute excellence, which I think is needed in the current circumstances. I have precious little faith in regulation ever pushing us in that direction.

The open source community behind the Riversimple project works together at the 40 Fires Foundation, which has been going for about a year now. 40 Fires intends to become a registered charity for people to donate to in order to “provide a platform for the development of energy efficient vehicles to benefit society and the planet.” While we had heard last summer that the first Riversimple vehicles would hit the road in 2010, the Ecologist writes that the first fleet of about 50 cars will come to the UK starting in 2012. Turns out delays happen to private and public groups alike.

Head on over to Autoblog Green for more about this car and other eco-friendly vehicles!

[Source: Autoblog Green]