Hugo Spowers, a former motorsport engineer and racing driver, founded the business in 2001 and it took the name Riversimple in 2007. Its aim is to eliminate the environmental impact of personal transport, and its approach rests on making cars very light and efficient, so that a small hydrogen fuel cell is enough. The fuel cell makes electricity for a motor in each wheel, while supercapacitors provide extra power for acceleration and hills and store energy recovered by regenerative braking. Riversimple also shares its technology openly.
Its first project was the Morgan LIFECar, a research car shown at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, followed by the Hyrban lab demonstrator in 2010. The two-seat Rasa, styled by Chris Reitz, who styled the new Fiat 500, was unveiled in February 2016, designed for a range of 300 miles and the equivalent of 250 mpg. The improved Rasa Beta has a carbon-fibre chassis and bodywork made with bio-based recyclable composites, and has been tested by members of the public, mostly in Wales.
The head office was in Ludlow until 2014, before moving to Llandrindod Wells. Riversimple plans to offer its cars through a monthly subscription covering tax, insurance, fuel and maintenance, rather than selling them, which it says encourages it to build cars that last. King Charles, then Prince of Wales, drove a Rasa in 2021, and Spowers was awarded an MBE for services to technology.
