THE FOUNDER of a sustainable car company in Wales has delivered a stark warning about the motoring industry’s efforts to help meet net zero targets, commenting: “we won’t have a planet left.”
Hugo Spowers launched Riversimple in 2007 with a mission to make driving as green as possible. Hydrogen is the alternative fuel of choice for the firm based in Llandrindod Wells, Powys, as the engineer explained during a 30-minute interview that has been watched by
almost 150,000 people. To watch the video please click the link here.
Mr Spowers covered a wide range of topics during the feature but insists using battery-powered vehicles alonecannot significantly enhance international climate targets surrounding decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.
“We don’t argue about solar PVs or wind turbines – which one’s going to win the renewable energy race; they’re different and you need them both. And the same’s true of batteries and hydrogen,” he said.
“Riversimple was set up with sustainability very much at the core. We are pursuing hydrogen cars because I have huge respect for battery cars, and they’re a very important part of the mix, but the one bit that nobody is doing very well is hydrogen cars and that’s the bit where we can really add some value. I have huge respect for battery cars and they’re a very important part of the mix.
“We’ve got to replace 97% of the world’s cars with zero-emission cars somehow – if we think we’re going to do that with batteries, we won’t have a planet left.”
The sale of new petrol and diesel-powered cars and vans will be banned from sale in the UK in 2035, although the Labour Government is in consultation about bringing that law forward by five years.
Electric or hybrid vehicles are already becoming more common on the UK’s roads but many car manufacturers, including Riversimple, are still investing in hydrogen. These environmentally-friendly cars fall into two main types: hydrogen fuel cell cars and hydrogen combustion vehicles. The former include electric batteries that are powered by hydrogen while the latter works like a traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) but uses hydrogen gas to generate power.
“We often hear that 80% of journeys are less than 20 miles and that’s probably true. For that sort of use, batteries are great,” Mr Spowers added during the in-depth YouTube video. But nobody ever points out the corollary of that and that is that 80% of miles are driven in
the other 20% of journeys. That’s 80% of the problem and that’s where we need hydrogen.”
Hugo Spowers was speaking to Adrian Flux, one of the UK’s largest specialist motor insurance brokers. It is showing its support for the fuel source and is one of the very few companies that offers cover for hydrogen vehicles. As well as interviewing the Riversimple
founder, it has produced a series of informative blogs on the topic.
If you would like to find out more information, please visit the Adrian Flux website here. Alternatively, you can browse through their blog here.
