Riversimple, a Wales-based hydrogen-electric car company, announced last week it is set to close its latest Seedrs campaign later on this week. The funding round launched in March and quickly secured its initial £1 million funding target. It is now nearing £1.1 million thanks to nearly 625 investors.
As previously reported, Riversimple has designed a new car called the Rasa, which emits nothing but a tiny amount of water and will do the equivalent of a c250mpg. The car’s charging only takes three minutes and the range is 300 miles. While sharing more details about the Rasa, Riversimple reported:
“Air quality is acknowledged to be a massive and urgent challenge, and we believe the Rasa is best in class. It emits nothing but pure water vapour, no NOx. Thanks to its low weight, skinny tyres and highly regenerative braking, the Rasa has been designed to minimise the particulates from our tyres and brakes. We intend to make a clean car practical and accessible to all those who would like to replace their diesel and petrol cars but don’t see how a battery electric car can work for them. Hydrogen fuel cell cars will have an increasingly significant role to play in the UK as we work towards replacing diesel and petrol cars by 2040.”
Riversimple’s first crowdfunding round on Seedrs took place in early 2017 and funded important development of software and telemetry as well as hardware. The company stated that the prototype has undergone further design development and it intends to include new in-wheel motors and brakes, and most significantly, safety-critical software.
“We are now looking to build the first 10 Beta cars to place with volunteer Beta testers in Monmouthshire. We will be building and releasing them in batches with constant improvements in features and software over the 12 month trial. Of the nearly 900 people who have offered to ‘Beta test’ the Rasa, at least 240 are based within 30 miles of the refuelling point that we are installing in central Abergavenny. The selection process for Beta testers has already begun.”
Funds from the latest Seedrs round will go towards the continuous development of the Rasa. The campaign is set to close this Wednesday (May 9th).
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