New hydrogen car centrepiece of climate gallery

By Raphael Raggatt

The new ‘atmosphere…Exploring climate science’ gallery in the Science Museum, London opens to the public next Saturday (Dec 4) and the centre piece is a hydrogen fuel-cell car built by UK company Riversimple.

The prototype two seater car has a composite body, four electric motors, no gearbox or transmission and regenerative braking. It can do the equivalent of 300mpg and plans are already laid to have 30 of the cars road-tested on the streets of Leicester in 2012. It is being touted as having the potential to be the world’s first commercially viable fuel cell car. However, although practical and carbon neutral it’s not a vehicle you would want to pick your girlfriend up on a first date.

The gallery which contains the vehicle is a new attempt at educating the public in the science behind climate change by using a mix of interesting objects and interactives. The car is seen as displaying the future of the transport industry, by providing the possibility of a carbon-free vehicle, thus helping prevent the impacts of climate change.

The fact that climate change science is still not universally accepted explains the purpose of the exhibition, as there are still many sceptics who purposefully attempt at preventing scientific thinking based on evidence. This has changed in recent years; however there are still occasions where there are misunderstandings or mistakes which have been pounced upon to try and disclaim climate change science. Hopefully the gallery will educate the younger generation who will be the ones most likely to see the effects of climate change in the future.

However, returning to the hydrogen-powered vehicle, this is one of several new prototype vehicles which have been released recently in the hydrogen vehicle industry. What differentiates this vehicle from the rest is that, if the tests prove successful, then the production will be located to service local markets. This differs from current large-scale manufacturing techniques and would help to provide a more personal service as the vehicles are leased out rather than sold directly. Thus, the cars will be built to last as the interest in durability is on both sides of the counter. The design of this and future vehicles from Riversimple will be shared allowing anyone to collaborate in the design and build of the cars under an open source licence.

This is an exciting prospect and tends to lead to a more sustainable development as improvements are made not just in-house. If we are to move towards a more sustainable future, from sustainable cities, to smart grid, then innovation and development should be encouraged to be open-source. This will ensure that innovation is not lost from poor marketing decisions and instead ideas can be fully exploited as the best ideas are often the simplest ones.