A company that built a hydrogen-powered car driven by King Charles has announced a new project that could transform the automotive industry. Riversimple, the manufacturer of the Rasa hydrogen vehicle which the monarch drove in 2021, is using nearly 30-year-old Audi A2 hatchbacks as “mule cars” to develop its next-generation hydrogen technology under the codename Runabout.
Project Runabout and Government Funding
The initiative comes as rising petrol and diesel prices, driven by the Iran conflict and disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, boost interest in alternative fuels. Riversimple is set to receive £1.7 million in grant funding from the Labour government’s DRIVE35 programme (Driving Research & Investment in Vehicle Electrification). The government described DRIVE35 as a “£2.5 billion programme of capital and R&D funding for the automotive industry, including £500 million to 2035 to extend R&D support for 10 years.”
Riversimple founder Hugo Spowers MBE commented: “The automotive industry is struggling with a trilemma: zero emission, lightweight, long range… This project is demonstrating that zero-emission vehicles need not be heavy — and that we have all the innovation and expertise we need right here in the UK.”
King Charles and Alternative Fuels
Although hydrogen cars remain rare in the UK due to limited refuelling stations, King Charles has long been an advocate for alternative fuels. He owns an Aston Martin DB6 Volante, a 21st birthday gift from Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, which has been converted to run on a mixture of 85% bioethanol (derived from wine and cheese waste) and 15% unleaded petrol.
In 2021, the same year he drove the Riversimple Rasa, the King told the BBC: “I’ve got electric cars now but it’s been so difficult. My old Aston Martin, which I’ve had for 51 years, runs on — can you believe this — surplus English white wine, and whey from the cheese process.” He added: “The engineers at Aston said, ‘Oh, it’ll ruin the whole thing.’ I said, ‘Well I won’t drive it then,’ so they got on with it and now they admit that it runs better and is more powerful on that fuel than it is on petrol… and also, it smells delicious as you’re driving along.”
More recently, the monarch ordered a £160,000 Lotus Eletre SUV, as reported by The Sun last year. Royal biographer Dickie Arbiter told the Express that factors such as performance, cost, battery life, and mileage would have influenced the decision. He noted: “It’s not so much about availability, it’s about what the vehicle can do and what the costs are associated with that vehicle.”
