Riversimple, who are currently developing ultra-efficient fuel cell electric vehicles, have formed a collaboration with Ecodesign Centre Wales, QSA Partners, KS Composites, Swagelok Bristol and MARK Water Pumps to explore the feasibility of creating a value network through supplier adoption of sale-of-service business models. Selling mobility as a service, rather than cars, is a key part of Riversimple's strategy, as this creates a competitive advantage through resource efficiency. By encouraging supplier to adopt the same model their interests will be aligned, with the potential to realise significant value when compared with traditional business models. The study will create an agreed value proposition for one supplier to Riversimple to adopt a sale-of-service approach and a plan to pilot the business model alongside the first customer trial of Riversimple vehicles. Suppliers will be selected for the pilot through a planned engagement process. A further outcome will be the development of a methodology for supplier sale-of-service development, for use by Riversimple and for wider dissemination.

The LIFECar vehicle is aimed far beyond the incremental adaptation of traditional car designs seen in current hybrid vehicles. It will demonstrate that a new step in vehicle architecture is enabled by the use of a fuel cell hybrid power train. This will be an exciting vehicle with a combination of performance, range and fuel economy that are key to acceptance by drivers of the future. The successful demonstration of these features will fulfil the primary objective of the project which is to lower the entry barriers for a vehicle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The approach is one of whole system design in which the architecture is generated from the characteristics of the fuel cell, in a light-weight vehicle coupled with a high hybridization level. This combination will minimise the fuel cell cost and provide the fuel economy for a 200 mile range. The main deliverable from LIFECar is the knowledge of integrating the advanced hybrid fuel cell components. Core to the success will be the novel collaboration between partners seeking to achieve system-level innovation in the design coupled with the development of an advanced control strategy that continually optimises the inter-related sub systems.