FIVE people from Herefordshire have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Hugo Ronald Allan Spowers, of Leominster, is a former motorsport engineer and racing driver who founded Riversimple, a car manufacturer of electric vehicles.
Now, the 62-year-old has won Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) honours award for services to Technology.
His company’s research and development centre and the company's offices is based in Llandrindod Wells, a town in Wales.
The futuristic looking vehicles are hydrogen powered cars which are clean, and the only emission is pure water which is good enough to drink.
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The cars have a range of about 300 miles which is comparable with what can be achieved from a typical small petrol engine vehicle.
On his LinkedIn page Mr Spowers said no product on the planet matches the value for money of a modern car, with all its complexity and refinement, but it is now unfortunately completely unfit for purpose.
“I founded Riversimple to do something about this. A step change in vehicle technology is both essential and possible,” he said.
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The Riversimple project has also won admiration from an unlikely source in the past.
Jeremy Clarkson, presenter of the BBC programme Top Gear, previously said: “These tiny cars represent the future because instead of running on electricity from the mains, it’s produced by a chemical reaction within the car itself – a reaction that produces nothing but heat and water. This is the future.”
Mr Spowers aim is to sell mobility as a service rather than a car as a product.
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