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Riversimple

Function / Domain: Mobility, transport
Illustration of: Vision, new business model

Riversimple Company

Riversimple is a United Kingdom-based transportation company founded by Hugo Spowers, a former motorsport engineer and racing driver. Inspired by the work of Amory Lovins, the environmental scientist and writer and a director of the Rocky Mountain Institute, Spowers became interested in sustainable mobility and started setting up new businesses and research projects.  Spowers is the chief engineer. Riversimple is his brainchild.

Vision

Riversimple's ambition is to build a resilient, successful, sustainable business ánd to systematically eliminate of the environmental impact of personal transport, giving ‘mobility at zero cost to the planet'.  Eco-mobility in the view of Riversimple is not about excluding cars, but by replacing ‘bad' miles with ‘good'. It should be both affordable and accessible for everyone, not just the wealthy few.

Riversimple believes that the alignment of interests - of the business, the customers and the planet - as well as all the other critical stakeholders is fundamental to the change and the business. This means that Rivesimple is not only interested in the design and production of innovative cars. Yet, and in addition it develops new business models and the governance of the business.

Implementation

Riversimple has worked on innovative zero emission cars and will have the first two pilot markets for new local transport with innovative cars in the UK in 2015. Elements that were considered during each design, have included:

  • hydrogen fuel cell power sources
  • lightweight carbon fibre composite materials 
  • the application of new technical design principles
  • developing infrastructure for fuelling
  • open source development and design 
  • leasing instead of selling the cars
  • distributing manufacturing among many small companies
  • broad corporate ownership.

Below we will go more deeply into the new business model and governance. For information on the technical aspects and new car architecture, see www.riversimple.com/thecar .

Business model: usage contracts

Riversimple sells usage contracts instead of cars. For a fixed monthly fee customers will receive a car - their car - and all the fuel, insurance and maintenance to run it. In that way customers don't have the hassle of ownership and, as the Company writes ‘our interests, the customer's and the planet's are aligned'.

Governance

Riversimple equally applies the principle of aligning interests to the supply chain. That is, the company does all it can to adopt the "sale of service" model upstream with the suppliers.

The company is answerable to six custodians who represent each of the critical stakeholders and hold the voting shares: customers, investors, the environment, the community, the staff and commercial partners.  An equal voting structure was established to allow for long term decision making and that no single interest can dominate the company to the detriment of another. The six Custodians appoint five members of the board of directors, and agree on the strategy.  

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