Interview: Hugo Spowers, founder of Riversimple

Dare devil to care devil: The motor sports engineer and entrepreneur tells Jason Ford of his quest to eliminate the environmental impact of personal transport

Studied engineering science at Oxford University

1998–99 MBA, Cranfield University

1984–96 Founded Prowess Racing

2001 Founded OSCar Automotive, which became Riversimple in 2007

2016 Revealed first engineering prototype of the Rasa fuel cell electric vehicle

Hugo Spowers intends to manufacture 5,000 cars a year but he has no intention of selling them.

Instead, the charismatic motor sports engineer and entrepreneur proposes a sale of service model that involves the payment of a fixed monthly fee and mileage allowance in return for repairs, maintenance, insurance and fuel expenses.

This may sound like a risky strategy but Spowers is used to taking calculated risks. While at university, he was a member of the Dangerous Sports Club and was credited with undertaking the first headfirst bungee jump, as well as accompanying a grand piano fitted with skis down the slopes of St Moritz. He followed this by founding Prowess Racing, a venture that designed and built racing cars. The company also restored historic cars but, by the mid-1990s, Spowers had reached the conclusion internal combustion engines should be phased out and replaced with more environmentally benign alternatives.