Hydrogen car set for city trial

Thirty of the cars, which have a top speed of 50mph and can go 200 miles on one tank of hydrogen, will be leased to motorists in Leicester from spring 2012.

The two-seater car has been developed by Riversimple, a small British manufacturer based in Ludlow, Shropshire. The prototype was built at Silverstone, Northamptonshire.

If the trials are successful, the company will consider building a factory in Leicester which would employ 250 people and manufacture 5,000 of the cars each year.

The cars would not be sold but instead leased out to drivers for about 200 a month plus mileage.

So far the company has spent about 3m developing the technology and the car, which goes from 0-30mph in 5.5 seconds and does the petrol-equivalent of 300 miles per gallon.

It has now signed a deal with Leicester City Council for a 12-month pilot which will see 30 of the cars rented out to private customers, businesses, car-share schemes and local government officials.