Whenever a start-up car company wants to establish a factory, the least amount of money it needs to spend is $ 1 billion (£719 million) to get started. Rivian invested $750 million in a factory it bought from Mitsubishi for $16 million in Normal, Illinois. Riversimple needs £150 million to build two factories. And it will have Siemens’ help to plan manufacturing in them.

This is what the Welsh company announced on 11 February: an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the German company mainly for Siemens’ “depth of expertise in planning and simulation software for manufacturing operations and factory simulation software for the new production facilities.”

Although an MoU is not a legally binding contract, it is considered one of the most formal versions of a gentlemen’s agreement. With Siemens’ help, Riversimple will also explore ways to make “product design, supply chain management, and economic models” with circular economy principles.

For that gentlemen’s agreement to move forward, Riversimple will need the £150 million we mention at the beginning of this text. That’s equivalent to $206.8 million, a bit more than one-seventh of what Tesla spent buying bitcoins.

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