THE Prince of Wales looked eminently comfortable behind the wheel of an electric vehicle during a visit to Powys on Tuesday – which is perhaps not surprising considering he’s been driving a wine-powered Aston Martin for well over a decade.

Prince Charles took a spin around the block in Llandrindod Wells-based Riversimple’s Rasa vehicle – which bears a striking resemblance to a British racing green V8 Vantage Volante that he sold at a Sotheby's auction in 1995, fetching £115,500 for his charitable Prince’s Trust – after enjoying a tour of the company’s Ddole Road Industrial Estate premises as part of a week-long programme of royal visits across Wales.

The Prince of Wales chatted knowledgeably with designers and technicians as he was ushered around by the firm’s managing director Hugo Spowers, before joining Hugo for a test drive of the Rasa – which Riversimple are busily preparing for the commercial production of by 2024.

While most of us are still way behind in the increasingly rising electric, hybrid and low emission car revolution, His Royal Highness has long been aboard.

Much like James Bond, Charles has enjoyed a long affiliation with Aston Martin – ever since acquiring a Seychelle Blue DB6 for his 21st birthday in 1969. Like Riversimple, however, he made the move a while ago to be more green – converting the DB6 into an environmentally friendly car as long ago as 2007.

The DB6 was rebuilt extensively with Green Fuels, a Gloucestershire-based biofuel company who obtained a consignment of unwanted wine from a Wiltshire vineyard and a quantity of whey from a nearby cheesemaker, converting it into E85 bioethanol specifically for the prince, and he has been enjoying guilt-free motoring ever since.

Riversimple, manufacturers of hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles, signed a memorandum of understanding with industrial giants Siemens earlier this year, which will see a focus on regional skills development and preparation for commercial production of the vehicle.

It is hoped the investment could result in the creation of around 220 direct skilled jobs, with plans to produce 5,000 vehicles per year by 2024.

In that regard, Mr Spowers said the prince’s visit came at the perfect time for the company. “It was a really fantastic,” said Mr Spowers, a former motorsport engineer and racing driver.

“He was engaged and knowledgeable about everything we’re doing. Not just the technology side but the business model too.

“It’s so wide-ranging his interest, our governance model for example. That’s as much an interest to him as the hydrogen.

“He handled the car great. It’s not a difficult car to operate in all honesty but we were actively talking as well as concentrating on the driving, which was seamless.”

With an exciting future ahead for the Powys firm, Mr Spowers added: “The visit came at just the right time for us because we are now in discussion with the Welsh and UK Government about some support.

“We need public sector encouragement to unlock private investment and build facilities in Mid Wales. We’ve only got about 10 days to run in our crowdfunding campaign which we’re running parallel to build the cars here to go into trials in Abergavenny and Milford Haven.

“We’ve got grant support and we still need a little bit of money to complete our fleet of 20 cars.”

Two of Riversimple’s bright young minds are design engineers Josh Lomax and Kieran Dennington, who talked the prince through the technical aspects of what they do.

“He seems to be very switched on and knows a lot of stuff regarding the hydrogen industry and especially car manufacturing, which is quite impressive,” said Kieran, 24.

“He drives electric cars and that’s quite important, it shows people are paying attention. And public opinion is turning rapidly to using hydrogen vehicles.”

Local lad Josh, from just up the road in Dolau, studied industrial engineering in university before returning to his farming roots. The 26-year-old, who has been working at the firm for almost four years, says heavyweight vehicles like those used on Mid Wales farms could actually benefit from hydrogen power because of their size.

The Prince of Wales was greeted on arrival by Lord Lieutenant of Powys, Tia Jones and Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart, as well as Brecon and Radnorshire MP Fay Jones and MS James Evans.

The Duchess of Cornwall was also in Powys on Tuesday, visiting Hay Festival organisers in Hay-on-Wye.