After the successful launch of the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the Mirai in its home market Japan, Toyota Motors is set to take its FCV venture to a new level. Hence it is said that the world’s car leader has set to work on a fuel cell version of the Lexus LS.
2017 Lexus LS
As per the reports of an Australian auto website, an anonymous source has claimed that the Japanese car major is contemplating on introducing a new hydrogen powered variant of its flagship Lexus full sized luxury sedan model.
The news comes has arrived just less than a month’s time that Toyota has offered the Mirai FCV on sale in the car market of Japan. However, the first hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle or FCEV, the Toyota Mirai is yet not open for sale to the general mass and will be sold only to the government organizations. Nevertheless, another Toyota FCEV will definitely not be of any harm, especially when Toyota is all praises about it. And if this new Fuel Cell car is a Lexus model, then it will certainly lure in many elite buyers for the car maker. In the meanwhile, Toyota will start selling the Mirai in United States and Europe in 2015.
The speculated Lexus LS FCEV will be utilizing the same Fuel Cell powertrain of Toyota that is employed in the Mirai. The only difference is, while the entire Mirai is built from scratch, the Lexus LS is already an existing luxury sedan that will be simply fitted with the new Fuel Cell system along with some modifications made to accommodate the same. According to the reports, the Lexus LS FCEV will be featuring a reworked front face including new air intakes that will facilitate enough ventilation for the hydrogen powered powertrain. The reports also say that the Fuel Cell system in the Lexus LS will be placed under its two front seats while Toyota will place the hydrogen tanks under and behind the rear seats.
The Fuel Cell system in the Lexus LS is said to around 200 kg lighter as compared against the V8 gasoline-electric 600h Lexus LS hybrid version’s powertain. Thus, the Lexus LS FCEV version is thus expected to be pretty powerful with its powertrain. It is likely to offer up to 239 miles of pure eco-friendly driving, which is lower than the 300 miles range of the Mirai.
However, this news regarding the upcoming Lexus LS FCEV is purely based on speculations, as none of it has been confirmed by Toyota. However, the Japanese auto giant did say earlier that following the Mirai, it will start working on other FCEV models.
The same auto site has also reported that Toyota Motor is also contemplating to launch the hydrogen fuel cell versions of many other vehicles including the Crown and the Corolla.
The reports surely go with the Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda’s words at the Mirai’s unveiling, that a world full of green vehicles will lessen the oil dependence and reduce environmental damage.
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I am into the auto blogs field for quite a long time. Living my passion of reviewing cars.
Tagged: Lexus LS FCEV
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