LF FC i
John Mahoney29 Nov 2016
NEWS

Next Lexus LS bags hydrogen fuel-cell tech

Japanese car-maker's luxury flagship to get zero-emissions Toyota Mirai technology

Lexus will offer its next-generation LS limousine, that's due in 2019, with a hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain for the first time, it has been revealed.

Likely to be offered alongside a conventional 350kW/530Nm 5.0-litre V8-powered version and an even more powerful plug-in hybrid powertrain, the hydrogen fuel-cell powered LS has already been teased -- back in 2015 with the LF-FC Tokyo motor show concept.

That car was said to have a "high output" fuel cell that powered a motor that drove the rear axle and fed power to two in-hub motors in the front wheels.

The show car also neatly packed its fuel-cell stack strategically at the rear of the vehicle for optimum weight distribution. Mounting the power control unit at the front, the large hydrogen tanks were set in a T-formation, again, for the benefit of weight distribution.

A similar arrangement is expected to be used in the production car, it's been reported.

Refusing to explicitly confirm the hydrogen-powered limo, Lexus Europe boss Alain Uyttenhoven told Autocar: "We know how to make fuel cells and the only challenge is how to package a fuel cell in a car that also needs a certain level of performance".

Uyttenhove also said that Lexus would have to "demonstrate the right levels of performance" for hydrogen-powered luxury car to compete but went on to add that, for refinement, fuel-cells were "ideal".

It's thought that the introduction of Lexus' first ever hydrogen fuel-cell-powered LS in 2019 will coincide with a huge improvement of the global hydrogen fuel station infrastructure, although Lexus is reportedly only expecting to sell the zero-emission LS in the "hundreds, not thousands".

Sales of the flagship fuel-cell LS limo will be specifically targeted in cities like London, Paris, LA and Tokyo, where local governments are proposing to introduce strict emissions controls that could include banning conventional diesel and petrol vehicles from city centres.

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