Lexus LS Getting the Olympic Hydrogen Treatment

By adpock - August 31, 2015

Lexus LS

This sounds like a gold medal in the making.

Toyota hopes to get everything it can out of their 2020 Toyota Olympics’ sponsorship, so Lexus’s parent company is launching eight new alternative vehicles ahead of the games, including a new hydrogen powered Lexus LS.

According to Automotive News, a new LS should be rolling out by 2018, and will be packing the new hydrogen fuel cell powetrain featured in the newly released Toyota Mirai.

Currently, the hydrogen-powered Mirai can travel roughly 300 miles, takes about five minutes to fuel, and emits water vapor instead of exhaust. You can even use it to siphon energy into your home. Now that’s some fancy tech, which is perfect for the Olympics. Apparently, the Games have a history of using environmentally friendly sponsor vehicles. Something about athletes needing clean air to run more efficiently, or something whacky like that.

Toyota is hoping more green machines rolling around Tokyo in 2020 ultimately means getting more green out of the sponsorship. So the company is betting big on alternate fuel cells. Besides the LS, expect to see a Crown sedan using the Mirai powertrain; and new fuel cell versions of the Estima minivan, a model based on the JPN Taxi Concept, Toyota’s entire lineup of Japanese vans, a new plug-in version of the 4th gen Prius, and the Toyota Century limousine, which hasn’t seen an update since the mid-90s.

So, what do you think? Is Toyota doing the right thing by going for the green?