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Toyota reportedly working on a hydrogen-fueled Lexus limo
Toyota's first hydrogen car hasn't even gone on sale yet here in the US, and already we're hearing rumors about a follow-up vehicle. According to the Australian website Motoring, the Japanese auto giant is planning on taking the same fuel cell system it used in its mid-range Mirai sedan, and putting it into a higher-end Lexus LS limousine. For the most part, then, the new vehicle will make use of the same technology, though Toyota will apparently have to do some retro-fitting in order to make it work inside the current Lexus LS. (Unlike the LS, the Mirai was built from scratch as a hydrogen car.) If Motoring's report is correct, the new Lexus will have a fuel cell under the front seat, with the hydrogen tanks located behind the rear seat. Also, despite the fact that the LS wasn't originally designed as a hydrogen vehicle, it will reportedly offer nearly the same range as Toyota's existing FCEV: 239 miles, versus 300 on the Mirai. No word yet on price or whether this report is even true. And we suspect it could be a while before anyone sets the record straight -- the hydrogen-fueled Lexus LS is rumored to launch "by 2017," up to two years from now.
What you need to know about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
Damn the torpedoes (and Teslas)! Two of Japan's biggest automakers are about to make sizable wagers on a different kind of clean fuel tech: hydrogen power. Toyota will launch the $57,500 Mirai fuel cell vehicle (FCV, above) next year, while hydrogen veteran Honda will out a model in 2016. But wait, aren't EVs the last word in green cars? Fuel cell cars are EVs, in a way, but you can fill one up with hydrogen in five minutes rather than waiting hours for a charge. The only way to do that in an electric vehicle (EV) is by swapping the entire battery. So why is there exactly one production FCV available to buy today, but EVs everywhere? That's a tale of efficiency, fuel, pollution and politics.
Don't mind the zero-emissions Mercedes fuel-cell car behind the invisible curtain (eyes-on video)
Mercedes wanted to make a dramatic statement about how its new B-Class F-Cell car passes through the environment without leaving a trace, so it placed it behind an invisible LED curtain. We wanted to (not?) see that for ourselves at the Paris Auto Show, so took a quick tour of the magic LED cloak and the technology behind it. It doesn't work quite as well in a show hall as it did when we first saw it in its natural habitat, but the system was still a fun way to show off Merc's green ambitions. It works by passing video from behind the car taken with a Sony video camera through a laptop to a 200 x 300 resolution LED curtain. That makes the car blend in with its background, which is what such a car would do in the real world as far as its emissions go -- apart from a little water, of course. See the video below for the complete technical explanation.
