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Lexus Eco Challenge rewards schools for clean water, briquette press projects

Teams from one New Jersey high school and one Michigan middle school reversed the old adage by thinking locally and acting globally. And that strategy won them the grand prizes in the most recent edition of the Lexus Eco Challenge. The future is indeed bright. The Toyota luxury-vehicle division gave out a half-million dollars in this year's contest. One $30,000 grand prize was awarded to the Pinelands Eco Scienteers from Little Egg Harbor, NJ, which produced and distributed low-cost briquette presses to rural villages beset by deforestation. The other grand prize went to the E.T. Electrical Team from Byron Center West Middle School in Michigan. That middle-school group raised money to send water filters to Haiti, Kenya and the Philippines. Lexus also awarded eight $15,000 first-place awards, with the winners including high schools from California, Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania as well as middle schools from Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas. A special shout out goes to Daniel Boone Area High School in Birdsboro, PA, where students created an educational and public-relations campaign to publicize algae-based biofuels. In all, Lexus has doled out more than $4 million in Eco Challenge awards in seven years. Check out Lexus's press release below. Students Get Dollars and Sense in Lexus Eco Challenge - $500,000 Awarded to Teams Who Learn About Environment and Community Empowerment Two Grand Prize Teams Earn $30,000 Eight $15,000 First Place Awards Given to Innovative High School and Middle School Teams Students Bring Ideas to a Larger Audience and Make a Positive Impact on the World TORRANCE, Calif., (Feb. 24, 2014) – It's a win, win situation! Communities become a better place, and students, teachers and schools have the chance to share $500,000 in scholarships and grants through the Lexus Eco Challenge. This year, the $30,000 Grand Prize winners are the Pinelands Eco Scienteers from Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, and the E.T. Electrical Team from Byron Center, Michigan. The Lexus Eco Challenge is an educational program and contest that inspires and empowers young people to learn about the environment and take action to improve it. High school and middle school teams nationwide define an environmental issue that is important to them, develop an action plan to address the issue, implement the plan, and report on the results.

Lexus LC 500h | Autoblog's 2018 Technology of the Year winner

Each year, we here at Autoblog review and test hundreds of cars from dozens of automakers, but only a few show the kind of technological advancement (whether that's infotainment, active safety features, advanced engine or transmission designs, or novel suspension) required to compete in the Technology of the Year award process. We award an automaker for bringing to the market features, components or an entire vehicle that we feel pushes the industry forward and sets the stage for things to come. For 2018, the Autoblog Technology of the Year award goes to the Lexus LC 500h and its Multi-Stage Hybrid System. For years, hybrids have sacrificed engaging dynamics in favor of improved efficiency. A few high-end models bucked that trend, but nothing truly mainstream felt quite right. Lexus' Multi-Stage Hybrid System is different, marrying an e-CVT that has six virtual gears to a conventional four-speed automatic, resulting in 10 effective ratios. It's as complicated as it sounds, though in practice the difference between it and a standard automatic is nigh imperceptible. You get the benefits of a hybrid — fuel efficiency, part-time all-electric driving — without sacrificing driver enjoyment, all packaged inside a stunning, fun-to-drive grand tourer. We feel the new hybrid system really gives the LC 500h a leg up on the competition, particularly because it pairs long-distance comfort, high performance, and efficiency in a way we feel will really resonate with consumers (and competing automakers, too). Our editors were impressed by just how well the LC 500h passed off duties between the internal-combustion engine and the electric motors, the only real tell that it was in EV mode being the tachometer needle resting at zero. And the regular Lexus LC 500 is also a wonderful car. It's also a step forward for Lexus as a whole. For years, the Japanese automaker was known for solid luxury vehicles that were sedate to a fault. The LFA was a worthy halo car, but it was also basically unattainable to an average well-off buyer. The F performance vehicles (IS F, GS F, and RC F) gave a much-needed kick to the brand but were a bit rowdy and rough around the edges. The LC 500h strikes a more perfect balance that feels truer to Lexus' brand values: It's quiet without being boring, and exciting without offending. It's also green without punishing the driver for it. Lexus paid great care to get the balance of this car right.

Lexus exploring PHEV, full EV and fuel cell versions of LS flagship

After four years of rumors about a Lexus LS powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, the chief engineer of the flagship sedan says the carmaker's working on even more options. Toshio Asahi told Australia's GoAuto that three alternative powertrains — plug-in hybrid, full electric, and hydrogen — are "all on the table" for consideration. Asahi wouldn't give any timeframes, but whenever they arrive, additional drive options would fill out the LS range to better contend with the Germans. Years of reports predicted this fifth-generation LS would get hydrogen power. A Motoring article at the end of 2014 forecast a fuel cell LS to arrive by 2017. In 2015 Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported that Lexus was considering a fuel cell option to arrive in 2020, around the time of the Tokyo Olympics. Later that year, at the Tokyo Motor Show, Lexus showed off the LF-FC concept, powered by a cell and stack arranged for "optimum front-rear weight distribution for a sporty saloon." GoAuto said that during that show, a Lexus executive said an FCEV powertrain would end up in production "sooner than you think." The following year, Autocar reported we'd see a production version of the LF-FC "on sale before 2020" as a replacement for the LS, and last year, Lexus trademarked the name "LF-FC Concept." The intel gets murkier regarding plug-in hybrid and full electric versions. We now know Lexus is working on a more powerful hybrid system. The current hybrid produces a total system 354 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque using the same 3.5-liter V6 in the standard car as a base, though the standard car adds two turbos for 415 hp and 442 lb-ft. The coming hybrid will likely use the twin-turbo setup and could achieve two important ends: Smoothing out noted issues of powertrain refinement, and at least matching the power specs of Mercedes-Benz and BMW flagship plug-in hybrids. That hybrid LS would still miss out on the all-electric driving of its rivals. If there really is an LF-FC coming in the next two years, it would seem a perfect time to retire the conventional hybrid and introduce a plug-in version embodying the velvet sophistication Lexus is known for. The battery electric LS is a big question mark outside of Lexus HQ. Last year Toyota announced a breakthrough in solid state battery technology, the carmaker announcing it wanted such batteries on the market by 2022.