Montreal Gazette

LEXUS’S HOVERBOARD TAKES OFF

Science fiction turns into reality

- CRAIG TRUDELL AND YUKI HAGIWARA

Imagine, if you will, being handed what looks like a skateboard that almost magically hovers an inch or three above the ground. See yourself running, your hand beneath the board as it floats, suspended in midair. Carefully step on it to test out its buoyancy. And then take a running leap onto it — just as you would with your beloved skateboard — only to have it slide out underneath you, leaving you flat on your rear.

Welcome to the world of the Lexus hoverboard.

Profession­al skateboard­er Ross McGouran had to start over again as a beginner, learning to move without the help of any friction under- neath. Science fiction turned into reality during the three days Lexus filmed the Slide mini- movie series.

Lexus has a history of facing the competitio­n, such as German engineerin­g, head- on. So it might strike some as a surprise that Toyota’s luxury car brand turned to the land of BMW and Mercedes when it wanted to create a hoverboard. Then again, Marty McFly said it himself: “Yeah, well, history is gonna change.”

Before we get to that, here’s a brief descriptio­n how it works: Lexus’s hoverboard uses magnetic levitation, or maglev, to achieve frictionle­ss movement. Liquid nitrogen- cooled supercondu­ctors are combined with a magnetic surface to essentiall­y repel gravity. Maglev technology itself isn’t new, and this isn’t the first hoverboard to use it. American startup Arx Pax raised over half a million dollars last year through a Kickstarte­r campaign to fund its Hendo Hoverboard. That device is dependent on batteries that last just 10 minutes to 15 minutes and take an hour or two to charge. The technology is also being used in mass rapid transporta­tion systems such as the Shanghai Maglev Train. In Japan, the SCMaglev test train recently reached a top speed of 603.5 km/ h ( 375 m. p. h.).

What is new: the spin that Lexus’s German engineerin­g partner, Evico, has put on the technology. Its design fits neatly into the Back to the Future movie buff ’s perception of how a hoverboard should look and work — especially those partial to Japanese luxury cars with spindle grilles and bamboo.

“This is essentiall­y floating on air. If you’ve ever tried to stand on a board, or something on water without any momentum, that’s what this kind of feels like.” says David Nordstrom, a general manager for global branding at Lexus Internatio­nal in Tokyo.

Even though Lexus and Evico were able to pull off the project, don’t expect to see a hoverboard fly past while you’re walking down the street next year. To use maglev technology that would make this sort of hoverboard work, you need a magnetic metal track. Normal concrete pavements won’t do. Lexus solved this issue by converting a skate park in Barcelona into a temporary hoverboard skate park. On an existing track composed of cement and wood, the Lexus and Evico teams swooped in to lay down hundreds of small magnets.

If Nordstrom is right, Lexus may have disappoint­ing news for fans: The company won’t even venture a guess as to how much the hoverboard would cost.

So why develop a hoverboard in the first place? Well, the auto industry has long been an arena whose players fight for eyeballs. The competitio­n for attention has never been stiffer: Carmakers are duking it out with technology giants that aspire to build self- driving vehicles, and at least one chief executive officer moonlights as the head of a rocket company. It’s never been as challengin­g as it is today to rise above the rest and turn heads.

So there: a real, working hoverboard.

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 ??  ?? Profession­al skateboard­er Ross McGouran jumps a Lexus car.
Profession­al skateboard­er Ross McGouran jumps a Lexus car.

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