Lexus has developed the Eco-Vehicle Assessment System (Eco-VAS) to evaluate the impact of a vehicle on the environment and society, throughout its lifecycle.

Eco-VAS is a comprehensive design tool, which Lexus' engineers use to measure a vehicle's impact throughout its design and production, distribution, use and disposal.

At the recent launch of the new model RX450h, Lexus New Zealand's Manager Debbie Pattullo said that Lexus vehicles are designed to be 95 per cent recyclable.

Ms Pattullo discussed the various measures Lexus is taking globally and locally to consider the environment and lessen its impact on society.

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION
Development and design greatly affect the overall environmental impact of a vehicle.

Fuel efficiency, exhaust emissions, the use of hazardous substances and raw materials are all assessed.

Engineers use data from the Eco-VAS design tool to explore every potential impact and ways to overcome them prior to sending a single new car into production.

The focus of Lexus' design efficiency is to build a vehicle that is lean in its use of raw materials, its fuel, and its impact on the environment while pushing the boundaries of performance, luxury and quality.

Lexus have taken measures to increase the use of natural materials in both hybrid and non-hybrid models.

Kenaf, a highly sustainable grass plant similar to bamboo, is used inside the doors and seatbacks.

Five per cent of the filler used in the passenger seats of the Lexus RX Hybrid is made of a soy oil-based polyurethane foam.

Water based paint is used for vehicle under coatings, reducing Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emissions by nearly 70%.

When seat cushions, floor mats and roof liners are made, leftover cuts are reconstituted as sound insulation in the doors, roof, floor and chassis.

Engineers also developed a special plastic called Toyota Super Olefin Polymer (TSOP) that can be recycled indefinitely. Usable in everything from bumpers to dashboards, the TSOP formula has been made available to every auto manufacturer.

All Lexus manufacturing facilities are accredited to ISO14001 environmental management system, and work to aggressive targets to reduce energy and natural resource use, as well as waste and emissions.

DISTRIBUTION
Lexus also measures its environmental impact from the distribution of vehicles and vehicle parts throughout Japan and overseas.

Vehicles are imported into New Zealand on the Toyofuji shipping line, owned by Toyota.

The modern fleet of specially designed car carriers incorporates the latest fuel-saving technologies for sea freighting, saving a third of the fuel compared to conventional shipping.

Within New Zealand, Lexus measures the CO2 emissions from our vehicle distribution working with freight providers to reduce the environmental impact from our distribution network.

Local freight efficiencies have been implemented in when moving vehicles around New Zealand.

Returnable containers are used in the distribution and packing of parts to the Lexus dealer network. Parts are packaged with 100% recycled cardboard and protected from damage with shredded recycled paper from the office.

DRIVING
As well as leading the way with hybrid technology, Lexus is constantly improving conventional petrol engines to increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

Lexus vehicles are amongst the most fuel efficient in the market and the average fuel economy of all the vehicles we sold in NZ has improved by 16.6 per cent since 2002.

The maintenance and servicing of vehicles also has an environmental impact. Lexus has extended service intervals, developed long-life fluids and works with dealerships to recycle and recover materials.

DISPOSAL
End of Life Vehicles (ELVs) are cars which have come to the end of their lives usually sent to dismantling companies where a number of parts are removed and reused.

Lexus' Eco-VAS design approach aims to improve the dismantling, resource recovery and recycling of materials at the end of the vehicles life.

This approach has led to the development of a number of innovative technologies and processes, reducing the demand on natural resources and the volume of waste to landfill.

Lexus has been progressively implementing numerous recovery and recycling measures - in some cases creating new products from 'wastes' discarded by society:

Lexus converts waste materials such as plastic bottles into quality insulation materials, used in car parts such as engine covers and floor mats.

Lexus uses the Toyota Super Olefin Polymer which does not deteriorate even after repeated recycling and Thermo Plastic Olefin (TPO).

Lexus uses recycled plastic in many car parts and is a leader in the development and use of bio-plastics, which do not contain the harmful chemicals and petroleum contained in conventional plastics. These are used to produce spare wheel covers, and floor mats and have potential for much wider application.

Lexus diverts ELV waste away from landfill by reconstituting it into a raw material for sound proofing new cars. The shredded material has excellent sound absorbing qualities and is used in doors, floors and dashboards.

Lexus is working towards the early elimination of the use of four harmful chemical substances of concern (lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium).

Lexus hybrid batteries have a warranty of eight years or 160,000kms and last for the life time of the vehicle. Lexus has a programme in place for nationwide collection and recycling of HV batteries. Batteries are disassembled and component parts are recycled or reprocessed.

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