A luxury car company that creates a hoverboard? Why not? Te Lexus uses magnetic levitation and nitrogen-cooled superconductors to get its hoverboard in the air.

Creating SLIDE required re-engineering core technologies and uncovering true technical innovations. From assembling maglev technology into a board, to finding the right combination of superconductors, magnets and liquid nitrogen – every step pushed the team to stretch the possibilities of technology.

The hoverboard is constructed from an insulated core, containing HTSLs (high temperature superconducting blocks). These are housed in cryostats – reservoirs of liquid nitrogen that cool the superconductors to -197°C. The board is then placed above a track containing permanent magnets. When the board is cooled to its operating temperature the track’s magnetic flux lines are ‘pinned’ into place, maintaining the hover height of the board.

[Lexus International]