Just the other day, we told you about a Toyota Rav4 EV that had sold for a ridiculous $89,200 on Ebay. Even though the listing makes it look like all is well and good with the sale, it seems that the bid was retracted.

Here is the story in the words of Chip Gribben, from the EVDL:

An alert friend following the bidding on the RAV-4 discovered the
$89,000 bid has been retracted.

Not sure all the details but from what I understand the wife of the
man who bid $89,000 for the RAV-4 said her husband has a brain tumor
and is not making responsible decisions at this stage.

The seller says, he is not expecting anyone to buy it for $89,000 and
would be interested in selling it for an offer over “the 3rd bidder’s
$69,800.00.”

Anyway, whether it sold for $69 or $89 grand that is well above the
original $40,000 the RAV-4 originally cost.

I told my wife it should send a message to the car makers. But she
says the only thing the US automakers will get from it is not
necessarily the US should build hybrids but they should build more
“SUV” hybrids.

Of course, we don’t know the full story, but as Chip points out, either way, EVs are commanding a premium in these days of high fuel prices. It makes you wonder what some of the other EVs (notably the EV1) would be selling for if they hadn’t been crushed by the manufacturers.

Whether or not the bid was actually cancelled, it seems that word of the high price the Rav4 EV “sold” for has spread, and it is even mentioned in this Rav4 EV Ebay auction, which, at the time of publication has 6 days of bidding left, is already above $50,000.

These EVs may look like relics of the past compared to what’s upcoming from companies like Tesla and Nissan, but the high prices their pulling in definitely show that the market is ready for electrics, even if it comes with a hit to the wallet.

UPDATE: According to ABG, the bidding issues have been resolved and the original ended up selling for a still record-setting $69k+.

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At first I thought the world had gone a little mad with people coughing up $100k for the electric Telsa Roaster, but now I guess I’ve seen it all. One inquisitive forum member recently checked the prices on used Honda Insights, which are going for about twice what they were a few years ago, and I thought that was nuts!

Well, evidently there really is a price premium being put on fuel efficient cars these days (or in this case, cars that don’t even use gas). This 2001 Rav4 EV, one of the few EVs made by the major manufacturers that escaped crushing after leases ran out, just sold on Ebay for a whopping $89,200. That’s almost as much as a brand new Tesla Roadster would cost, and more than many other electrics that are planning on being released in the near future.

This thing has definitely been used, at over 47k miles in the last 7 years, but that shouldn’t be any problem for the electric drivetrain. In fact, that’s encouraging, because unlike a lot of electric vehicles you see popping up for sale, you know this one has the range and recharge capabilities of handling a lot of miles if you need it to. The owner reports the range for this vehicle at over 100 miles, which is pretty good even by the standards of many concepts currently being discussed.

Nevertheless, at $89,200, do you think it’s worth it?

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