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Just was reading an article on wards about the Rav 4 EV and thought I'd share some info since its a bit of a different beast than we normally see as an EV.

Toyota Defends RAV4 EV Pricing as Launch Nears | Sales & Marketing content from WardsAuto

Of interest to me were:

Quote:

...goes on sale in late summer with a pre-credit price of $49,800.

...

Thanks to a number of tweaks from the base RAV4, including exterior mirrors from a Korean Camry, a flat-paneled underbody and larger rear spoiler, the EV has a 0.30 coefficient of drag, down from 0.35 Cd in the gas model on par with a sedan, Toyota says.

By employing widespread use of light-emitting diodes, including vertical LED daytime running lights, Toyota says there is a 58% reduction in "normalized" wattage use from the current RAV4, comparable to a 132-lb. (60-kg) weight loss and lending a near 1% increase in driving range.

Through various heating, ventilation and air-conditioning ECO modes, drivers can lower the power drain on the battery pack. By using ECO LO and ECO HI, which reduce the level at which the blower, compressor and electric heater operate, a driver can cut his power consumption by up to 18% and 40%, respectively, Toyota says.

...

The RAV4 EV has two charging modes: standard and extended. The extended mode provides a 113-mile (182-km) range, with the battery rated at 41.8 kWh. Standard mode is good for a 92- mile (148-km) range, and the battery charges to 35 kWh.

The charge mode info I find interesting. 35 kWh for 92 miles of range makes for 380 wh/mile. A friend recently bought a Leaf and is currently getting a real world 213 Wh/mile, not too far from double the electric mileage!

The two big gripes I've heard of it so far are both around the price, people saying that they will never recoup the cost if you compare to a Toyota Prius or a compact car and that $49,000 is just to much money for a vehicle.

My response to those comments is that if a compact car or a Prius fit your life and your needs then why would you bother buying an SUV in the first place??? it's like saying that it costs so much more then a moped and it's cost per mile is more then a moped... you have to compare same vehicles to same vehicles! compare it to the life time cost of owning a gasoline Rav4, just like comparing the Leaf to the Versa is pretty fair because they are based off the same vehicle.

Now my 2nd point was the over all life time cost of vehicle ownership, with EV's you tend to pay up front while with gasoline your cost is spread over the entire life of the vehicle, but EV's tend to still be cheaper to own, so look at that $49,000 price tag and ask why you would want to own a gasoline SUV that is going to cost you even more over it's life time, some people also say that no one will ever pay that much for an electric SUV, but people have! 10 year old Toyota Rav4-ev's have sold on Ebay for $50,000 used!!! if no one is willing to pay that much for a brand new one then why are 10 year old used ones selling for so much?

Nissan is also doing the same thing with their charging, where if you want to have the battery pack last as many years as possible you tell the car that you can live with a reduced range.

The reduction in electrical load being equal to 132lb/60kg of weight loss is really interesting, I wish they would have given a wattage figure.

I was suitably impressed that someone thought to ask Toyota why they don't include some of these aero mods on the gasser RAV4. From ABG's report:

Quote:

When asked why these sorts of little improvements were not added to the gas-burning RAV4, Toyota's Sheldon Brown, the executive program manager in the TTC's PDO department, said that it's not so simple. The underbody panels, for example, didn't need to be designed to deal with a hot exhaust pipe and so you can't just use the same plastic and shape on the ICE RAV4. The mirrors and rear spoilers, though? Those seem easy enough to use no matter what the powertrain, so we'll keep our eyes open when the new model appears.

2013 Toyota RAV4 EV [w/video]

Hello -

This is a Tesla drivetrain, so I can believe the price :

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The 73 cu.-ft. (2.1 cu.-m) of space behind the RAV4's front seats is unchanged for the electric model. The battery does not intrude into the vehicle's cabin, due somewhat to its easy-to-package and famous laptop-grade lithium-ion batteries from partner Tesla that are cylindrical in shape.

The RAV4 EV is a 50/50 project between Toyota and Tesla, says executive project manager Sheldon Brown, of the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, MI.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda and Tesla founder Elon Musk announced the RAV4 EV pact in May 2010. Tesla handled the electric powertrain and Toyota the remainder of the vehicle, including the vehicle human-machine interface, aerodynamics, safety and ride and handling, from the Ann Arbor tech center under the helm of Brown and chief engineer Greg Bernas.

What was the price of the "1st Gen" Rav EV? Wasn't it a lease-only but some people still have them or ?!?!?!?

CarloSW2

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Originally Posted by cfg83 (Post 320685)

This is a Tesla drivetrain, so I can believe the price :

Yes, the Tesla drive train also jacks up the price, limited production numbers do as well.

Quote:

What was the price of the "1st Gen" Rav EV? Wasn't it a lease-only but some people still have them or ?!?!?!?

You could buy them as well, kind of like the Chevy S-10 and the Ford Ranger EV's only those two trucks were sold mostly as fleet vehicles, the Rav-4 was mostly leased but was also sold outright and was never "recalled" so there are still people out there driving them every day.