Why RAV4 EV and not say Celica or MR2 EV?

I've been driving a Rav4 EV for 22 months now. 25,000 miles to date. It has amazing utility and versatility. My family uses it for everything. It is our principle car. Take the kids to school every day, commute to work etc etc. Here's a lengthy write up on my take after I had driven the car for one year (One Year On: My Life With the Toyota Rav4 EV Electric Car (Part 1 of 3) - Transport Evolved). As you'll see I love this car!! Advantages over most other non-Tesla EVs out there include: 1) longer range. With a 41.8 kWh battery I can easily coax over 150 miles out of a single charge and have done so many times. 2) much much more space. You can use the Rav4 EV for trips to big box stores like Costco and for trips to your Home Depot, Lowes etc. Huge storage capacity. I've taken it on weekend camping trips and had more than enough space for every we needed (here's my write up of that trip: Guest Post: Celebrating National Drive Electric Week in a 2012 Toyota Rav4 EV Electric Car). 3) The idea that EVs are not viable because of long charging times might be reconsidered for daily commuting. I totally agree range needs to increase, but the current crop of EVs out there with ~80 miles range make good commuter cars for many. Most EVs charge over night when you are sleeping or like me charge at work while you are busy at your desk. Over 25,000 miles I've never been stuck anywhere nor have I ever had to wait for the car to charge. It does help to live in CA where there is good public infrastructure (today I added 50 miles charge to my car while shopping at Costco). PLUS rapid chargers are changing the game. As well all know, Tesla is leading the way on this front. Total charging time for a Model S to cross the United States? 15 hours. I'm getting a CHAdeMO port on my Rav4 EV that will let me charge my Rav to 80% capacity in 30 or 40 minutes. That'll dramatically extend my range for weekend road trips or vacations in CA / Oregon / Washington. Stopping for say 30 - 45 minutes every 100 miles would be fine for me for now. Really it is an awesome car. If you live in CA see if you can find someone who has one to test drive. This car is a blast!!!

 

Where to start. The Celica isn't going to come back as a Toyota. North America was its center of popularity. Because of that, we got the Scion tC.

The Rav4 EV was a conversion made by Tesla for Toyota to meet CARB requirements. The original one has gained a cult following, so redoing it was likely viewed as a way to help sell it. The Toyota and Tesla partnership has come to an end, and so has the Rav4 EV.

I agree a two seater would make more sense for the daily commuter in multiple car households, but they just aren't big sellers. In order to sell a car at a low price, a car company needs to sell them in volume to make it worthwhile. For single car households, a two seater will be passed on, limiting the potential number of buyers from the beginning. The original Insight and CR-X weren't as big as sellers as the Civic and Fit for Honda. They cancelled the CR-Z in Europe, and are hoping to save it in the US by making it a sportier, ICE only model.

Even if the back seat is a tight fit, it is there in case the people mover car in the shop or otherwise unavailable. Plus, it gives more flexibility in carrying stuff. Even if the two seater was the same size, but it is likely smaller. At this time, being small could hurt a BEV's performance. There needs to be space for batteries. The smart fortwo ED has a range of 65 miles. This is probably why the Rav4 was originally chosen for a BEV model. A SUV simply has more spots to stick batteries in without hurting cabin or cargo space

The smart ED is probably the least expensive BEV that can be bought. It is slowly being rolled out across the country. The ICE model gets compared to a go kart. So even if the ED isn't exactly fast, its agility could make up for it. That is if the 65 mile range is enough for a person. Then there is the Spark EV, which reviewers say drives and performs better than the ICE model, and has more than 80 miles of range. Though tiny, it is a four door with matching seats.

 

toyota doesn't believe in ev's right now. get a leaf or some such until they see the light. the prices have never been lower.

 

You're not taking the physical restrictions of battery packs into consideration. Sure, the difference in body weight does lessen efficiency with the larger EVs, but there can be far more room to mount a battery pack. The substantially larger area available for batteries offsets the difference in efficiency by several times, and that's one of the reasons why the Model S and the RAV4 EV are able to have substantially more range than the other EVs on the market.

That's just not the case.

1) As above, the space under that rear seat is filled with extra batteries, giving the RAV4 EV more range than an MR2 would have. Even if someone isn't sitting there, those extra batteries sure do help.
2) As a family with two cars, we would prefer that both cars have more than two seats so that there is always a reasonable backup car in case one of the cars is unavailable, either because of schedule or because of maintenance.
3) EV owners tend to gravitate towards the EV as the primary car because they're far cheaper to operate than gas cars, and even your Prius C. Sure, the RAV4 EV is less efficient than a tiny Spark EV, but it's still much more efficient than your Prius. You save a lot of money by using the EV, so you want to use it for as many trips as you can. (Hint: the RAV4 EV, after tax credits and incentives, could often be had for the cost of a similarly equipped Prius V.) (Another hint: if you own a solar system, you get "free" fuel... from the sun.)
4) The EV offers a better driving experience than most gas cars or hybrids. Why not use it on more trips? It'd be sad to have to use the gas-burner just because there's more than two of us to haul around.

In short, the RAV4 EV's size is a huge benefit. More size = more batteries = more power = more range and faster acceleration = more savings. The additional batteries facilitate improvements in convenience, range, and performance.

In addition, the large size meant that fewer engineering decisions had to be made regarding retrofitting the car for EV use. Tesla didn't have to cram batteries in the trunk or literally under seats - they had plenty of room to install a fairly standard, inobtrusive sled underneath the car. They wouldn't have had that luxury with a small car.

Now, I've driven a two-seat EV, the little Smart ED. It's fun. But range is an issue, and performance isn't as good - again, because there's less room for batteries. As a RAV4 EV owner with 30,000 miles, I can assure you, the size has been nothing but an asset to me and my family.