I've never seen a manufacture this proactive about the new technolgies. Sure looks like Toyota is angling to place itself in the front of the pack and stay there!

I would rather see them extend the Prius concept to the RAV4 and some of their trucks. The hybrid technology should be of huge interest in commercial transport. Heavy transport may require more powerful batteries.

EXTEND the Prius concept to the Rav4? The Prius is based on the technology from the Rav4EV already! We need to more forward with EVs, not backwards to gasoline hybrids. Give me a full EV Prius any day!

Note that a CNG conversion can be filled from home. There are a few companies that sell a unit that bolts to the wall of your garage and compresses natural gas from your home to fill a vehicle tank. They are quite safe of course, having to meet stringent safety requirements.

The only drawback is range. The highest range I've seen is around 250 mi. OK for most applications, but not practical if you like to go on vacations in your car. That's why the gasoline or diesel hybrid is more practical. You just can't get enough gas compressed into a reasonably sized tank without using cryogenics (turning it into a liquid, or LNG). Propane is more practical as it liquefies at a much lower pressure, thereby giving you a good cruising range.

Please remember that Toyota is also the company who said very clearly that the EV program was a mistake, and that nobody wants to plug their cars in. It was just two years ago when they said that they would NOT be making any plug-in hybrids. Now that's all we hear about.

I'll have to figure out what this Rav4EV business is! Because for sure, this is the first I'd ever heard of that little project.

Should Toyota ever seriously get back to EV's I pray to God they'll hire a decent ad man. Let's face it, sex sells ~ and their RAV4ev ad was spelled, "L-O-O-S-E-R" ... not, "this car is cool".

YouTube - Toyota Rav4 EV Advertisement

Why didn't they just say, "This car aint much, but what can you expect ... it's electric".

More info:

Toyota/Lexus/Scion Pressroom: Portland RAV4-EV Program Tops List of Toyota Sustainable Mobility Initiatives
Toyota/Lexus/Scion Pressroom: Toyota Announces Portland-Placement Program For Off-Lease RAV4 Electric Vehicles

Are you going to move to Portland?

Yeah... no. Not hardly. As you've just pointed out, and I just confirmed, these are old, off-lease vehicles being put back into service. Big Whoodee-do. This is no "research into EVs." This is just "Keep using the cars we have because they keep on working." Big surprise. Remember though, that these are cars that just don't work....

Yup. Now compare it to a Tundra commercial and see if you note any change in tone.

If I had a car that I could fuel in my garage then range wouldn't matter. I would come home every night and plug the car in. For the rare case that I wanted to travel more than 250 miles I would just rent a car.

I value the convenience of home refueling 99% of the time more than the hassle of renting a car 1% of the time.

Same argument applies to a 100-150 mile EV.

Toyota never said they were quitting EV - it is just that it doesnt make sense right now with current technology...

I have a strong suspicion ( my own admittedly ) that the major hybrid players have a gentlemens agreement not to step on each others toes until some date in the future.

The RAV hybrid would compete too closely with the Escape hybrid. As of now none of the hybrids on the market compete directly, except the Altima and Camry hybrids in a few limited markets.

If you lay out the offerings from Honda, Ford, Toyota and GM none are in the same categories. Maybe in 2-3 years this 'agreement' will expire. Then we'll see a Fusion, Malibu, Aura and Sonata hybrid all going after the TCH market.

its hard to say it doesnt make sense when i have an EV and a LOT of people say that if it did 40 miles roundtrip and as little as 50 mph, they would get one in a heartbeat.

the RAV4 beats that big time. what we need is a COMMUTER CAR!!! not an SUV

I'm all for CNG. Hydrocarbons, over the next few years, will merely be a transitional fuel, as we transition, via hybrids, from hydrocarbons to EVs. CNG is better than gasoline because it is mainly domestic, and not imported from Iran and their friends.
(although, EVs will likely always have ICE backup generators)

How about a CNG hybrid? What if a Prius combusted CNG instead of gasoline - perhaps a range increase from "250mi" to 400mi?

Or, perhaps the American automakers said to themselves "gee, SUVs are our number one seller, and we don't sell near as many cars. What can we do to make our SUVs more appealing? Make hybrid versions."
Ford and GM knew that they sold significantly more SUVs than cars, and that what they needed to focus on (from a business perspective) was to keep their SUVs appealing to buyers, and focusing on SUV hybrids was the natural answer. For example only, if they sold 1,000,000 SUVs per year and only 5,000 cars, it wouldn't make financial sense to put R&D into a hybrid car before they first had SUV hybrids. Does that make sense? It might not make sense from an environmental standpoint, but it does from a business standpoint. You and I don't drive SUVs, but when we are on the road, we see SUVs everywhere. THOSE are the people that want hybrid SUVs, and GM and Ford simply addressed the market.

some articles say these are new rav4 EVs and some articles say that they are the old refurbished ones, anyone know

My friends in Seattle tell me it's the 3 RAV4 EV lease returns Toyota donated. Not 100 % sure. We'll have to wait to see some pictures.

I hope Toyota manufacturs new RAV4 EVs. I would purchase one .

I have to agree with you sport. They need to continue to extend the improved economy of the Prius to other areas by concentrating on economy over performance. I just hope they don't go down the EV only road as that is a dead end as far my needs are concerned. I know there is a niche for these very limited range vehicles but a greater impact could be achieved by producing more main stream vehicles which have a broad appeal to the public. Keep the range crippled pure EV's and give me a high efficiency hybrid any day.