Dilemma

i'll probably get the prius. don't know enough about the rav, but i would like to test drive one when they are available. i don't have range anxiety, but 14 miles takes care of me 5 days a week and i don't have to think about a second car for the 'now and thens'.

 

There isn't much information about RAV4 EV yet. I think Prius PHV is going to come out first.

RAV4 EV is going to be better in the snow. It depends on your needs.

 

If it will meet your needs go with the pure EV rather than the mild PHEV.

 

I'd prefer a plug in hybrid 4wd RAV4.

With a manual transmission... ray:

But yea, I'm going to go with the plug in prius...

 

I think that you are going to have to play wait and see on this one. One huge unknown right now is the price but my bet is that the RAV4 EV is going to be a lot more expensive than the Plug-in Prius. Tesla are going to be building the drive train components for the RAV so it is going to have one of their Lithium Ion battery pack which isn't that cheap. My guess is the RAV is going to be $15K to $20K more expensive than the Plug-in Prius and for me the price alone would push me to the Prius.

Another consideration is charging. The Plug-in Prius can easily be charged overnight on 110V but the RAV may not be able to get a full charge overnight unless you install one of the 220V chargers and this could require an upgrade to your electric system (most won't need this but you need to check). Where I live I wouldn't be able to install the charger so that also rules out the RAV4EV

 

I would get the Prius plug-in first since we know a thing or two about it. Later I would look to replace the Venza with the RAV4 EV. In my book, the best 2-car combination is a plug-in hybrid and an EV.

 

I believe that I read that Toyota is projecting a decent number of Prius plug ins - if memory serves me something like 15,000 a year and a nationwide distribution. I have not seen anything on the Rav4 EV, but my guess is that they will be making significantly fewer and will likely be limiting the markets where they are sold.

Also - your profile says that you are in Upstate NY - that is a pretty big area since folks from Manhattan refer to anything north of Westchester as upstate. I spent my first year of college in Syracuse and the winter was brutal - I would imagine that it would be less than ideal for the battery and I could see the usable range being way lower than 100 miles in the dead of winter. I have seen that the Leaf's range drops to under 60 miles in the cold.

 

I think Steve is right about reduced range in winter. Also in this review, GreenCarReports' John Voelcker commented that it takes more energy to heat the cabin than to keep the car going at 50mph on a very cold day.

‪Electric Cars: A New Generation of Plug-Ins‬‏ - YouTube

 

Yep - I agree. That is our plan is to have a Leaf and a Prius PHV. We already have the Leaf and a standard Prius. With that combination both my wife and I will be able to drive pretty much the vast majority of the time with those longer trips still being viable with the Prius.

 

Oh no! don't get me wrong! I am a big fan of the Venza and I can see why she likes it. I am getting a Prius plug-in next year and hope to look at Tesla model S later.

 

Initial sales of Toyota RAV4 EV limited to California — Autoblog Green

That should help you with your decision.

 

. And that $7500 tax credit is certainly appealing.


220. Check.[/QUOTE]


$7,500 tax credit......please tell me more !!!!!!! I have heard nothing about this.

 

It's EV the same as a leaf so yeah 7500 tax credit should still apply.

 

Fortunately, my wife is already a Prius fan. In fact, she drives my Leaf quite often too. So switching to the Prius PHV is a no-brainer for us.

However, we came within hours of getting two Leafs. I had one on order, and then ended up finding and buying an orphan a month before my order came in. We had planned to buy the second Leaf when it came in and literally a few hours before driving up to the Nissan dealer to pick it up, my wife backed out and said that we should keep a Prius so that we can have a long-range vehicle in the house.

 

While it is true that the word dilemma was properly used in that there is a choice of two (more choices or no known choice is a quandary) dilemma also connotes that neither choice is a good one, which I assume you didn't mean.

</grammar rodeo>

I would go with the RAV 4 in your area, but the plug-in where I am. Of course, I am going with the v.

 

$7,500 tax credit......please tell me more !!!!!!! I have heard nothing about this.[/QUOTE]

Tax credits for EV and PHEV are based on the capacity of the battery pack. The Volt, Leaf, Wheego Whip, Tesla Roadster and when they come the Mitsubishi I, Ford Focus EV and Tesla S all qualify for a $7500 tax credit.

The battery pack on the Prius EV is too small for the full credit but it is eligible for a tax credit of $2,500.

Two things to be wary of.

Only new vehicles are eligible for the tax credit. There are unscrupulous dealers out there who buy up these EVs, registering them to get the tax credit, then selling them as used, sometimes above MSRP.

The second thing is that the tax credit can push people into the Alternative Minimum Tax so the credit may not be what you expect.

Now, I'm not an accountant so if in doubt talk to your tax specialist before making a decision based on tax credits.

Some States, including California also have tax incentives for the purchase of EV and PHEV vehicles.

Noel
evfinder.com