Featured Toyota RAV4 PHEV testing

if we're wishing .... how 'bout hihy's 3.5L V6 .... more towing, less engine load. Split a 16kWh pack under passenger seats & the rest in back. That'd get at least 30 AER

.

 

price will be the deciding factor. rav4h is selling well because of the small delta

 

And the bigger the battery, the more the $$/€€/££. There's a break-even somewhere there - and I don't believe it's got to be as high as some maintain.

 

Even lower than some will maintain. At least in USA, more & more are opting for solar panels. Solar makes the daily commute l pretty much fuel costs free, once the panels have amortized themselves. For us, (over 10 yrs ago) amortization took 6 years after calculating in the cost of gas in 2 cars that we didn't have to fill, plus the pre income taxed dollars we didn't have to pay, just to buy the gas - plus monthly utility bill. Never mind that the ice is running less than 5% of the time, which means the ICE isn't geting nearly as much wear-&-tear. Whether it's a hybrid, phev or ev - even during low gas prices eventually the system will amortize. Just takes longer. Not that most will even consider weather the fuelung efficiency system pays for itself. Many like these vehicles for numerous other reasons.
.

 

Outlander is about $50k here for base, about $58k for top-spec model - both drive-away RRP. Same spec in Petrol is $37k/47k. Hard to justify the outlay. Interestingly, going on previous model, depreciation is a higher percentage on PHEV (on a higher capital outlay too).

 

In the US, the PHEV starts at $35,795 MSRP(before adding any other fees) with the higher trim at $41,495. The entry level ICE starts at $24,695. Same trim and AWD to match the 'base' PHEV, $29,095.

With the federal tax credit of $5836, the price isn't too bad. Toyota should be able to do better, but we have no idea what other costs and compromises the Rav4 Prime will have.

 

irony of ironies. Because Mitsubishi has sold so few plug-in hybrids, much less their teeny iMEV all electric, they are still getting the $7,500 tax credit from the feds. So you drop that tax credit onto the most expensive fully optioned Outlander, you can end up paying way less than the stripped version in those states if you have no incentives, or for folks that fall into the Alternative Minimum Fed Tax scenario? where you get 0 fed credits? ... sometimes you can pay less for a plug-in fully optioned then one that's stripped pretty much - turning on odd variables.
Anyone have an idea where Toyota is - as far as their first 200,000 plug-in cars getting full amount of tax credits? I know it's not the same $7,500 that some manufacturers get, but the 200K dollar number still applies - even if it's not the full amount.
.