Toyota Says Electric RAV4 Will Set Pace For Mileage Per Charge

a few people we know went and drove one and claim that 120+ "real freeway miles" is easy to get which means i can get 150-160 if i try hard enough!

 

Its battery is 60% plus larger than the other mainline BEVs, with a price tag to match. Of course the others likely wouldn't work for me. Then again, when will the new Rav4EV be offered on the east coast?

 

I'm encouraged by that. Hopefully they will be a choice for us in a couple of years when our Volt lease is up.

 

It's still another stupid SUV for idiots.

 

It sounds like its a compliance vehicle that we won't see in other states. I don't think the Range thing is a good point for toyota to push. We then get into, for over $10K less after rebates you can get a c-max energi with no range limitations at all. Or for more than the rav4 ev you can get a tesla S and choose the battery size.

To sell this, the point has to be its the only electric SUV, but I'm not sure they want to sell many.

 

it is certainly compliance vehicle that they lose money on, as such, it is silly to say that inferior car like C-Max would be a better choice.

Thats just silly. In Rav4, you are paying 10k more for the car that costs $30k more to make.

At 80-120 real EV miles, it has good enough range for large population. To me it makes a lot more sense than a 10-20 mile plugin.

Right now top version of Rav4 is 33k... and this will be under $40k. Thats really pretty small price premium considering how much its battery costs.

 

The only thing wrong with your reply, was everything. For such an expensive car it also seems strange that they left off the options of leather and electrically adjusted drivers seat, things the c-max also has. Since Toyota is stressing range for its electric CUV, the range of just over 100 miles is certainly inferior to the the 550 miles of the c-max. That certainly can cut down on the utility of the vehicle not only for road trips but even for day trips. It really only wants to be compared to the leaf, but both only have range for short trips in california. So electric commutes with range for road trips you need to look at the c-max, or if pure electric the tesla S.

I don't think most people care how much money toyota loses to buy their car. Toyota won't even sell them in my state, but for sure a much larger proportion of the population would take a CUV with 20 mile electric range with gasoline refuels, than 103 AER epa. Some people were claiming the leaf would greatly outsell the volt in america, and these predictions appear quite wrong.

It's a good vehicle, but that press release was really badly written. It highlighted a weakness of the car instead of a strength. The marketing from toyota on this is truly bad.

 

If the purchaser qualifies for all the credits. Credits that all its competitors are also eligible for to some degree. So while The Rav4 EV has a greater range than its mainline EV rivals, it will still cost about $10,ooo more than them. If you need that range, and can pay, the Tesla S will give it to you for the same price as a vehicle to matches its price tag. A luxury sedan may not have all the utility of a compact SUV, but I bet it's a nicer drive on the daily commute.

 

+1

The rav4 ev is low on utility compared to most SUVs. It doesn't have much range, Its not 4wd, it likely will perform poorly off road. It has high ground clearance, although with the likely poor off road capabilities - high weight, 2wd - I would not stress that.

It does have a high seating position - king of the road - that many like, and a great deal of cargo room. These are the two advantages that Toyota can press compared to plug-in competitors.

Compared to the leaf, it has a big price disadvantage. It can stress the more powerful acceleration in sports mode, seating position, liquid cooled battery, cargo area. Range would be the last thing I would bring up, it might hurt sales of both vehicles.

Compared to the tesla S it has a price advantage. It's big benefit is cargo area and cost. It looses out on luxury, driving dynamics, power, range.

In RAV4 EV, Toyota Has Luxury Of Not Caring If You Buy One - Forbes

 

Only if you are comparing the larger optional batteries of the S. The base S with the 40Kwh pack is only a $100 more than the Rav4. Fueleconomy.gov is really lacking for comparing BEVs. It doesn't give range or pack size in the comparison. So I only have Tesla's claim of 160 miles for the small pack. An EPA number will be lower, but it won't be lower than the Rav4's number. Chances are it will be higher with its aerodynamic advantage.

The Rav4's only advantage is cargo space with 73.0/36.4cu.ft. behind front/rear seats.

The S isn't a slouch at it though.

• Total cargo volume: 31.6 cu ft
• Rear cargo volume (seats up/down): 26.3/58.1 cu ft
• Frunk cargo volume: 5.3 cu ft

Model S Specs and Standard Features | Tesla Motors
It's better than the Leaf. Which I think has enough space to meet most families daily needs. Vacation trips are another matter, but none of these BEVs are ready for that.

With Ford's supplier for the Transit Connect EV gone, the Rav4 EV may see success has a delivery vehicle.

 

Rav4 has huge trunk in real life and will likely be 10x more usable than Tesla S... Plus it is a lot more usable off road too.

Have you ever seen, been in or driven Rav4? Do you know when will Tesla S have similar trunk? In our dreams only. Plus Rav4 is known quantity, Tesla S is unknown.

 

Being a tall wagon/SUV, I would hope the Rav4 would have a more versatile cargo space. That's why I think it might sell as a business vehicle.

As a family EV, will that space actually be put to use, or will its cost drag down the user experience. Yes, cost. More usable cargo space usually requires compromises in aerodynamics. Same thing with the higher ground clearance.

The Rav4 EV isn't going to be used for vacations. Only the Tesla S optional $20k and $40k battery have the potential range for that. So the space isn't needed for that. Has the daily requirement of kid gear bloated up to the point that the space is needed daily for a family? Or is such a family too big for a Rav4?

The S only has a sedan shape, but it has about 12 more cubic feet of space than a Leaf, which is probably the next largest EV.

Being FWD, the Rav4 is going to be about as effective off road as my HHR. Remember, in order not to lose the cargo space compared to the ICE Rav4, a couple inches of ground clearance was lost. This brings it closer to the S's height. It may be a better choice to go down a gravel road, but more because of worry of paint damage. It won't be following Wranglers deeper into the bush. There also isn't much worry for most about snow in California.

Really, in what way? The Rav4 body has been on the road longer. The S is new, but their drive system has been tested in the Roadster. If a person is worried about Tesla's quality, why are they buying the Rav4 EV? They are the ones building the drive train and battery for Toyota.

 

Re read what I wrote. Rav 4 lacks the utility to go on road trips or even many day trips. It also does not have off road utility. I said it did share larger cargo area. For most of us the Tesla S's cargo area is fine, and it is quite usable as a luxury sport sedan. It even is close to the same price as some of its competitors.

Tesla S isn't going to grow more cargo area. That is the Tesla X, which comes out in 2014, and has much larger cargo area than the Rav 4 and gull wing doors to get to it. Many that do want the Sport Utility part of SUV may wait for that, as it comes in available 4wd and 85kwh battery pack. If you think Tesla is unrelible, you won't be buying a rav 4 with a tesla battery and drive train.
Model X | Tesla Motors

And the Tesla X, unlike the Rav 4 will be sold nation wide, not just in california. The tesla X also has seating for 7. No one knows if there is a market for electric SUVs, but my bet is that if there is such a market utility will be important The best selling hybrid SUV is the Lexus RX, and this has luxury touches the Rav4 EV does not have.

 

"The new RAV4 moves the ball technologically, for EVs. Developed in partnership with the Tesla Motors folks, it has an expected driving range of about 100 miles after a relatively short six hours of charging time on a 240-volt system."

Using Tesla's numbers I figure a Model S takes a shade over 3 hours to get 100 miles worth of charge.

From wiki the Rav4EV has a 27.4 kWh battery pack. Tesla claims to get 4 miles/kWh from their base pack so 100-110 miles seems reasonable.

EVs aren't cross country vehicles. How often is your car driven more than 100 miles at a time? An electric SUV makes sense on a local delivery route or regular commute.

There's a demand out there. As battery prices fall the vehicles will get cheaper and/or longer legged.

 

one day when it becomes available, we can determine how it stacks up to this Rav4... right now, it is all up in the air, especially reliability and there is a lot more to reliability of an car than batteries. Tesla literally has no experience, having previously bought Lotus cars.

As usual, when it comes to non-us manufacturer, you are as dense as always. Here is good car at good price being sold today. Not in a year, not in 2 years not an unknown.

 

You mean like the drivetrain? (Which, like the battery, is also supplied by Tesla.)

 

That was the first gen. The 2nd gen has a 41kWh usable. So yes, 100-110 is certainly reasonable.

If. They should fall, but we really don't know how much they'll fall (either by lower manufacturing cost or increased durability). That's the risk of the bet that governments are making. The pot odds are great though.

 

I mean like 90% of the car thats not the powertrain. And I mean not having Toyota warranty or production facilities.

I dont think producing cars is as simple as you guys believe, otherwise we would have Chinese cars on every corner.

Most importantly, Tesla X does not go on sale in quite a while and who knows what market price will end up being.

 

Honestly, I think they'd be happy but they're being conservative about the pricing. They need a compliance vehicle, but if it's a hit it'll increase the value of their $50M in Tesla and could signal more market acceptance of PEVs, which, given their the base of their well-developed, high-volume hybrid platform, would put them in a very strong position. They'd just need to develop their US parts supply chain to get around the strong Yen.