2012 Toyota RAV4 EV: First Drive Of Tesla-Powered Crossover Page 2
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That means owners will have a sufficiently beefy 240-Volt Level 2 charging station if they want to charge a fully discharged pack overnight.
Toyota has arranged with Leviton to offer a custom charging station that delivers 9.6 kW at 40 amps, which will give you a recharge time of just 6 hours for the full pack. The price starts at $1,590 including basic installation.
On the other end of the scale, charging at 110 Volts with the cord that comes standard under the rear deck is tortuous, with a full pack charge requiring far more than 24 hours.
The motto: Big packs require special charging stations--which may require you to rewire your garage first. You have been warned.
Good handling, not great
With the 840-pound battery pack as the lowest part of the vehicle, the handling of the Toyota RAV4 EV is good. Oddly, the lower center of gravity (as good as a sedan's, Toyota says) makes the tall crossover seating position feel higher than in the conventional vehicle.
Toyota has re-weighted its electric power steering to give less assist on the highway and more assist at low speeds, where the extra weight demands it. The steering feel is less noticeably numb than on many other Toyota products, though there's still not a lot of road feel available.
Overall, while the handling isn't as well balanced as our all-time favorite crossover, the 2013 Mazda CX-5, it's better than average for a compact crossover.
Affluent-family #WIN
The 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV has the potential to be the best and most practical battery electric vehicle sold in the U.S. south of Tesla's luxury-priced Model S sedan range.
While the 2012 Nissan Leaf offers 73 miles of EPA-rated range and sacrifices some portion of that at freeway speeds, the RAV4 EV apparently hits the magic 100-mile mark, if not quite the 120 miles that many plug-in advocates feel is the real sweet spot.
So now affluent, early adopter families can add an electric crossover to the list of plug-in cars to test-drive along with the Leaf, the Chevy Volt, and the Tesla Model S.
The electric RAV4 may also simply whet the market's appetite for the upcoming 2014 Tesla Model X crossover, complete with "falcon doors" and its 60- or 85-kWh battery pack options.
Which is why it's such a shame that so few of these will be built through the 2014 model year.
We understand why; such a development partnership was a shockingly new and challenging way of doing business for both companies.
Both Toyota and Tesla are proud companies with set ways of designing, validating, and engineering cars for production.
If you read between the lines when speaking to slightly tired-looking engineers, meshing those procedures in a single product team to get a car out the door in two and a half years was brutally hard.
Losing money on each one
More importantly, industry scuttlebutt suggests that Toyota is still likely losing $10,000 or more on each RAV4 EV it sells. After all, if your CEO tells you to co-develop a car with Tesla, what incentive does Tesla have to cut prices on its battery pack and other components?
But Toyota is justifiably proud of the RAV4 EV, if still slightly shell-shocked at the birth process.
And 2,600 wealthy buyers who plunk down their $49,400 (before a Federal tax credit of $7,500 and California purchase rebate of $2,500) will be the beneficiaries.
Toyota hasn't said whether it will offer a lease for the car, which it expects to go largely to retail buyers.
But given that the car may retain only 50 percent of its pack capacity over 5 to 8 years--largely depending on how it's driven and charged--there's an argument that a three-year lease might be about right.
Toyota warranties the battery pack for 8 years or 100,000 miles, but that simply ensures that if the pack fails, it is covered. The warranty specifically does not cover any loss of battery capacity.
Third generation to come?
Will there be a new 2016 model of the electric RAV4, given that the gasoline versions will be redesigned for 2014? (The electric version will continue with the older design after that happens, on the same lines.)
Toyota won't say. The company does hint that it'll be watching market reception of the RAV4 EV closely.
So if you want an electric crossover with 100 miles of real-world range and surprising acceleration that has all the cargo space of the regular RAV4, now's your chance.
That's your hint, folks.
Toyota provided airfare, lodging, and meals to enable High Gear Media to bring you this first-person test drive.
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This brings new meaning to 'Climate Control Settings' (high & low vs. warm & cold). Wish auto manufactures would not over focus on eco-marketing and call these 'power settings'. I love electric vehicles because they are: clean (no smells, drips) & fun to drive (max torque anytime).
Eco-power settings on an EV are somewhat ironic from an eco-nomic point of view as they save less than a cent per mile. Similar eco-power settings on ICEV will have a greater than 8x cost savings per mile (multiple pennies per mile). This is because an EV motor/drivetrain is already 85-90% efficient vs. 28-35% efficient for ICE.
My eco-rant a side; I'd purchase a RAV4 if I lived in CA.
I've seen no evidence that a Tesla pack would drop capacity at this rate, Roadsters are showing only a few percentage points of capacity loss per year, and newer chemistry should do even better. Where did you come up with those numbers?
My laptops seem to have the battery as far away from the processor heat as possible. Also, I don't deeply discharge my laptop batteries, and they still only last 2 to 4 years.
People will argue that this is still a very positive review and sure enough, so it is. But when when I read it, based on my experience I realised there would be some venom in the tail, and sure enough: there it was. No matter how positive this review was, that's probably the bit that will stick with people I fear despite the fact that it's pretty baseless and I wonder why there is such a predictable pattern.
Savings are greater if:
-- drive more that 12,500 miles per year,
-- gas price go above $4,
-- drive the eRAV4 more than 5 years.
This doesn't include value of time savings with HOV pass.
But $15k difference leaving the dealership is a hard pill to swallow. Sure, you will end up saving enough money in gas in the long run. But most people don't just jump at "long term" saving. Most Americans don't look for anything long term. That includes American corporations.
I am just playing the devil's advocates here. It is simple to see why some of the EVs are hard sells.
"SUV" are there so people can haul things or go to the mountains. A Limited edition RAV4 can take people to Lake Tahoe for a ski trip in the winter. A eRav4 will take 2 days to get there from SF...
And retail buyers are known to overweight purchase price (translating to monthly payment) and underweight total cost of ownership.
That said, at the moment, there are several different motivations for buying a plug-in vehicle, and only one of them is payback. See:
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1017946_green-car-people-who-buys-electric-and-plug-in-vehicles
and
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1075518_payback-on-plug-ins-finance-commentator-misses-the-point
I agree with you. Using "payback" as the only justification is "short sighted". But unfortunately that is how most buyers think with their money.
Also, in the case of a SUV, the "downsides" of EVs are starting to dominate over the advantage of the EVs. In general, people buy SUVs for its hauling capabilities, space, potential higher clearance for worse weather, better accesss to remote area.
In the case of the eRAV4, most of the so called traditional SUV characteristics fall short. It can't tow, it has slightly less space, less ground clearance, limited range (even less in bad weathers). For the price, you can buy a regular EV and an used RAV-4 for the same price...
My point was making a eSUV in limited quantitiy is silly. Toyota is better off making an E-Prius.
There is no "need" to take a shot at the Volt with your comment. It seems like that most the hardcore EV fans are taking their shots at the Volt whenever they can either b/c it is a GM product or b/c it is EREV. If you really want the EV to flourish, you should look at why GM is doing the Volt instead of the EV1. The public (maybe backward) aren't ready to jump into full EV mode like most of you hardcore EV fans. Volt is the best thing that allow them to get rid of that fear. A bridge technology that will remove one of the biggest fear before we have the technology "and" infrastructure in place. That is the biggest step toward EV, far bigger than what Toyota did with its Prius or Prius Plugin. 2600/3 yr is NOT serious...
You're correct that it has lower ground clearance and no AWD. I doubt that most suburban SUV buyers actually *need* AWD for those muddy soccer fields to which they transport their above-average children, but perhaps that's a touch cynical.
Okay, I believe you on the numbers. But I have two questions.
1. In my friend's RAV-4, the rear cargo area is actually lower than the floor. There is a "compartment" where you can store additional stuff with the seat fold flat. Does that area still exist in the eRAV-4?
2. Are roof racks available as an option? I am guess no since they probably try to squeeze out as much range as possible. Without roof rack, that will limit "luggage carrying capacity".
Well, I use my SUV in the "intended" SUV way. Many people don't. But those so called "fake" SUV owners will only buy SUV for image reason. Those people would rarely look into "EVs"...
Toyota said nothing about an optional roof rack, however, and I doubt one will be offered. It's aerodynamics, since they claim to have reduced the RAV4 EV's Cd to 0.30, or sedan levels, using a new tailgate air diffuser, many flat underbody panels, and some other tweaks like wheelwell spats. Roof racks create a lot of drag.
If you require the kind of rugged capability that old body-on-frame SUVs provide, this is not for you. Of course, your Volt doesn't offer that either ... :)
That is nice that Toyota didn't reduce spaces. No, my Volt won't do anything that my SUV does. That is why I still have my SUV (but I rarely drive it and only do so when I need its capabilities). That is why I think the E-version of any SUV is kind of "puzzling" to me. If you drive a SUV for its "real purpose", NOT just for image, then none of the E-SUV can have the capabilities that an ICE SUV provide today. In that case, why NOT just get a Focus EV or Leaf?
I don't think other format suck. I think Focus EV and Fit EV are both good cars. Leaf is a good car too with few minor imperfections. But I think an E-version of the SUV is "silly" to me b/c the whole idea of SUV should be "capabilities" that anything electric wise is lacking...
Volt is complex and potentially prone to quality issues just on the fact of "ppm" due to high parts count. But those extra parts are there for a reason, to "bridge" us to the future.
Sure, these are somewhat novel (and perhaps "risky" ) choices at this time, but so were early flat screen TVs and laptop computers and now we cannot imagine a world without those "new technologies."
By those figures, the battery and controllers alone will be more expensive than ICE and transmission. Plus, EVs will need special cooling system for its controllers and batteries.
If you are a sheep buy a Chevy Volt,an expensive farce.For a little more money you can get an all electric car made in America by a company that is not supported with your taxes and not in partnership with the government and big oil.The volt is a joke.
"sheep"? Really, Volt is the FASTEST EV (battery power only) under $45k. I guess "sheep" really beat just about every electric "turtles" ou there...
"A little more money"? Do you mean the Tesla? Which still go about few hundreds millions of tax payer funded loans from the DOE. If Volt is a "joke", then why does it sell more than any other plugins?
Is the vehicle that heavy or have such poor aerodynamics?
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