Toyota RAV4 News

As one of the most highly anticipated new electric cars of 2012, the Toyota RAV4 EV combines the practicality of an SUV with an all-electric, Tesla-engineered drivetrain for impressive performance. When we drove the 2012 RAV4 EV back in August, we already knew Toyota was planning on selling it in...

As most electric car fans will tell you, it’s much easier for automakers to build an all-electric car from scratch than it is to repurpose an existing gasoline model with an electric drivetrain. In the case of Toyota’s RAV4EV however, the Japanese automaker, with help from Californian...

The 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV is unique, the only all-electric compact sport-utility vehicle sold by a major automaker in the U.S. Behind the wheel, its Tesla-developed powertrain makes it peppy but quiet, while it maintains all the cargo and people space of the original gasoline version. There's really...

The new 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV is quick, relatively fun to drive, and the only all-electric crossover utility vehicle on the market today. It has a good, intuitive touchscreen display and instrument cluster that shows both the maximum possible range and a constantly updated range based on both the...

If the ideal electric car has a real-world range of 100 miles or more and the practical utility that American families buy crossovers for, the future may be arriving this year. The 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV has every bit of space that the gasoline versions do. Its Tesla-engineered battery pack and...

When Toyota first announced that it was going to resurrect its iconic RAV4 EV after an absence of nearly ten years, electric car fans rejoiced. After all, the original 1997-2003 RAV4 EVs are so reliable and so beloved that they still command a high price at auction. When the production version of...

This is what it looked like yesterday when the wraps came off the production model of the 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV, Toyota's first battery electric vehicle in more than a decade. The exposition hall at the 26th annual Electric Vehicle Symposium is more likely to see displays of electric vehicle...

Today, Toyota revealed the production version of its eagerly awaited 2012 RAV4 EV all-electric crossover, with a powertrain designed and provided by startup electric carmaker Tesla Motors. Surprising many at the event, Toyota revealed its production plans: It expects to build and sell roughly 2,600...

For people in the electric-car world, next week is a big deal. And Toyota is taking advantage of it. The company will formally launch its Toyota RAV4 EV next Monday at noon Pacific (3 pm Eastern) at the 26th International Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS26), which takes place in Los Angeles from...

Some cars take time to squeeze their way into your affections. Others are pretty much perfect the first time around, with appeal that endures for many years. The original Toyota RAV4 EV is just such a car, for electric car fans. Toyota's useful small SUV with an electric drivetrain has been the...

Let's face it: If you want the best gas mileage in a compact or mid-size all-wheel drive crossover, you have to go hybrid. But hybrids are still more expensive than gasoline models by a few thousand dollars, and the majority of buyers prioritize price over those last few miles per gallon. So the...

Solid state batteries could be seen as everything we're looking for from an electric car battery, improving on all the fundamental characteristics needed for electric mobility. Unfortunately, we probably won't be seeing them any time soon. The latest estimations reported by Automotive News...

The concept car has a lot to answer for. They appear at motor shows around the world to preview what we can expect from future models, but invariably the production model ends up about half as interesting to look at and without most of the technology, thanks to cost constraints. Even worse though...

Following the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year we speculated on the problems that small volume, odd-looking electric cars could do to the EV industry's reputation. The outlook at Frankfurt was much more upbeat. Despite the absence of Nissan and its Leaf, several other carmakers had exciting...

The BMW i3's bigger brother the i8 may get all the attention from sports car fans, but as the smaller and more practical of the "i" range the i3 could be considered the more relevant of the two. We were at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show ready to capture both i-cars in all their glory. You can find...

While Smart used the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show to release its new, upgraded Fortwo Electric Drive and the production Smart eBike, the new Forvision concept previewed a few weeks ago gives us an idea what the next generation Fortwo might look like. Still a Smart... Importantly, the Forvision is...

The problems with the old Smart Fortwo Electric Drive were fairly easy to work out. It was too slow, had only an average range, took too long to charge and it was too expensive - even when leasing. Smart has taken the car back to the drawing board and fixed all these issues - and given the car a...

A common misconception of electric cars and hybrid vehicles is that at the end of a short battery life, the remainder is dumped in landfill and contributes ever more pollution to the Earth. Of course, we know this to be incorrect. Not only are the more common lead acid batteries the world's most...

While dozens of supercars will be revving up their engines ready for the start of Ireland's upcoming Cannonball Run, the ESB ecars team will be off to a much quieter start. The ESB team's 2011 Nissan Leaf is the first electric car to participate in the Cannonball Run which starts this Friday...

Late last week Audi released some teaser sketches of its A2 concept car due at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, now less than a week away. Due to be positioned between the A1 minicar and upcoming Audi A3 Sedan compact car, the new A2 is spiritual successor to the original A2, an aluminum-bodied...