Toyota RAV4 EV
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The Toyota RAV4 EV is an all-electric version of the popular RAV4 SUV. Its drivetrain is powered exclusively by 24 12-volt batteries.
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[edit] Performance
The RAV4EV has a governed top speed of 78 miles per hour (126 km/h), and a range of 80 to 120 miles (130 to 190 km) on a full charge, with an average of about 117 miles per charge. Mileage depends on the same factors as a traditional gasoline-powered vehicle, mainly tire drag and average speed (aerodynamic drag). The RAV4EV has 24 12-volt 95Ah NiMH batteries capable of outputting 27.4kWh of energy.
The RAV4EV has been demonstrated to outperform the traditional RAV4 in acceleration tests, and is capable of operating with the flow of traffic at any posted speed limit in the United States.
[edit] Charging
The RAV4EV's batteries can be recharged from being fully depleted to fully charged in about 5 hours. Charging is supplied via magnetic induction by a wall-mounted 6000-Watt (8 horsepower) charging unit on a 220 volt, 30 amp, North-American "clothes dryer"-type plug. The process of connecting the RAV4 EV to the home charger is as follows:
- The driver parks the RAV4 EV with the vehicle's grille within 8 feet of the charger (usually the back wall of a garage).
- The ignition is turned to 'off'.
- A button is pressed on the dashboard that opens a door built into the RAV4 EV's grille.
- The driver removes the cabled inductive charging paddle from the wall charger and inserts it into a receptacle behind the grille door.
- The charger checks the connection automatically, and charges the RAV4 EV
This process is nearly identical to the process used to refuel a gasoline-powered car at a gas station pump, the only difference being the pump nozzle is a paddle shape, and the receptacle is in the RAV4 EV's grille, instead of a gas tank towards the rear.
The time used to move a gas pump nozzle from the pump to the gas tank is equal to the time it takes to connect the RAV4 EV to the charger.
[edit] Mileage Costs
As of May, 2006, charging a RAV4EV from full-dead to full-charge, at a rate of US$0.09 per kilowatt-hour, costs around $2.70. As of May, 2006, based on a gasoline price-per-gallon cost of US$3.00 and the non-EV 2003 RAV4 2-wheel-drive gasoline fuel efficiency of 27 mpg, the RAV4EV costs approximately 25% as much to fully charge, and makes mileage in the RAV4EV the cost equivalent to a 111.1-mile-per-gallon small SUV (2.12 L/100 km).
In addition, the RAV4EV has a charge timer built into the dashboard that enables the vehicle to start charging at a specific time. As the RAV4EV easily becomes the main cost of electricity in an average-sized home, this enables the owner to use a Time-Of-Day Meter to reduce electricity costs. This configuration is a standard practice with RAV4EV owners. The price of electricity at night depends on the carrier, but is usually in the range of 60% of the normal rate. In the use of charging the RAV4EV, this equates to a cheaper cost-per-mile, roughly equivalent to a vehicle capable of 166.6 mpg (miles-per-gallon) (1.41 L/100 km), based on a price of US$3.00 per gallon.
For comparison, a reasonably modern European supermini may manage motorway travel at 5 L/100 km (47 mpg US) or 6.5 L/100 km in city traffic (36 mpg US), while an average North American mid-size car travels 9 L/100 km (27 mpg US) highway, 11 L/100 km (21 mpg US) city.
[edit] Wearable Items
The RAV4EV's battery system is a wearable item, and current costs are approximately US$26,000 to replace the battery pack, due to small on-hand supply of appropriate batteries, and the lack of demand for the batteries in 24-unit quantities. There are utility companies in Southern California that currently have over 100,000 (and in some special cases, 150,000) miles on the original battery packs without issue. The development of powerful Lithium ion batteries will make a large difference in this cost, as well as extend the range of the RAV4EV considerably.
The remaining systems in the RAV4EV are comparable to the gas-powered RAV4, such as power brakes, power steering and air conditioning. These systems are of approximate equal cost to maintain as the gas-powered RAV4.
[edit] History
[edit] Prototyping
RAV4 EV pre-production prototypes were first released in a confidential evaluation program with electric utilities throughout the U.S. These prototypes were based on the smaller, shorter, two-door version of the RAV4. The prototypes included some versions fitted with Panasonic NiMH batteries, and others with high-performance Panasonic Lead-acid PbA batteries (the same ones that eventually found their way into the EV1 and other production GM hybrids). The RAV4EV prototypes also were equipped with on-board Level II chargers and connected via a front fender conductive charger coupling made by Yazaki Corporation. Both prototypes were well accepted.
The utility employee evaluators did not have to personally pay for the more costly and advanced NiMH batteries, and the NiMH RAV4 EV prototype received better reviews, due to its increased range. Its energy efficiency, however, was not as good as the PbA version. Due to the impracticality of developing two battery types for a limited volume program, Toyota opted for the higher-performance, higher-cost NiMH RAV4 EV. This resulted in a greater manufacturing cost, and higher purchase price.
A number of electric vehicle advocates voiced disappointment that the choice was made to manufacture only the NiMH version. Many electric vehicle advocates claim that automaker's choice of the NiMH battery worked against the 90's deployment of cost-effective electric vehicles based on PbA batteries, and that further development of Lead-acid technology could result in performance equal to NiMH, but at a substantially lower price. Their argument is that a usable electric vehicle is possible at a substantially lower price, and that the lower purchase price would foster greater acceptance of electric vehicles.
[edit] Corporate Purchasing
RAV4 EVs were only available for three-year fleet lease, not for sale and not for lease to the public, at a few dealerships beginning in 1997. In 2001, leases were made available to small "fleets of one" purportedly run by small businesses.
[edit] Public Availability
In 2002, due to corporate policy, the last 328 Toyota RAV4-EV were made available for sale, starting in March. Because the RAV4-EV is based on the 1996-99 gas RAV4, there were only a limited number left unless the RAV4-EV was re-designed to use the 2003 gas RAV4, or if the 1996 version went back into production. Demand unexpectedly depleted these few hundred RAV4-EV by November, when the program was abruptly cancelled. Because more were apparently sold than there were vehicles, the last few dozen were scraped up from spare parts, and delivery did not end until many months into 2003. Orders were beginning to pick up when the cancellation occurred (signalled only by taking down the website), but Toyota claimed that tens of thousands of orders would have been necessary for them to resume production. For these seven months in 2002, for the first time in decades a production electric car was made available for sale. But it was not exactly the free market; only a special sales person at a dozen dealers in California were able to sell the Toyota RAV4-EV, and if you did not know about it, you were generally unable to buy one or even see one. Many would-be purchasers were steered instead to the Prius, despite asking about a plug-in car.
The MSRP was $42,000; but in California, ZIP-grant rebates of $9,000, decreasing in 2003 to $5,000, and a $4,000 credit from the Internal Revenue Service brought the price down to a more palatable $29,000 ($33,000 for some 2003 deliveries), including the home charger. No one knows for certain why Toyota offered the RAV4-EV for sale. Toyota had long since fulfilled its obligations under the MOA with the California Air Resources Board's zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate via its fleet lease program.
There is speculation that a question of a Toyota Managing Director at EVS-17 in Toronto by two EV1 drivers, prompting him to make the false statement that EVs had been offered for sale, had been the driver in Toyota's trial program of sale/lease/purchase. Toyota was taken by surprise by the unexpected demand, because many EV1, EV-Ranger and Honda-EV drivers had lost their cars and had become disillusioned with GM, Ford and Honda, and felt that Toyota was playing fair, finally. When the 328 orders came in by November, 2002, Toyota honorably filled all orders, but it took until Sept., 2003 until the last one was painfully put together. There is a variation in the vehicles because Toyota ran out of certain parts, such as heated seats, retractable antenna, mats, etc., since the model on which the RAV4-EV had been based was long obsolete. Notably, seat covers ordered for a "2003" RAV4-EV won't fit, you must order them for the 1999 RAV4 gas model.
The vehicle's retail buyers had outsold its projected demand far faster than they could be supplied to market, despite very little advertising, and few people had ever been aware that they were available.
Whether or not Toyota wanted to continue production, it was unlikely to be able to do so, because the EV-95 battery was no longer available. Chevron had inherited control of the worldwide patent rights for the NiMH EV-95 battery when it merged with Texaco, which had purchased them from General Motors. Chevron's unit won a $30,000,000 settlement from Toyota and Panasonic, and the production line for them was closed down and dismantled. Only smaller NiMH batteries incapable of powering an electric vehicle or plugging in are currently allowed by Chevron-Texaco.
[edit] Discontinuance
Toyota discontinued the RAV4 EV program one day after the passing of new air-quality requirements by CARB. CARB eliminated most of the Zero Emissions Vehicle requirement, substituting a greater number of partial zero-emissions vehicles (PZEVs) to meet the requirement. A Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (SULEV) category was also added. This program requirement was designed to obtain equivalent emissions reductions by substituting less expensive, more general purpose vehicles.
[edit] Continuing Support
Like other manufacturers, Toyota began destroying RAV4 EVs as they came off lease, after lease continuances were denied to owners. In 2005 an agreement was struck between Toyota and DontCrush.com (now PlugInAmerica.com) to stop the destruction and facilitate the continued operation of owned and leased vehicles. While no longer sold, the vehicle is still supported by selected Toyota service centers (mainly in California) and a strong owner community.
The RAV4EV is driven daily by hundreds of owners, now across the country. These owners have built up an online community and have worked out ways to add options to the RAV4EV never offered by Toyota, with the most popular being keyless door entry and cruise control.
[edit] Future Development
Toyota has not expressed interest in reviving the RAV4 EV line. Proponents for the RAV4 EV are hopeful that manufacturing processes will someday yield low-cost batteries capable of being powerful enough for the RAV4 EV drive system, and at a price that would be considered reasonable by the general public.
Due to the NiMH battery patent restrictions, development in replacement batteries for the RAV4EV (and other electric vehicles) continues with small firms building NiMH packs, and larger firms working on efficient manufacturing of Lithium Ion or other battery types.
[edit] Sales
| 1997 | 69 (fleet lease only) |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 359 (fleet lease only) |
| 1999 | 255 (fleet lease only) |
| 2000 | 106 (fleet lease only) |
| 2001 | 160 (fleet lease only) |
| 2002 - 1st half | 218 (fleet lease) plus 147 (sold/lease-purchase) |
| 2002 - 2nd half | 82* (fleet lease) plus 153 (sold/lease-purchase) |
| 2003 - 1st half | 28 (sold/lease-purchase) |
| Total | 1575* |
* Indicates estimate, based on serial numbers 1001 through 2575
