Toyota revealed the much anticipated electric SUV, RAV4 EV Concept developed jointly with Tesla at the Los Angeles Auto Show. This car reminds us why we don’t like green cars much! It looks awful, it is literally a refrigerator with some wheels on it. And it’s not that groundbreaking either, it only has a range of 100 miles. Toyota wants to launch it by 2012, let’s hope they change it till then!
Tesla Motors was in charge of building and supplying the battery, as well as other related parts in this project, And Toyota had to fit this system into the RAV4 without any compromise on space and performance.
Despite their best efforts though, the RAV4 EV weighs approximately 220 pounds more than the current RAV4 V6. Of course they claim it is just as fast to 100 km/h from standing still.
This added weight factor required significant retuning of major components and a prioritized focus on weight distribution. Not only were suspension and steering modified significantly, major components needed to be relocated to better balance the increased mass of the battery pack.
As for the practicality, the car has a 73-cubic-foot cargo area with rear seats folded down – no cargo space was lost in the conversion to an electric powertrain. he interior received custom seat trim, multimedia dash displays, push-button shifter and dashboard meters.
The exterior is pretty much ruined with new styling touches including a new front bumper, grille, fog lamps and head lamps. New EV badging and the custom “mutually exclusive” paint color.
The demonstration vehicle Toyota is currently testing is powered by a lithium metal oxide battery with useable output rated in the mid-30 kwh range. However, many decisions regarding both the product, as well as the business model, have not been finalized. Battery size and final output ratings, as well as pricing and volume projections of the vehicle Toyota plans to bring to market in 2012, have not been decided.
