ChadS
Last tank of gas: March 2009
There is a thread about the 1998-2003 Toyota RAV4-EV HERE.
It was Toyota's 90's compliance car for California (so few people outside of California have heard of it). Never got as much attention as the EV-1, but it was a GREAT car. NIMH batteries hung underneath, so no cargo space intrusion. My Mom had an almost identical gas version; the electric had better ride and handling, and of course was smoother, quieter, and far cheaper to operate. The electric was faster around town, the gas faster at highway speeds. Top speed was limited to 79mph. It had a heat pump for HVAC, and until 2003 they had heated seats and windshield.
I sold mine when our Model S arrived over a year ago. It was about 10 years old when I sold it; it still went easily over 100 miles - I picked up my inlaws and took them to the airport and returned home; 78 miles used just under 2/3 of the battery. It wasn't really fast (neither was the gas version); it only had a 50kW motor. Toyota didn't bother programming out the low-speed cogging. But it was a very useful and reliable vehicle; all we ever did was replace tires and wiper blades. It used an inductive paddle charger; obviously there were no stations installed here in WA, so for the four years we owned it, my wife just charged it in the garage and took the Roadster if she needed more range.
(Mine also had a conductive hack in to the regen system; it came with a 50A Manzanita Micro charger with adapters for 110V, 240V dryer and campground outlets, and I got a J1772 adapter once those started getting installed. I did use the dryer outlet at my Mom's a couple of times, largely just to test it as I could have taken the Roadster).
Toyota started leasing them in 1998. To their credit, in 2002 when they were complaining about low sales, Plug In America pointed out they should try selling them outright, rather than just leasing them - and Toyota did that in late 2002. However, in April 2003 CARB rules changed, and Toyota stopped selling them the next day. In 2005 they started calling back cars and crushing them like GM; it didn't get caught on film so fewer people remember that. Plug In America couldn't stop GM from crushing the EV-1s, but we did finally reach an agreement with Toyota - they stopped crushing about halfway through, and pledged to let lease customers keep leasing as long as they like. They stuck to their promise. Very few were returned until the Leaf became available; since then quite a few have been lease returns - and Toyota still crushes them. (Not all of them; for example I think a few went to Portland, OR for some sort of test).
Here was ours the day we sold it (it went to somebody in LA that already had one - he wanted a second one for his wife):
Even when they are not trying, Toyota makes a good car. Too bad they are not trying on electrics. I had some interest in the new RAV4-EV at first (another practical-but-not-too-big vehicle with over 100 miles of real range), but Toyota is going so far out of their way to not sell it and slow down EVs that I think I am just going to avoid the brand entirely.
It was Toyota's 90's compliance car for California (so few people outside of California have heard of it). Never got as much attention as the EV-1, but it was a GREAT car. NIMH batteries hung underneath, so no cargo space intrusion. My Mom had an almost identical gas version; the electric had better ride and handling, and of course was smoother, quieter, and far cheaper to operate. The electric was faster around town, the gas faster at highway speeds. Top speed was limited to 79mph. It had a heat pump for HVAC, and until 2003 they had heated seats and windshield.
I sold mine when our Model S arrived over a year ago. It was about 10 years old when I sold it; it still went easily over 100 miles - I picked up my inlaws and took them to the airport and returned home; 78 miles used just under 2/3 of the battery. It wasn't really fast (neither was the gas version); it only had a 50kW motor. Toyota didn't bother programming out the low-speed cogging. But it was a very useful and reliable vehicle; all we ever did was replace tires and wiper blades. It used an inductive paddle charger; obviously there were no stations installed here in WA, so for the four years we owned it, my wife just charged it in the garage and took the Roadster if she needed more range.
(Mine also had a conductive hack in to the regen system; it came with a 50A Manzanita Micro charger with adapters for 110V, 240V dryer and campground outlets, and I got a J1772 adapter once those started getting installed. I did use the dryer outlet at my Mom's a couple of times, largely just to test it as I could have taken the Roadster).
Toyota started leasing them in 1998. To their credit, in 2002 when they were complaining about low sales, Plug In America pointed out they should try selling them outright, rather than just leasing them - and Toyota did that in late 2002. However, in April 2003 CARB rules changed, and Toyota stopped selling them the next day. In 2005 they started calling back cars and crushing them like GM; it didn't get caught on film so fewer people remember that. Plug In America couldn't stop GM from crushing the EV-1s, but we did finally reach an agreement with Toyota - they stopped crushing about halfway through, and pledged to let lease customers keep leasing as long as they like. They stuck to their promise. Very few were returned until the Leaf became available; since then quite a few have been lease returns - and Toyota still crushes them. (Not all of them; for example I think a few went to Portland, OR for some sort of test).
Here was ours the day we sold it (it went to somebody in LA that already had one - he wanted a second one for his wife):
Even when they are not trying, Toyota makes a good car. Too bad they are not trying on electrics. I had some interest in the new RAV4-EV at first (another practical-but-not-too-big vehicle with over 100 miles of real range), but Toyota is going so far out of their way to not sell it and slow down EVs that I think I am just going to avoid the brand entirely.
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