Tesla has $100M pact to supply Toyota RAV4s

[smorgasbord]

MarketWatch Article:

Tesla Motors Inc. TSLA +3.23% on Wednesday disclosed a $100 million deal with Toyota Motor Co. (TM, 7203.TO) to supply powertrain systems for the Japanese auto maker's upcoming electric RAV4 sport-utility vehicles.

Tesla's shares jumped 4.9% to $29.26 Wednesday after being halted. The battery maker, which went public last July, has seen its stock climb 44% over the past year.

Everyone knew Toyota was looking at what Tesla could provide, but had only struck a deal for a technology exploration. This is now the real deal to provide actual powertrains for actually shipping vehicles!

 

[TEG]

Funny to see Tesla referred to as "the battery maker". I guess that is true if you consider a completed pack as "the battery", and it doesn't matter who makes the "cells" inside.

 

[edo]

Funny to see Tesla referred to as "the battery maker". I guess that is true if you consider a completed pack as "the battery", and it doesn't matter who makes the "cells" inside.

By definition of battery ("battery" of cells) it is exactly correct (while calling 1.5V cells batteries is incorrect)

(more directly to the topic) I had caught a whiff that this was happening on a Toyota press release somewhere a few days ago...

 

[hcsharp]

I thought this was a done deal months ago. If you went to the Toyota web site for the e-Rav4 the primary graphics and most of the pics were all Tesla mfg products and "Powered by Tesla" was displayed prominently in a couple of places including the instrument cluster and elsewhere. While recently talking with a battery tech from Tesla (forgot his name) he told me that Toyota had all but killed a battery in one of the Roadsters Toyota had purchased. Presumably they were testing it or reverse engineering it but he was kind of surprised because it's hard to kill the Roadster battery. Even if you charge it in Range mode every day and run it hard on a track it should last at least 3 years.

 

[Mycroft]

My guess is that Toyota had hoped to build the battery packs themselves, but due to the complexity or the time crunch in getting the RAV4 out the door, they decided it would be more efficient/expeditious to just have Tesla build them on the same line they're going to use for the Model S.

I think it's a huge win for Tesla.

 

[dsm363]

I really hope Toyota actually sells the RAV4 EV to people instead of just leasing it to fleet customers as someone mentioned might happen.

 

[ChadS]

I really hope Toyota actually sells the RAV4 EV to people instead of just leasing it to fleet customers as someone mentioned might happen.

That was a mistake--it's the iQ that will only be leased.

So the RAV4 will be sold; which is good. But it will be in very limited quantities (perhaps 2,500--comparable to the Roadster!) so prices are likely to be high. That's bad. Sigh.

 

[doug]

So the RAV4 will be sold...

Do we really know that? The confusion was that it would be limited only to fleets. They clarified that it would be available to individuals, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were still lease-only.

 

[ChadS]

Do we really know that?

I suppose we won't know it until it happens, but that is what the head of RAV4-EV development told the press (I was with them) at a local event a few months ago.

 

[vfx]

A PIA member said they directly heard today that the RAV 4 it will be sold to the public.