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The New RAV4 EV

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Ok, here it is. 100% "extended" charge in Toyota speak (range charge) with 130.1 miles driven. This is "Very Low Battery", and still shows one segment of the 16 Fuel Bar segments. It probably still had a few miles left in it. I drove from my Poway area (San Diego, California) house for 28 miles, then climbed 4000 feet to Julian 40 miles away, returned, then drove 22 miles to downtown to the Toyota dealer:

05E1CB20-E26B-452E-9856-B254CFF88E48-10811-00000677482C836E.jpg



8B9F4224-6A67-459F-90C2-634837E9F72A-10811-0000067744507FD7.jpg




The 240 volt estimate is at 10kW (40 amps). Only the Tesla Roadster chargers in public can do this (Clipper Creek CS100). So, for lowly 6.6kW (30 amps), add a few hours to that 240 volt data (and even more time if using 208v):

A9B59B88-DB9F-4615-9A7E-9D25DAD89090-10811-000006773E32410E.jpg
 

Not sure I agree with this article, or Toyota in this. I have seen this warning message, but not associated with charging, and I am charging with the units on the approved list. I see the error message when powering up not in conjunction with a recent charge.

I believe this is happening when the car is powered up, and it is put into drive before the car is allowed to completely boot up to "ready". My wife drives and puts her seatbelt on first, then hits power, and puts it in gear. When I drive, I hit power, then put my seatbelt on, then put it in gear. My wife has gotten all the errors, and I have gotten none. I have been able to reproduce the error. Tesla and Toyota should call me on this.

The fix for this is easy. Put a delay lockout on putting it in gear for 2 to 3 seconds.
 
Ok, here it is. 100% "extended" charge in Toyota speak (range charge) with 130.1 miles driven. This is "Very Low Battery", and still shows one segment of the 16 Fuel Bar segments. It probably still had a few miles left in it. I drove from my Poway area (San Diego, California) house for 28 miles, then climbed 4000 feet to Julian 40 miles away, returned, then drove 22 miles to downtown to the Toyota dealer:

[Large repeated images removed for thread readability - mod]

The 240 volt estimate is at 10kW (40 amps). Only the Tesla Roadster chargers in public can do this (Clipper Creek CS100). So, for lowly 6.6kW (30 amps), add a few hours to that 240 volt data (and even more time if using 208v):

[Large repeated image removed for thread readability - mod]

nice range test!
The car does rather well!
Just needs a better mobile charger

- - - Updated - - -

Couldn't help but post this little nugget of mis-information from a dealership Craigslist ad for a RAV4 EV:

'BRAND NEW TOYOTA RAV-4 EV ELECTRIC VEHICLE AVAILABLE NOWBUILT ON A TESLA MODEL-S CHASIS'

I'm sure Tesla would prefer that dealers weren't saying that about the RAV4 EV.

TOYOTA RAV-4 EV ELECTRIC VEHICLE AVAILABLE NOW

they should just replace "chassis" by "drivetrain"
 
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WARNING WARNING WARNING

Toyota has an interesting handling of the IRS $7500 tax credit. Those of us who bought a new qualifying electric car like Tesla or Nissan LEAF know all too well that when you buy the car, you file tax form 8936 for the $7500 credit.

But if we lease, the leasing company (like Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp does for LEAF) will rightly take the credit, and pass it on to you in the lease as a $7500 capitalization reduction.

TOYOTA DOES NOT DO THIS !!! Toyota keeps the credit, according to the Toyota regional dude who explained it away with the dealer I was trying to lease the Rav4 from. The $7500 is just magic that Toyota seems to think that the end consumer is better off not knowing.

So, when Toyota says their lease has $3200 cash (in their current sales promotion for the Rav4-EV) for you, the leasee, they really mean they are going to give you $3200 of the $7500 they get as a credit, for themselves. Instant $4300 profit for them (not the dealer... the legal owner, Toyota Financial (or whatever it's called)).

There have been similar complaints about Toyota handles Plug-In-Prius lease tax credits. The Prius product manager chimed in below on that...

PIP Lease Terms - Will Toyota Give Us a Fair Deal? | PriusChat

PIP Lease Terms - Will Toyota Give Us a Fair Deal? | PriusChat

Caveat Emptor
 
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Thst is one of the main reasons I purchased mine. My analysis and decision between lease or buy does not include whether the lessor/lendor is "nice". It is simply a contract. In my case the tax credit and low interest outweighed the low monthly lease payment.

Driving a RAV4 EV since October 2012.
Converting a VW to electric since April 2012
Sent from my phone, using Tapatalk.
 
Lloyd,

I know what Toyota is talking with the non compatible chargers. My wife took the Rav4 right after we got it in September and plugged it into her chargers at work (SPX chargers) and that is when the warning came up. After talking with Toyota and the people that make the SPX chargers they said the car is not compatible. Luckily my wife's work is looking into getting different chargers. It kind of sucked cause no one at the dealer or Toyota corp know what the warning was. I had to wait for Tesla to run a check on my car to tell toyota what it meant. Know they all know.