The New RAV4 EV

[ChadS]

I did that in my old RAV4. I coasted in "N" whenever I could, and when I needed to slow down I would shift in to "B" and use as much engine braking as possible first. It was kind of fun.

I've never wanted to do that in my Teslas for some reason though. Maybe it's as simple as not having a shift lever anymore. Or maybe it's just always wanting to have that torque available for any emergency, like a sudden hole in traffic.

I know some people here in WA that have new RAV4-EVs. I wonder how the recall will be handled here. Toyota is refusing to do warranty work, but I am sure they have to do recall work. I just wonder if they will try to get owners to pay to ship the car to authorized mechanics in CA. I don't think they can, they will probably have to fly people up or find people here to do the work. I guess it may be a really simple fix and not matter.

 

[cwerdna]

RECALL ! Might shift into Neutral

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/11/us-toyota-recall-idUSKBN0M728220150311

Unfortunately, details (I'm looking for the PDFs that Toyota submitted) on the Rav4 EV recall aren't available on safercar.gov yet. Will be interesting to see how many reports there were of this and what the circumstances, investigation, predicted failure rate, etc. that led Toyota to initiate the recall.

 

[jerry33]

LOL. There is a RAV4EV owner on the RAV EV forum who gets 5 miles per kWh by shifting into nuetral when coasting.

Without shifting into neutral, I use 1.26 kW/h, and my car weighs over 1000 lb. more than the RAV EV. There's zero need to use neutral in place of just modulating the accelerator pedal.

 

[Ampster]

Depends on the car, the driver and the terrain. Care to share your miles per kWh for comparision?

 

[jerry33]

Depends on the car, the driver and the terrain. Care to share your miles per kWh for comparision?

 

[Ampster]

Are we talking about the same thing? Your data computes to 4 miles per kWh compared to the 98lb Silicon Valley engineer who gets 5 miles per kWh. She is often at the top of the RAV4EV statstics. Shifting into nuetral works for her. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[cwerdna]

Unfortunately, details (I'm looking for the PDFs that Toyota submitted) on the Rav4 EV recall aren't available on safercar.gov yet. Will be interesting to see how many reports there were of this and what the circumstances, investigation, predicted failure rate, etc. that led Toyota to initiate the recall.

Finally, safercar.gov has some info.

Here are links to the 5 docs that are up so far:
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM475397/RCAK-15V143-9223.pdf
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM475420/RCLRPT-15V143-5995.PDF
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM474864/RCLRPT-15V143-9620.PDF
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM474876/RCMN-15V143-7512.pdf
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM474877/RCORRD-15V143-3968.pdf

You can search for NHTSA campaign number 15V143000 at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchSafetyIssues under ID Number.

 

[miimura]

Interestingly, one of the Toyota docs shows 6 new RAV4 EVs in Dealer inventory on March 11. The story around the internet was that Hanlees sold the last one on March 3 or March 4.

 

[cwerdna]

Interestingly, one of the Toyota docs shows 6 new RAV4 EVs in Dealer inventory on March 11. The story around the internet was that Hanlees sold the last one on March 3 or March 4.

Good catch! http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM474876/RCMN-15V143-7512.pdf has a dealer stock list w/VINs and dealer codes.