2013 Toyota RAV4 EV Driving Impression & Review !!!

Bob,

You would probably be better served renting a nice Lexus for that job interview. Splurge a bit and take the interviewer out for lunch or maybe a couple of beers after work.

If the interviewer is a tech geek, then you might get more mileage out of the EV.

If your the interviewer, then I would be having the candidate drive in and check out his choice of transportation.

 

Thanks! Just wanted to be able to point to people to your alternate location for more pics.

Take your time on that.

I test drove the Rav4 EV 2x at AltCar Expo last year. It had plenty of power or could easily squeal the tires in sport mode. Tony Williams at My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Official Toyota RAV4 EV Thread made a comment about the torque steer and acceleration before he bought one. GOM = guess-o-meter (aka "distance to empty" which is notoriously inaccurate on the Leaf) but much better on the Rav4 EV.

 

Ok...I could have said 80 or 100 miles maybe...hopefully even in the winter and inclement weather. Fact is I and a lot of us out here drive too much in a day to make this worthwhile short of multiple cars to change into like the old pony express. I ain't knocking it, like I said, great start but needs to get better for some us. I personally can't wait 6 hours to charge and get back home in time for bed

 

Being that I got rid of my PiP - I am in the market for another car with good MPG or MPGe

I test drove both the Leaf and RAV4 extensively and have to say the acceleration of the RAV4 is nice, yet the slow charge time sucks. Mix that with the high starting price and NO Fast Charge, this was an instant no-sell for me. Leaf's insane lease rates are ultra-attractive and has me sold. When it's time, I'll be heading to pickup a Leaf at this point. It's either that, or Tesla... and Tesla is too costly to maintain.

3 year lease and then upgrade to the latest and greatest FTW.

 

I'm confused by the bolded statement. With L2 charging, provided the EVSE is capable of 40 amp output (e.g. Evr-Green™ 400 Electric Vehicle Charging Station > Evr-Green™ > Brands > Solutions from Leviton Web Site), the Rav4 EV can charger faster than any Leaf at L2. Rav4 EV has a 10 kW onboard charger vs the optional 6.6 kW OBC on the '13 Leaf.

But yes, the downside is there is no DC fast charge port (CHAdeMO or anything else) on the Rav4 EV whereas it's optional on the Leaf. You will NOT have a CHAdeMO charger at home. But yes, w/o the port, you won't be able to use public CHAdeMO chargers.

 

I've had my 2010 Prius III for 3+ years, and now have a 2012 Rav4 EV. Lifetime average for the Prius 53 mpg (actual calculated mileage). I'm paying half the price to 'fuel up' the Rav4 EV. If you pay at a public charger (rare in the Sacramento area since many public chargers are free at this point) you will pay a lot more than charging at home on an EV rate. In terms of fuel it's simple math, the EV is much cheaper to drive if you are charging at home. And as mentioned above, with current incentives it's under 30K to buy (29.3k in my case before taxes). Love my Prius. The Rav4 EV is a frickin joy to drive. For my 50 mile round trip commute and weekend chores it is perfect. For longer trips the Prius takes over.

 

Follow up report on my 2012 Rav4 EV. I drove 996 miles last month. The Toyota phone app Entunes tells me that I averaged 3.7 miles per kwh for the month of May, indicating that the car used approximately 270 kwh to drive 996 miles. As food for thought, let's say an average price per kwh is 13 cents, then it would cost me $35.00 to buy those 270 kwh. Further, with gas in my town at $3.90 a gallon, I could have bought 8.973 gallons with $35. Finally, if you divide 996 miles by the 8.973 gallons I could have bought with 35 bucks you get a comparative MPG of 111. These are rough estimates that depend crucially on how many kwh you put in the car battery, the price per kwh, and the current price of gasoline. The current software on the Rav4 EV doesn't measure how much juice you put in the battery pack. ChargePoint charge stations do provide you with a precise measure of how much juice they send to your car when you use one of their stations, but other charge stations, including the one where I work, don't provide it. If you always charged at home you could install a second meter and know exactly how much juice goes in and make an accurate calculation. But even if we assume system inefficiencies and reduce the average miles per kwh down to 2.5, you'd end up with an effective MPG of 75, which is the EPA rating for the car. Long story short, in addition to being a blast to drive, the Rav4 EV is cheaper to fuel up.

 

That's actually pretty impressive, and above average what the EPA rates the LEAF at (granted the LEAF is still more efficient). I thought for sure that RAV4 EV design would keep the miles per kWh numbers much lower.

Glad to hear you are enjoying the car!

 

Right, I'm sure the same style driving in the Leaf would get you way above 4 miles per kwh, guessing closer to 5.