It was a brand new Rav4EV with 40kWh pack! It was quick! Toyota Rav4 EV 2013 | Electric Crossover SUV I went to an electric auto assoc. meeting Electric Auto Association - Silicon Valley Chapter (EAASV) in Palo Alto with a friend this morning. Standing up to introduce myself, said I've driven a Leaf in a ballroom at SF auto show, but never on the open road. Well, after the presentation with PG&E rep and me blabbing with EV verterans, I ran into a guy with a brand new Rav4EV. He said we'll just have to see what it can do. So, off we went around the HP campus. He was definitely showing the acceleration of the CUV, and wow, it was quick! Even quicker in sport mode. We returned, picked up my friend and went out on the freeway. It's quiet. A bit of tire, wind and electric whine, but not much. Lot quieter than Prius. So that was it. I rode in an electric car on the highway. No longer an EV virgin anymore, lol. New Rav4EV has a Tesla drive train in it. Minor bummer it has the previous gen body with the swing out rear door, and now there is an all new conventional Rav4 out. Timing and keeping costs down probably prevailed. He said the car could be bought for $52k - $10k (fed,CA tax credits) and $8.8k Toyota discount or about $33.2k otd. Nice car, lucky him
The Toyota discount is $10K in So Cal per Toyota Dealerships - New & Used Car Deals & Special Offers | BuyAToyota.com (try 90024 for a zip code). Some dealers are also discounting, bringing the price down further, as they are not selling well. I test drove one 2x at AltCar Expo last year along w/a some other BEVs, PHEVs, FCVs and a few ICEVs (like a CNG Civic, Kio Rio w/auto-stop (didn't work well) and KOH). Maybe you can go whenever it happens again this year. Perhaps So Cal Priuschatters will organize a meet around that time too. The day after the show, I met up w/some So Cal Priuschatters in Irvine for dim sum. They're really into modding down there, not surprisingly (I guess).
