RAV4 EV: Exceeding Expectations

By Bill Moore

"I guess our problem was, we built too good of an electric vehicle," commented Gary Smith about Toyota's long-lived RAV4 EV.

For the utilities, non-profits and private individuals, both the well-known and little-known, who have had the pleasure and privilege of operating and/or owning this all-electric sport utility vehicle (SUV), there is little disputing Smith's remark.

Launched a decade ago as Toyota's response to California's Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, the EV version looks pretty much like any other RAV4 of the period, with one huge exception. Instead of the usual gasoline internal combustion engine, more than 1,500 of the vehicles were equipped with an electric drive and powered by nickel metal hydride batteries -- estimated $30,000 alone -- the life expectancy of which no one had any idea.

Used initially by power company meter readers, the RAV4 EV saw hard, daily service in California with several models racking up more than 100,000 miles.

According to Smith, the original life cycle plan for the vehicle was five years, many of the later models of which have now gone past that point. He also mentioned that the car saw several upgrades and 'refinements" over the 1998-2003 period, the first and most significant being the replacement of the lead acid batteries used in early prototypes with NiMH batteries. By 2003, the last production year, most of the refinements were suitable changes that improved the electric vehicles performance and range. The biggest change was the introduction of GM's "small paddle" inductive charging system.

Unlike the metal-to-metal contact found conductive charging systems, the inductive system relies on magnetic fields to transfer energy. It is extremely safe with no live contacts to shock you when you plug or unplug the vehicle. The inductive system relies, instead, on a small plastic "paddle" with a magnetic coil buried inside of it. This paddle is inserted into a charging port on the vehicle. You could stand in a puddle of water and not be shocked. This was the same system used on the GM EV1 electric car.

Interestingly, Smith noted that while Toyota's plug-in Priuses will likely use conductive plugs to recharge the vehicle when using 110 volts, he also indicated that something like the charge paddle on the RAV4 EV could make sense when charging with high voltage 220-240 volts.

Because of the success of the NiMH batteries in the vehicle, people have wondered why Toyota just doesn't use these same batteries in order to hasten the deployment of pure electric and range-extended vehicles. Why can't we have a plug-in Prius today with 40 miles range or even another dedicated electric car?