RAV4 EV races to market

After just a 22-month development program, engineers from Toyota and Tesla produce an all-electric version of the popular SUV.

Little more than two years after the first announcement of the unique collaboration between Toyota and Tesla Motors, members of the media were taking to the streets of Newport Beach, CA, this month to drive the all-new, all-electric SUV. The vehicle combines a Tesla designed and produced battery and electric powertrain with Toyota's most popular SUV model to create an EV capable of achieving an EPA-estimated 92 or 113 mi of driving range, depending on the selected charge mode-standard or extended, respectively.

“A typical product planning cycle is more than four years; the RAV4 EV moved from conception to production in less than two,” said Bob Carter, Group Vice President and General Manager, Toyota Division, at the vehicle's reveal at the 2012 Electric Vehicle Symposium in May. “There was no template for this project, no guidelines, just a challenge to bring a premium EV to the market.”