Tesla-Toyota's first joint car

[Tesha]

Source: SFgate

What had been previously reported, Tesla and Toyota made official
this morning.

They're developing an all-electric version of Toyota's RAV4.

"With an aim to market the EV in the United States in 2012, prototypes
will be made combining the Toyota RAV4 model with a Tesla electric
powertrain," Tesla said in an announcement. "Tesla plans to produce
and deliver a fleet of prototypes to Toyota for evaluation within this
year. The first prototype has already been built and is now undergoing
testing,"

Not especially exciting a choice as Tesla's Roadster or its forthcoming
sedan -- but likely not nearly as expensive either. As the company
noted in its announcement -- perhaps recognizing what the nascent
EV market will bear -- "Tesla's goal is to produce increasingly affordable
electric cars for mainstream buyers."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/bottomline/detail?entry_id=68031&tsp=1

[nickinSTL]

1. I'd be quite happy with an electric RAV4

of course, there are practical considerations like price, range on a charge and availability of charging stations, but all of those are going to be issues with any electric vehicle.

[paulkienitz]

5. Toyota already made an electric RAV4 ten years ago (nt)

[nickinSTL]

7. yep, I know they did

I wasn't in a position to buy one then - even if I could have, which I doubt, as they weren't widely available.

[blue_onyx]

14. Yes they did...

and Toyota destroyed them as the leases ended. Odd that Toyota doesn't get criticized for this like GM.

[grahamhgreen]

2. How bout a simple electric Yaris for under 20K?

Not bad though

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. How about any car that is not so over-inflated price-wise?

it's hard enough keeping one's head above water without so much extra debt just to have wheels to get to work to pay off the debt.
Thanks to deregulation so many decades ago, the snowball effect has driven the cost of consumerism sky-high. I am broke just maintaining the basics of living. My 10 yr. old car is still working (Oldsmobile) only due to going into more debt to keep it running. I would so love a more efficient car, but am sure this will be out of reach for me for quite some time to come. :(

[Plucketeer]

4. I'm with you.

I'm driving around in my 12-year old Camry, whilst all these glimmering, new SUVs, FlexFuel Mega-pickups and upscale sedans abound around me. I'd love to buy the wife and me new efficient rides, but who wants to pay those outrageous payments each month? Yeah - so you're getting 40-something MPG. What "savings" is that when it costs you $350 a month to have it to drive??? Geez, for $350 a month, I can do some serious cruizin' with one of my V8 50s Classics!

[ejpoeta]

11. we broke down and bought a town and country about two and a half years ago.

i wish we had the option for something like an electric car. we have a family of five. and our payments are like $400 a month. the last car we had was an explorer that we paid $500 for! but my hubby doens't have the time to keep working on cars. though we have had a lot of break issues with this.

man i would LOVE an electric car. i don't drive very far generally. but at least if they are getting something out there maybe eventually we can have infrastructure to support it's wide use and get away from oil.

[Tesha]

16. Chrysler products are horribly unreliable.

> we broke down and bought a town and country about two
> and a half years ago. ...though we have had a lot of break
> issues with this.

Chrysler products are horribly unreliable; we've owned a '96
Dodge Grand Caravan (the Dodge version of the Chrysler that
you own) since about '97 and we were sure it would never make
it to 100K miles. But it was always a bit cheaper to fix it than to
trade it away and when it wasn't being broken, it always did what
we wanted it to do (like move a lot of stuff) so we kept at it.

It's now made it to 199K and is starting to rust away. Strangely
enough, it doesn't seem to break down quite as often as it used,
or maybe we've just given up on expecting everything to work.
Lately though, it is intermittently showing us the ABS light so
there's another decision coming up in its future.

Even the newest Caravans apparently have the same lack of
reliability; Chrysler just never learns how to build reliable cars;
they're probably crossed off our list forever.

Tesha

[ejpoeta]

17. hasn't broken down, but we have had problems with the brakes since day 1

and an issue with the key not turning off all the way. i have to mess with the shifter to get it to turn off so i can take the key out. friggin pisses me off. my dad died last year in april and our 1 year old car was squesling because of the brakes throughout the funeral procession. and now there is a recall for the brakes after my husband has already replaced the fronts and the backs himself (since they wanted to charge him to do it and the rotors are warped. they will fix them, i guess... but we have to pay a $100 deductible first.... after we bought brakes and bob put them on. i swear i will never buy another dodge/chrysler again. this was our first new vehicle ever, and now i see why my dad only ever bought one new car. at least with our old beat up cars we bought for $500 we knew what we were getting and while it isn't quite as bad as if it had engine trouble and that kind of stuff (which IS covered under the powertrain warranty) it is still annoying to have to replace brake pads all the time and have the rotors warped like they are.

we have always bought fords before this. i wanted the stow and go seats. which i am glad we have. probably other companies have something like it by now. my thought is multipurpose since we only have the one vehicle. it's just frustrating that the company doesn't seem concerned with repeat customers. we bought the minivan not long before the bottom fell out and then we weren't sure if chrysler would even be around anymore.

[Tesha]

18. What year is it?

Our '96 has also had problems with the shifter lever versus the
transmission gear selection versus the ignition key interlock.

(Then again, our '96 has had problems with every major subsystem
except the engine itself. Transmission, exploding differential case,
half-shafts, wheel bearings, brakes, ABS, power steering, rusting
strut towers, electrics, radiator, electric cooling fan, water leaks in
the body, power windows, AC compressor and evaporator, on and on...*)

Tesha


* And to the skeptics, no, I'm not considering normal "wear out"
items like brakes pads, shoes, rotors, and drums, struts, or belts.

[ejpoeta]

20. 2008

[Tesha]

21. Thanks!

Yeah, you'd think they'd have worked out that shifter/interlock
thing by now.

Tesha

[underpants]

6. At the Western Auto I used to go to a joint guaranteed state inspection

[ProudDad]

8. Oh, JOINT CAR

I was thinking they might be keeping something special in the glove box...

You know, like the DeLoreans had?

But instead of Coke in the glove box, a joint in the visor pocket?

[grahamhgreen]

9. An electric joint at that!

[tinrobot]

10. Will it have the range of a Tesla?

If so, sign me up.

[Tesha]

12. Doubtful. A huge part of the Tesla's cost is its very-capable...

Lithium-Ion battery. This car will probably have a much smaller,
much-less-expensive batterry.

Tesha

[kiranon]

13. Saw a Tesla on the road in Palo Alto last week - beautiful and way

beyond what I will ever be able to afford. But, it was the best looking car I've ever seen ever.

[Tesha]

15. It's the Lotus body. (NT)

[pipoman]

19. Motortrend released this spy pic...