Toyota RAV4 EV to be discontinued, deal with Tesla Motors not being renewed

Costs 49,800 USD

Toyota has disclosed plans to terminate production of the RAV4 EV at the end of the year.

Powered by Tesla Motors, the electric RAV4 never took off as the company sold only 1,594 units since the car was introduced about two years ago. Right from the start Toyota planned only two model years for the car as a way to meet California's zero-emission mandate. The deal with Tesla will expire at the end of the year and will not be renewed so production will end once the 2,600^th car will be assembled.

The Toyota RAV4 EV costs almost 50,000 USD and comes powered by a 156 PS electric motor offering a 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) run in a decent 7 seconds before topping out at 161 mph (100 mph). More important, the electric crossover has an EPA-estimated range of 103 miles (166 km/h) before the 42 kW battery pack runs out of juice.

Source;
http://www.worldcarfans.com/114051675378/toyota-rav4-ev-to-be-discontinued-deal-with-tesla-motors

Toyota RAV4 EV teased ahead of LA debut

I'm curious about this merger, Tesla has done alot of good things....
Toyota has released the first teaser images of the RAV4 EV, ahead of its debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Details are limited, but the vehicle was jointly developed with Tesla as part of their $50 million dollar agreement to collaborate on electric vehicle technology. In the past, Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, stated the RAV4 will have "...range and acceleration exceeding that of other announced electric vehicles of this class."

The electric SUV is slated for a 2012 launch and full details will be released on November 17th.

Source:
http://www.worldcarfans.com/110111129490/toyota-rav4-ev-teased-ahead-of-la-debut

Tesla and Toyota to develop RAV4 EV, hope to launch in 2012

Toyota and Tesla have officially announced that the electric prototypes being developed by the California startup are based on the RAV4 crossover, and the two companies hope to have a production version ready by 2012. When we sat down with Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda last week, he revealed that an initial prototype was being built with a Tesla electric powertrain. Since then, Tesla CTO JB Straubel revealed that his engineering team was preparing two vehicles based on an existing Toyota platform for delivery by the end of July.

If the project comes to fruition, it will be great news for fans of the original RAV4 EV which debuted in the late 1990s. Several hundred of those vehicles are still on the road today and regularly turn up for sale on eBay Motors at premium prices.

The new RAV4s will use Tesla's liquid cooled lithium ion battery configuration that contains thousands of commodity laptop cells. The first prototype is already running and a larger fleet will be prepared this year for durability testing by Toyota.

Source;
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/16/tesla-and-toyota-to-develop-rav4-ev-hope-to-launch-in-2012/