Considering buying a RAV4 EV in New York State

[amped up]

Hey guys,

I currently own a 2007 RAV4 Sport with the V6, and am considering selling it in order to get the EV, but have some questions/concerns. I did some research using this forum and other sites, but found some conflicting info, hopefully you won't mind confirming this again.

• Are there any reasons not to get this vehicle in NY? I know Dianne mentioned someone else in NY was getting one, but wanted to make sure there was no catch.
• What do I do with the mandatory checks, or in case of EV problems? I don't have any RAV4 EV dealers in my state obviously, and the closest Tesla shop is probably 5 hours away from me.
• Am I correct in understanding that the $7,500 tax credit will show up in my returns, if I at least owe that much?
• I have 16" steelies with winter tires for my Sport (18" rims), can I use these on the EV as well?

Thanks!

 

[TonyWilliams]

Find a Toyota dealer with Plug-In Prius certified service. Basic 5000 mile checkups are simple "check tire pressure and washer fluid" events generally designed to suck cash out of you for muffler bearing upgrade or other silly ways to attempt to empty your wallet.

The $7500 federal tax credit is IRS Form 8936. Fill it out with your taxes.

Wheels sound fine. The car is the same as your V6 car, including the exhaust pipe hangers (not kidding on that). You are the absolute first guy who owns a Rav4 oil burner who wants the EV that I've heard of. I did post some stuff on Rav4world (I think that's right) and they were quite dismissive about the overpriced Obamamobile.

Good luck. I presume a 2007 is the same body?

 

[amped up]

I remember seeing you on the RAV4 forums (think I even responded, heck, I even followed you on the LEAF forums), surprised there is such little interest. I guess I'm one of the few hardcore fans of the RAV4, especially the V6, which has been a blast (look up the 1/4mile numbers to get an idea why). Seeing it called the Obamamobile is funny and sad at the same time, but whatever, I'm sure you are enjoying your car, that's all that matters

I leased a Prius Plug-in last year, so now I have been bitten by the EV bug (started a site/effort dedicated to growing the EV community in NY State), and with the new RAV4 design out, I need to sell my RAV4 sooner than later if I want to use it as a good downpayment on the EV.

The 2007 is the same body, so it wont be a shocker to me (maybe better handling, and obviously better tech).

I spoke with my regular Toyota dealer, and they seemed to be more than willing to service the RAV4 EV, talking about they have the only grand master tech on the east coast or something like that. I'm mostly concerned about having some sort of problem that Toyota won't address because the car isn't in CA, and I probably can't afford (or rather justify) to ship the car back to CA because of issues.

As for the tax credit, it's still somewhat confusing. If I owe $10,000 in taxes, hold back $12,000 via my paycheck, am I correct in assuming I would get $9,500 ($2,000 + $7,500) back during tax time?

Should I be concerned about the fact that I am getting a 2012 (from a battery life point of view)?

Most ChargePoint chargers in my area charge around $2.50/hour. No clue about the make/model of the EVSE, but on average, how many miles would that put back on the battery?

Have you guys found it more expensive to insure than a regular vehicle?

Has anyone regretted buying the car?

Last but not least, is anyone using the Level 1 EVSE to keep the car topped off? I'd like to wait a few months with buying a Level 2 EVSE (I'm working on a group buy for some nice units, but it's a slow process), but my commute is around 40 miles a day.

My apologies for the many questions, I'll be reading the forum threads all over again, but if you don't mind, share as much info as you can.

 

[AvLegends]

I'll chime in here...

Should I be concerned about the fact that I am getting a 2012 (from a battery life point of view)?

I don't think so. The Tesla battery is the same for the '12/'13 MY. The battery warranty starts from date purchased.

Most ChargePoint chargers in my area charge around $2.50/hour. No clue about the make/model of the EVSE, but on average, how many miles would that put back on the battery?

I'll leave this question for someone that can answer better than I. Not much experience here...

Have you guys found it more expensive to insure than a regular vehicle?

My insurance went up about $50.00/yr from the 2012 PiP advanced. The Rav4 EV is about 10K more MSRP than the Prius Plug in advanced.

Has anyone regretted buying the car?

Nope... Not in the least!

Last but not least, is anyone using the Level 1 EVSE to keep the car topped off? I'd like to wait a few months with buying a Level 2 EVSE (I'm working on a group buy for some nice units, but it's a slow process), but my commute is around 40 miles a day.

I drive around 25-30 miles a day and charge at night on the 120V L1 unit. As long as I give enough time to recharge for the miles driven it is working fine.

 

[amped up]

Thanks, the more input, the better!

I'm waiting for a call back from Diane to confirm some details, then off to sell my RAV4 ASAP (will hurt a little, really love this car).

Has anyone driven this car in cold weather snow? I'm wondering what kind of performance hit I'll be dealing with, and how the 2WD system works. I have 4WD right now (more like AWD on demand), but live in an area which gets over 200" snow each season. I decided I get new wheels with new snow tires (and sell the existing set) once I get the $7,500 back (assuming I am not mistaken with that tax assumption).

What kind of efficiencies are you guys seeing with this car? Obviously it won't be a LEAF, but I'm assuming it's still going to be more efficient than my V6?

BTW, nice calendar, I recommend you check out shopify.com or Magento Go, which makes it really easy to sell items such as these online, without having to know how to write code etc

 

[AvLegends]

BTW, nice calendar, I recommend you check out shopify.com or Magento Go, which makes it really easy to sell items such as these online, without having to know how to write code etc

Thanks! I'll check them out!

 

[mikegerard]

Amped up-

I'm the other RAV4 buyer in NY. I'm in Webster.

My purchase process is just finishing up and shipping should be today! Glad to hear you're getting one but bummed to not be able to say that I have the only RAV4 EV in New York. At least I'll be able to say it for a week, maybe.

Mike

 

[amped up]

No worries yet, it all depends on me being able to sell my current RAV4 for the money I want (which is above average, since it's extremely loaded).

Really excited for you tho. I was surprised to hear you were 'near' Rochester, since there doesn't seem to be much EV infrastructure there.

Are you going to try to get safe-connect/entune activated so you can track the car during transit?

Keep us posted about your process!

 

[mikegerard]

Yea, not much infrastructure here. Seems like most local charging stations are at car dealers and town halls. I could see charging there in an emergency but these are not places I typically go. Seems to me that restaurants are a much more logical choice. You could charge 20-40 miles during a meal.

I will try to charge at all the local places...mostly to make sure that I can if I need to.

Mike

 

[mikegerard]

I have entune up and running.

Looks like last night it was in the San Diego area (at a used car lot). So it had moved about 90 miles.

The entune documentation says that it shows the location when the car was turned off. Not sure if I will be able to see it in transit except when it's being moved.

Mike

 

[amped up]

argh, must .. not .. be .. jealous , tons of craigslist problems, so tooks days before my ad went online, more delays :/

 

[mattr]

Mike, have your received delivery of your car yet. Wanted to know if you have had any problems with registering, insurance etc. and what you paid for shipment of car. Thanks, Matt

 

[mattr]

Also, what area of New York do you live in. My local dealer says he is not authorized to service EV vehicles.

 

[mattr]

I'm not sure I used this correctly. Wanted to reply to mike.

Mike have you received your car. I live in GLen Head, Long Island. My dealer is telling me they don't service EV's. What part of ny do you live in?

 

[amped up]

He did get his car, but since I started this thread, I did want to answer this question as well.

Officially, no one outside of CA services RAV4 EVs (heck, looks like not even every dealer in CA is RAV4 EV certified). I'm in NY as well, and my dealer told me the same thing, however, they do service prius plug-ins. That said, their response was enough for me to cancel my RAV4 EV plans (still really disappointed). If you are brave enough, or are willing to deal with BS, then you should be fine.

Just keep in mind you have to sign a form which says you understand Toyota wants you to homebase the vehicle in CA, and they might force you to ship it back to CA in case you want something fixed which your local dealer can't handle.

You are closer to a Tesla Service center than myself or Mike (I'm in Syracuse), so maybe your local Toyota dealer can convince Tesla to send a tech over in case of EV trouble, who knows.

Good luck.

 

[mattr]

Thanks, I am going to contact the local tesla service place in Long Island City to see if they will service at least the battery component of the car. If you are able to get in touch with Mike, ask him to reply to this I want to see if he got his car and what arrangements he made to get it serviced.

 

[mikegerard]

So I've had the car for a few weeks now.

Going to take it into the local Toyota on Monday to get the state inspection sticker. That will give me a chance to see how they are about servicing the car in general. I'm not too concerned. Sounds like Tesla would service anything major (electric motor replacement) and the local Toyota can order all parts for the car. They even have the Tesla parts showing up in their computer system. This is my third Toyota and the last two had no major repairs (in fact nothing that I ever took it back to the dealer for).

The car shipped very quickly. Went out on a Friday and was here on Monday. The Toyota paperwork took forever. The MSO was 10 business days after the car shipped. As far as I can tell you cannot legally drive the car in NY without the bill of sale and the MSO so that you can register it here. Having the car sit in the garage for almost two weeks was very frustrating. Wish I had known that beforehand.

Mike

 

[amped up]

Ask them about updating the firmware on the Tesla side, since it sounds like there is an update out already.

 

[amped up]

Btw, if you ever make it to the Syracuse area, let me know please! Still working on setting up an EV meet in the Syracuse area as well.

 

[Dianne]

Just chiming in here. Most states will just take your tax and license money and give you a temp tag till an MSO arrives. NY isn't one of them, apparently, but it's really impossible for us way out here to know each state's rules. I might also add that depending on which DMV you visit, you could get completely different instructions! Seen it happen many times!

Anyway what took a little longer for you, Mike, was the fact that I'd traded for the car initially - from a local dealer - so the MSO goes to them first and gets signed off, and THEN it's sent to me... so if they are not focused at the neighboring dealership, they can delay things exponentially.


Di