Toyota next generation EV Study

[waidy]

Toyota is currently gathering a list of Rav4EV drivers for their usage, concerns, and preferences to make a future proposal. If you have concerns and comments and preferences in which you would like Toyota to improve, please email your email address to Vinuth Rai <[email protected]>.

They are now just checking for access to potentially interested people . The project is to start April 1 2014.

 

[TonyWilliams]

They are now just checking for access to potentially interested people . The project is to start April 1 2014.

I actually was on a paid focus group for the current Rav4 EV sometime in 2011, near Toyota North American headquarters in Long Beach, California.

They didn't integrate anything I suggested.

 

[Tadol]

My experience is that these are put together by marketing people who are trying to figure out the easiest way to sell the product they've already designed, not to design a product the public wants -

 

[waidy]

It is the senior adviser of Toyota Technology R&D Division who contacted me. However, I don't know what role Vinuth Rai plays in Toyota.

 

[waidy]

I actually was on a paid focus group for the current Rav4 EV sometime in 2011, near Toyota North American headquarters in Long Beach, California.

They didn't integrate anything I suggested.

I have asked them to respond to this forum but they replied to my email instead..

At ITC we have research and proof of concept work related to vehicle networking. This is our core competency. There is both basic research which have impact in five to fifteen years as well as close to market research which will have impact in three to five years. Vinuth is a General Manager in charge of close to market research work.

While RAV4 EV will not likely reflect any of our activities prior to 2016 if it is successful it will impact products beyond this time frame. Toyota nearly always has parallel alternative activities so there are no guarantees of deployment of our work.

We are the only Toyota research group working on these networking topics in Silicon Valley. This is a 2014 research year topic we are now planning. In particular one topic we are interested in is how the onboard vehicle computers can interact with wireless networks (cellphone/wifi) to improve the driver and ownership experience.

OK. I posted and there's already a reply.
http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=840&p=10022#p10022

"I actually was on a paid focus group for the current Rav4 EV sometime in 2011, near Toyota North American headquarters in Long Beach, California.

They didn't integrate anything I suggested."

You may go to the forum to respond
Best,
Waidy Lee

 

[Dsinned]

All anyone SERIOUSLY interested in our opinions would have to do is become a lurker here on this forum. It is absolutely overflowing with opinions, most of which are quite constructive. As far as relates to the human interface to automotive computers, that has been covered here many hundreds of times. Toyota would only need to look at one of our member's recent introduction of RAVCHARGE to get some idea of what we want in that regard. If they had the least bit of interest in what we want in terms of battery management system, especially scheduled charging functions, there are literally thousands of related posts on that particular subject. Frankly, I don't think Toyota gives a ***expletive deleted*** about our honest opinions, especially as concerns EVs and specifically the RAV4 EV.

 

[Philly RAV4 EV]

Totally agree. They are probably looking for information and ideas for their new hydrogen vehicle. F*** Toyota

 

[waidy]

Totally agree. They are probably looking for information and ideas for their new hydrogen vehicle. F*** Toyota

I am on the same page here. I have once again asked that they assign a person to read thus forum. It is now in their control.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Although opinions and wants expressed here are one thing, thoughts expressed on EV related forums are often that of enthusiasts and don't necessarily represent the non-EV enthusiast, non-techie, non-engineer crowd. It's often interesting to hear how others interpret/see things.

Here are some examples of people who seem clueless or don't understand GOMs:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=268304#p268304 (not the poster, but the person he encountered)
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=14065 (of course, they never returned to post anything else)
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7273

Semi-OT, I posted this in another forum a few months ago and keep we work at a tech company in Silicon Valley. I do software QA and the guy w/the crazy "needs" does dev work:
So, at lunch today w/some coworkers, one currently has a '13 HyCam and he remarked he'd like a Tesla Model X in the future and wanted 400 (!) mile range.

I and my other coworker asked why. His commute's only ~12 miles each way. Mine is too, for which my Leaf is totally fine. We get free charging @ work and could make a few round trips w/o charging @ work. My reply was that it's going to be real expensive and you're buying and carrying around WAY more battery than you'd need.

Anyhow, one of his reasons was to go to LA (from the Bay Area). His other, which is the wildest I'd ever heard was that he wanted to have to charge once every 2 or 3 weeks! Uhh... I was like, don't you charge your phone (an iPhone 5) like every night? Is it that inconvenient? He said yeah and that he hates that, he can only go 2 days on a charge.

I told him that plugging in a car isn't that inconvenient.

Then, he mentioned he'd used PHS phones in the past. I'd seen them at trade shows before, they were never deployed in the US (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Handy-phone_System). He said w/those (apparently deployed in Taiwan), he could go 30 days (!) between charges.

Anyhow, I wonder how many people who have "ruled out" EVs or are anti-EV have such a mentality...

 

[qwk]

All anyone SERIOUSLY interested in our opinions would have to do is become a lurker here on this forum. It is absolutely overflowing with opinions, most of which are quite constructive. As far as relates to the human interface to automotive computers, that has been covered here many hundreds of times. Toyota would only need to look at one of our member's recent introduction of RAVCHARGE to get some idea of what we want in that regard. If they had the least bit of interest in what we want in terms of battery management system, especially scheduled charging functions, there are literally thousands of related posts on that particular subject. Frankly, I don't think Toyota gives a ***expletive deleted*** about our honest opinions, especially as concerns EVs and specifically the RAV4 EV.

You are 100% correct. To add to that, they could go to TMC, and the Nissan Leaf forum, to get a sense of things actual BUYERS want and complain about. The problem is that that won't tell them what they want to hear, so I guess they will just have to continue building obsolete ICE vehicles until there are no more buyers for them.

 

[Tadol]

But they never listened to people who told them what they wanted in ICE vehicles - why do you think it would change with EVs?