Window "Fact" Sheets for Onlookers

[TonyWilliams]

2012 - 2014 Toyota Rav4 Electric Electric (EV)
• Not a hybrid; powered 100% by electricity that is mostly made in USA, not the Middle East. Very little electricity is produced from oil in the USA. No electricity comes from outside North America. No soldiers die defending electricity. There aren’t coal mines in California; most state electricity is from natural gas, with solar and wind power growing
• There is no gasoline motor; no smog checks, oil changes, camshaft belts, tune-ups, air and oil filters, or oil drips on the driveway/garage. The Chevrolet Volt uses a gasoline motor in addition to the electric motor, as does a Toyota Prius. Other pure electric cars are Tesla Roadster, Model S and new Model X, Ford Focus EV, Nissan LEAF, BMW i3, Fiat 500e, Mercedes B-Class ED, Smart ED, Chevrolet Spark, Volkswagon eGolf, and Kia Soul EV. Coming in 2017-2019 is Chevrolet Bolt, enhanced LEAF and Tesla Model 3
• Zero tailpipe emissions, and zero emissions from electricity produced by geothermal, solar, wind, and hydro (dam) power, and even nuclear. At my house, I have 8kW of solar powered electrical production
• 92 to 113 mile range (EPA 103 combined), up to 142 miles at a steady 65mph. It’s possible to drive over 200 miles at exceptionally slow speeds. It’s important to note that range will reduce with age, miles, and exposure to high temperatures
• 104 mph top speed, 0-60mph in 7 seconds, 273 foot/pounds of torque
• Lithium battery has a 8 year/100,000 mile warranty
o No “battery acid” in 45kWh battery pack, with 41.8kWh usable. No memory effect like Nickel Cadnium
o Uses thousand of “AA” size batteries, Panasonic 18650 / 2600mah cells
o Power does not taper off as battery gets lower in energy. It maintains full power until less than 10% charge remaining
o Everything inside is recyclable
• The car’s charger draws up to 9.6 kW (40 amps at 240 volts); about the same as a large home air conditioner. Can charge from a normal 120 volt wall plug
• Charging is normally done overnight, just like plugging in your cell phone. It can be charged in 3 to 5 hours at a rate of 30 miles added per hour of charging
• Highest rated 4 / 5 star crash test (4 Door SUV class) by US government
• 0-60mph in 7 seconds, 273 foot/pounds of torque
• The car is equipped with a noise maker so that pedestrians can hear it coming. Yes, it’s that quiet.
• COSTS:
o Purchase price was $51,000 when new, now selling for $25,000 - $40,000 used
o It costs $3 to $6 to "fill up" the battery with electricity overnight at your house
o 4.8 cents per mile energy cost (2.5 miles per kWh @ $0.12 each)
• It costs 20 cents per mile for 20mpg gas car at $4 gallon for gas
• Toyota Prius hybrid car costs 8 cents per mile (about 70% more)
• Assembled in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada by Toyota
o About 2600 were built over 3 years to comply with California Zero Emissions regulations
o The batteries and electric drive train was built in California by Tesla Motors. Much of the same equipment is still used in their world class Tesla Model S.
• Eligible for California HOV (White Car Pool Lane Sticker) until January 2019

*********

Fun Gasoline Facts:

• To extract and refine one gallon of gasoline takes about 6 kWh of energy. That much electrical power can power a typical electric vehicle about 20 miles.
• In 2010, the U.S. imported oil from Mexico (11%) and from Canada (21%), however, 42% comes from OPEC.
• Only about 25% of the energy of gasoline is used to propel a car. The other 75% of the energy is wasted as heat, in addition to the energy to extract, transport and refine.

Popular Misconceptions:

1. Electricity is produced from coal: Yes, it is in much of the USA; about 39% (2014 data). In San Diego, SDG&E has no direct coal-sourced supplies. SDG&E built a 500kV line called the Sunrise Powerlink, a 120-mile line carrying renewable energy (solar, wind, etc) from the Imperial Valley to San Diego. In addition, a significant percentage of electric vehicle owners have solar panels at home.

2) Electric car batteries will fill up landfills with toxic waste: 94% of lead-acid batteries that EVERY gas car has are recycled and there is no reason that Li-ion batteries cannot be recycled as well. Unlike lead-acid batteries, in addition to recycling, a secondary market will be created for used electric vehicle batteries to provide residential and commercial electricity during peak demand periods. Because these batteries are expensive, they aren't going to be casually thrown away.

3) Batteries cost too much: Yes, they are very expensive. But, like any emerging technology, the cost is coming down with widespread adoption, like televisions, computers, cell phones, etc. Electric vehicle batteries have an 8 year /100,000 mile warranty.

4) Hydrogen is today’s answer: Unlike electricity, which is everywhere, there is no efficient way to generate hydrogen, there is no pipeline infrastructure to transport it and there are virtually no refueling stations. It also doesn’t stay in any container well (it leaks out), it is one of the most flammable gasses on the planet, and is odorless and colorless, so its difficult to see when there is a fire. Toyota has begun offering a hydrogen powered car to replace the Rav4 EV for California Zero Emission Vehicle regulations, called the Toyota Mirai. There is also a Hyundai Tucson hydrogen car, and next year, there will be a Honda hydrogen car. The total number of all these cars all combined is less than 200 and less than 20 public hydrogen stations in North America (2015).

5) Nobody would buy an electric vehicle without big government handouts: Currently, there is a $7500 tax credit from the US government and a $2500 rebate from the state of California. Both of these will expire eventually, and then we’ll know if this is right or wrong!!

6) God gave us oil, so we should just use that: This is an actual statement made to me. In addition to oil, other things are also on planet earth that are “provided” that can not only provide power, but also does not pollute, in addition to being perpetual, like solar, water, wind, tidal and geothermal derived electricity. No wars are required to maintain these sources, and they don’t pollute.

7) Electric Vehicles can never perform like a gasoline or diesel car: the Tesla Model S-P90D can go from zero to 60mph in less than 3 seconds.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Courtesy Notice - Parking Violation

This vehicle is blocking an Electric Vehicle Recharging Station. This parking space is designated for Electric Vehicles Only.
Parking in a way that prevents use of the Recharging Station is not only illegal, it can leave an Electric Vehicle driver stranded. I'm sure you enjoy not finding your gasoline refueling stations blocked with non-gasoline powered cars !!!

Under California Vehicle Code section 22511, vehicles parked in spaces reserved for electric vehicles are subject to fines and may be towed away at the owner's expense. We prefer to avoid taking such action unless absolutely necessary.

Notifying the police or sheriff's department may cause the removal of a vehicle from a stall or space designated for electric vehicles to the nearest impound garage, pursuant to DMV rules.

Per DMV rules, "zero-emission vehicle" means any car, truck, or any other vehicle that produces no tailpipe or evaporative emissions.

 

[Dsinned]

Great posts! Thanks Tony! :mrgreen:

 

[TonyWilliams]

Heck, I forgot to add:

0-60mph in 7 seconds, 273 foot/pounds of torque

 

[Jscifres]

BEHIND THE WHEEL | 2012 TOYOTA RAV4 EV
With a Jolt From Tesla, a More Electrifying Utility

By BRADLEY BERMAN
Published: August 31, 2012

VENICE, Calif.

THE top speed of a vehicle usually doesn’t mean much — until, that is, you’re running late for a flight, as I was in Los Angeles a few Saturdays ago.

I punched the Sport button on the all-electric Toyota RAV4 EV that I had been driving for two days and slammed the accelerator to the floor. The burst of power — in a blink it kicked me past the 75 m.p.h. traffic in the fast lanes — was not what I expected from a small battery-powered crossover.

The electric surge was transformational. Still gaining speed at a good clip, I could easily have zoomed to the 100 m.p.h. top speed listed in Toyota’s specifications. (For the record, the top speed in Normal mode is 85.)

The electric drivetrain from Tesla Motors, maker of the rollicking two-seat Roadster that has helped overhaul the spinster image of electric cars, turned a sedate Toyota utility wagon into a high-riding 4,032-pound electric beast. I made it to the airport with time to spare.

The story of the 2012 RAV4 EV, which goes on sale this month at about 60 Toyota dealerships in California, represents the melding of two disparate corporate cultures — one a staid but successful Japanese behemoth, the other a disruptive California start-up — into a single machine.

The May 2010 ceremony that announced their partnership was equal parts Hollywood, Marvel and anime. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former Mr. Universe who was California’s governor at the time, presided. Elon Musk — Tesla’s chief executive, a practicing rocket scientist and the inspiration for the billionaire Tony Stark character in the “Iron Man” films — shook hands with Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s chief. Mr. Toyoda, heroic in his own way, had three months earlier offered a self-effacing, apologetic bow before the Japanese people for his company’s gas-pedal safety gaffe.

The governor pointed to Toyota’s quintessentially nerdy hybrid. “The Prius is an extraordinary car that goes more than 50 miles per gallon,” he said. “That was revolutionary.”

He then pointed to a Tesla Roadster, built on the chassis of a Lotus sports car, and said, “You can do something that is very sexy-looking, that goes from zero to 60 in less than 3.9 seconds.”

With an actor’s timing, he turned to the crowd and said, “Both of those forces now come together.”

Two years later, here I was, driving the embodiment of that union, a joining of the efficient-but-tepid Prius with the screaming-fast Roadster.

The choice of the RAV4 as the platform for a Toyota-Tesla venture was far from certain when engineers from the companies first met. The Tesla group, mostly unfamiliar with Toyota’s full model line, boned up by visiting a showroom.

“O.K., here are all the Toyota cars,” J B Straubel, Tesla’s chief technical officer, said to his team. “What can we make into an E.V.?”

When Mr. Straubel first met Greg Bernas, Toyota’s chief engineer for the project, Mr. Bernas was leafing through a newly purchased technical primer for electric vehicles, noting that his team members were thinking about E.V.’s for the first time in their careers.

The RAV4 platform was chosen, in part, because it could carry a battery pack large enough for a reasonable range. It also met a requirement set by Mr. Toyoda: that it be built in North America. The RAV4 also had an E.V. pedigree: in 1997-2003, Toyota produced some 1,500 electric RAV4s.

In the past decade, the RAV4 has bulked up and grown in length, but its design has not exactly been a trendsetter. It is functional, reliable and drab; everything in its place, but devoid of personality. There’s a reason Kanye West rhymes, “What you think I rap for? To push a RAV4?”

My first miles in the RAV4 EV took me north from Newport Beach along the Pacific Coast Highway. When I arrived at my Venice destination, the dashboard display read 47.5 miles, with an estimated 98 miles of remaining range. In other words, after a trip of nearly 50 miles there was almost 100 miles of electricity left in the battery.

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By comparison, the Nissan Leaf I drive at home usually won’t go more than 80 miles on a full charge, period. The main reason for this difference is onboard electricity storage: the Tesla-made battery pack in the RAV4 EV has a capacity of 41.8 kilowatt hours, while the Leaf’s is 24 kilowatt hours.

The E.P.A.’s efficiency rating, expressed in miles-per-gallon equivalent, has not been released, though Toyota said it expected a combined figure of 76 m.p.g.e. For comparison, the Leaf is rated at 99 m.p.g.e. and the Ford Focus EV at 105.

By the end of the day, I had ventured farther north toward Ventura and then back to Venice, clocking 127.6 miles on a single charge, the battery going from fully charged to almost completely empty. I seldom used the Sport mode and ran the air-conditioner for only a few minutes.

The next day, I did my best imitation of an action hero on Los Angeles streets. Trying to find the lower limit of the RAV4 EV’s range, I screeched away from stoplights in Sport mode and blasted the air-conditioner. On that drive, I managed 102 miles, with an estimated 19 miles remaining.

The raison d’être of a big battery is to provide longer range, but the bonus here was that heaping abuse on the Tesla powertrain had relatively little effect on overall range. Through the accelerator pedal I got the feel of Tesla’s devotion to megadoses of electric power, and with the 845-pound battery pack planted beneath the center of the cabin, the handling was solid. (The E.V. version of the RAV4 weighs about 470 pounds more than a similarly equipped V-6 model.)

Using all of the 154 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque available in Sport mode — on the road, the power is far more impressive than the numbers sound — my zero-to-60 runs measured a brisk 7 seconds, about the same as a gasoline RAV4 with the V-6 engine. Switching to Normal mode, which cuts torque output to 218 pound-feet, the same run took 1.5 seconds longer.

The RAV4 EV’s brakes are transplanted from the Prius, and follow that car’s operating philosophy for regenerative braking.

“As soon as you step on the brake, we’re going to take over,” said Sheldon Brown, Toyota’s executive program manager for the RAV4 EV. “Our system effectively captures all the available energy.”

Toyota’s approach has been widely criticized; reviewers complain about a vague pedal feel when the drive motor shifts to its regenerative mode and charges the battery. Numb though it may be, it has the benefit of being familiar to many drivers.

“We know our folks like the Prius,” Mr. Brown said. “We have millions of miles on the road with it. We wanted to keep the same feel.”

The RAV4 EV also takes its gearshift handle from the Prius, which looks ridiculously small on a vehicle this size. It comes across as an example of corners cut to meet a hurried production schedule; RAV4 EVs started rolling out of the assembly plant 22 months after the program’s announcement.

Other irritants: the vehicle has no quick-charge port, so replenishing the battery to its full 41.8-kilowatt hour capacity takes at least a six-hour session, even on a 240-volt circuit. There’s no third-row seating option or all-wheel drive capability. And as with the gas-powered RAV4, the rear cargo door swings awkwardly to the side to open rather than lifting upward.

But in the larger picture, the Toyota-Tesla RAV4 EV could be a watershed for electric vehicles, demonstrating that E.V.’s can be big and gutsy. The vehicle’s size — combined with Toyota’s reliability and Tesla’s exuberant propulsion — shreds nearly every common objection to electric vehicles available now or on the horizon. Most notably, the consistent range of about 120 to 130 miles is delivered even when your drive is a spirited romp and the air-conditioner is run full-blast. Kanye should give this RAV4 a try.

With the plus-size battery that makes it all possible comes a hefty price: $50,610, before a $7,500 federal credit and a $2,500 California rebate; Toyota expects to announce a lease plan this month. The EV is equipped with about the same level of amenities as the gasoline-powered RAV4 Limited V-6 model, which costs $31,279. (Well, there’s no leather upholstery, but the EV borrows more efficient headlamps from Lexus.)

Still, $40,000 buys a Tesla-brewed Toyota that offers generous space for passengers and cargo, and even if you commute alone, there’s no need to feel guilty, because there’s no tailpipe fouling the atmosphere. Only 2,600 units will be made, with production wrapping up at the end of 2014. The limited run, I believe, will only heighten its appeal, earning Toyota a legion of interested customers begging the company to make more.


Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/automobiles/autoreviews/with-jolt-from-tesla-a-more-electrifying-utility.html?_r=0

 

[waidy]

Hi Tony, many mucho thanks for your fact sheets. I am creating two more "fact sheets" using some of your data for this Thursday's EV display event in my town.

I found a typo, driving EV is 2cent/mile (you have 20cent/mile). iMiEV is also available now, my neighbor got one a month ago.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Hi Tony, many mucho thanks for your fact sheets. I am creating two more "fact sheets" using some of your data for this Thursday's EV display event in my town.

I found a typo, driving EV is 2cent/mile (you have 20cent/mile). iMiEV is also available now, my neighbor got one a month ago.

You're welcome. That 20 cents is referring to an oil burner car.

 

[waidy]

Hi Tony, many mucho thanks for your fact sheets. I am creating two more "fact sheets" using some of your data for this Thursday's EV display event in my town.

I found a typo, driving EV is 2cent/mile (you have 20cent/mile). iMiEV is also available now, my neighbor got one a month ago.

You're welcome. That 20 cents is referring to an oil burner car.

Yes, Yes, sorry, my apology by not reading it correctly.

 

[snoltor]

Have you had to use the courtesy notice many times? I've started noticing blocked stations lately, not too often but it does happen. This weekend saw a pickup truck parked in a station.... seems hard to miss the prominent EV parking sign, not to mention the charger itself.

Courtesy Notice - Parking Violation

 

[TonyWilliams]

Have you had to use the courtesy notice many times? I've started noticing blocked stations lately, not too often but it does happen. This weekend saw a pickup truck parked in a station.... seems hard to miss the prominent EV parking sign, not to mention the charger itself.

Courtesy Notice - Parking Violation

I've used plenty of them. I've people still in the car and get belligerent with me, "hey can't you park WAY over there?"