Interesting Tesla-Toyota article

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jimbo69ny

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This interesting article gives some incite into what was going on during the Tesla-Toyota Rav EV deal.

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140807/OEM05/308079945/how-tesla-toyota-ev-project-lost-its-spark

Oh and Tony, you have some splaining to do my friend......
 
Can you say "slanted media story"? I can. This has already been discussed on the Facebook RAV4EV group today. Tony already weighed in over there.
 
I didn't know Tony was driving a Leaf again!

I'm glad my experience hasn't been a nightmare, although I do fret sometimes about service if I begin to have problems, and it is a car after all, so it will have problems.

I feel like Toyota is stuck with a mostly dull product line (except the FR-S), and the Prius is to Toyota what Windows has been to Microsoft: an uninteresting utilitarian cash cow that's quickly becoming irrelevant. Fuel cells are certainly not going to catapult them back into relevance, since, as John Voelker pointed out on his website, they will be nothing more than compliance cars for several years to come and stuck in a couple of states where they can refuel. I'm sorry that Toyota has given up so easily, but I probably wouldn't have bought another EV from them anyway, since I would much prefer to have access to the Supercharger network for my next car.
 
The article describes how Toyota insisted on including a "parking pawl" instead if an electronic parking break and that Tesla had problems with the parking pawl on the Roadster.

Whenever I come to a complete stop in my RAV4 EV, there is a strange mechanical whirring coming from the direction of the engine compartment, and I've wondered whether this is complexity waiting to malfunction. Does anybody know if this the parking pawl in action? If it engages every time the car stops instead of just when it is put in park, this could be a malfunction waiting to happen.
 
No, I don't own a LEAF anymore, since trading in my last one for the 2012 Rav4 EV in November of 2012. I did that telephone interview on 13 May 2014 while I was in Dubai.

The parking pall is dumb, and Tesla clearly has the better solution. But, small potatoes in the overall project. Rav4 EV was a rushed program from May 2010 to September 2014 as a stop gap measure to comply with CARB for 2012-2014 model years. Toyota followed the plan near perfectly, even going out of their way to hassle out-of-state owners and dealers to inhibit Rav4 EV's from getting out of California, and they will now have hydrogen cars through at least 2020 - 2025 primarily for CARB compliance.

Yes, my car was a nightmare with constant dealer visits and loaner cars. Over 30 days in the shop. The good news is that for the past 25,000 miles or so, there hasn't been any major failures. But, I don't hand out free passes for poor quality. Make no mistake; most of the problems were / are Tesla supplied components.

Toyota fought me on my Lemon Law return, while quietly buying back numerous others. To their credit, my experiences with the service end was polite and professional. Because my car was so early with problems, the head of the program for Toyota actually flew down to see the car and meet with Tesla engineers. I've talked to him on the phone.

The Rav4 EV is such a competent car, and the only real major feature deficiency I have is the lack of quick charging, and everybody would love a longer range. The other issues, that don't relate to failures are just goofy things like a fuel gauge that stops at 80%, the plug-in point on the rear instead of the front (like a LEAF), no rated range (just GOM), noisy tires, and a handful of other little things.
 
tailgate1234 said:
The article describes how Toyota insisted on including a "parking pawl" instead if an electronic parking break and that Tesla had problems with the parking pawl on the Roadster.

Whenever I come to a complete stop in my RAV4 EV, there is a strange mechanical whirring coming from the direction of the engine compartment, and I've wondered whether this is complexity waiting to malfunction. Does anybody know if this the parking pawl in action? If it engages every time the car stops instead of just when it is put in park, this could be a malfunction waiting to happen.

The noise you hear is likely the brake booster. It has nothing to do with the parking pall or the mechanical parking brake.
 
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