The first 1078 miles, what we like and don't like, so far.

Toyota Rav4 EV Forum

Help Support Toyota Rav4 EV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Todd

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
22
Location
Long Beach, CA
I just updated my blog with a post and :06 video (Thanks Vine) about our favorite things over the first 1078 miles.

http://toyotarav4ev.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he8TPQZiO74

No gasoline, 100% Electric, charge up in our garage every night.
Consistent 94 mile range with mostly 70 to 75mph driving in Standard Charge Mode. Range of 125 to 150 in extended charge mode depending on driving style and weather.
Two glove boxes. A smaller one above for glasses and other small things and a larger one below.
Large Navigation/Entertainment Screen with Reverse Camera.
Cargo capacity, seats fold almost flat. Two additional large storage areas under rear area floor. (Not having a spare tire helps)
Amazing LED headlights on low beam. They light up the road wonderfully.
Seating for 5 with headrests for all passengers.
Sun Visor Extender that almost covers the entire front window for both driver and passenger.
Not shown in video but power outside mirrors that fold in and out with push of button.

Things I miss or don't like:

Regenerative Braking that allows single pedal driving like on the BMW ActiveE (our former vehicle) and upcoming i3.
Backlight on the Steering Wheel. The only button that has any lighting at night is the Mode button. Can't believe Toyota missed this one.
Rear Beepers to go along with the rear camera. Many times something may be just out of camera range off to the side. Rear Beepers would assist in these situations.

Overall as you can tell, we're loving the Rav4 EV and look forward to participating in the forum as the miles roll along.
 
Hi Todd, yes what a difference transitioning from the AE to the RavEv, for me it wasn't as bad as my Volt was setup very similar to the RavEV in terms of how regen was applied. My wife who is still in the ActiveE (for 1 more month) has to deal with this every time we switch cars. It is amazing the amount of regen BMW programed in the accelerator pedal, our disk rotors seem to always have coating of rust on them from lack of use and need to cleaned off by a good press on the brake every so often.

I think in a few months time you will adjust and will no longer miss this, I have.
 
I've never driven an ActiveE, but you will probably drive in B mode almost all the time like I do. You will also get used to the feel of the additional regen on the brake pedal before the friction brakes take over. Toyota went for the blended regen on the brake pedal like they did on the Prius, as opposed to the Tesla approach where the brake pedal only activates the friction brakes.
 
I don't use B mode at all on the RAV, but I love driving in L with the Volt. I don't find B that useful, and the car is such a lightfooted sprinter that I hate to hold it back:) As a nod to my greener side, I don't always drive in sport mode, but I would if my wife would let me.

How does L on the Volt compare to regen on the Active E?
 
jspearman said:
I don't use B mode at all on the RAV, but I love driving in L with the Volt. I don't find B that useful, and the car is such a lightfooted sprinter that I hate to hold it back:) As a nod to my greener side, I don't always drive in sport mode, but I would if my wife would let me.

How does L on the Volt compare to regen on the Active E?

B mode is handy on hills, particularly with a stop at the bottom.
 
Airton said:
Hi Todd, yes what a difference transitioning from the AE to the RavEv, for me it wasn't as bad as my Volt was setup very similar to the RavEV in terms of how regen was applied. My wife who is still in the ActiveE (for 1 more month) has to deal with this every time we switch cars. It is amazing the amount of regen BMW programed in the accelerator pedal,
I've test driven the Rav4 EV maybe 2x or 3x and the i3 2x, but never the ActiveE.

I can say the i3's regen is VERY strong. It's WAY stronger than that of B mode on a '13 Leaf SV.

I've driven the Model S once but sadly, I don't recall how strong it's regen was.... I just remember it was VERY fast. :)
 
We started our EV life with the MINI E which had super strong regen. At first I thought I wouldn't like it but after one 85 mile round trip commute to work in stop and go traffic, I soon found that I couldn't live without it. It really made a bad traffic experience someone manageable. While I've become accustomed to switching between vehicles without that strong of regen, I've found it's one of my favorite features of driving all electric. We moved to the ActiveE after the MINI E and enjoyed the strong (albeit not quite as strong as the MINI E) regen with that vehicle as well. During our test drives of the i3, we were happy to find that it too had the strong regen allowing the single pedal driving I'd become accustomed to. If the Rav4 EV had that feature, it would be perfect. The financial deal we got helps ease the pain of losing that feature. As others have mentioned, I too use the "B" mode to help generate a little bit of the regen feel and I understand from other posts even when one does use the brake pedal, some regen is being generated....it's the single pedal driving experience, especially through the curves or down a steep mountain that I miss.

Overall, our Rav4 EV experience is off to a positive start.
 
Back
Top