Online Forum for the 2012 Rav4 EV

If your lease has a residual value and is an "open-end lease", yes, you can buy them.

That's the problem Toyota had with the first generation Rav4 EV; originally, they were intended to be closed-end leases, but unfortunately for Toyota, some were sold as open-end.

That's why there are still 1st generation Rav4 EV's still on the road.

Actually, all the early Gen1 RAV4 EVs were sold as closed-end leases only to fleet customers. The last 300 or so Gen1 RAV4 EVs were available for purchase by consumers, but many more than that survived. The reason being that under pressure from what would become Plug In America, Toyota relented and wound up selling many of the closed-ended RAV4 EVs. Ford did the same thing with the Ranger EVs, and I suspect both Ford and Toyota did this because they didn't want to be subject to the bad PR that fell upon GM when they crushed the EV1s. Arguably GM is still suffering from the fallout of crushing the EV1s as many blamed the corporate culture that led them to destroy the cars as the reason for the company's bankruptcy and quality/safety issues (ignition switches, anyone?).

My paperwork indicates that my lease is Motor Vehicle Closed-End Lease Agreement. It also says I can purchase the vehicle at the end of the lease for $20,418. I do not have a lot of experience with leases but always understood that a closed ended lease was preferable to an open ended lease. I understood that an open ended lease could end up costing you more money depending on the valuation of the car at the end. Your insight appreciated.
Manny

You're correct and we do actually all have closed-ended leases. Open-ended leases are more similar to financing and don't usually have a set lease-end date.

When referring to the original generation of EVs with "closed-end" leases I think everyone means that they were leases with no purchase ability at the end. Closed-ended isn't really an accurate term here but I'm not aware of another. Perhaps "terminal leases" would be more accurate to reflect that the cars were effectively killed at the end of the lease.

Does anyone think there is a possibility of Toyota offering big discounts to push out the remaining 1k of these?

I'm on the fence of getting one and don't want to commit if there is a possibility that the price is going to drop.

Well, I'm betting Toyota does not want this car to be in showrooms at the same time as the Hydrogen car in about September 2015. That gives them 16 months to move out the rest of the RAV4 EVs. If they have to sell 1,000 more, then they have to average about 62 per month. So far in 2014 they have sold 306, which is an average of 76.5 per month. So, the natural conclusion is that they are doing just fine where they are now with the current incentive structure and I don't expect any significant change. However, it's all just a guessing game from where we're sitting.

We are lucky in that we have a great vehicle for the price. I love the utility of the Rav4EV and especially like the Tesla drivetrain. The lease is a bit more than my Leaf but a lot more vehicle for the money. I could not be more pleased. Obviously getting the Rav4EV for $300 a month would be sweet, however I must admit to being a happy camper.

Apparently they've sold about 1,600, and will stop making the car when they hit 2,600. That is the minimum number of Tesla battery packs their contract with Tesla requires them to buy. Clearly nobody at Toyota except CEO Akio Toyoda has the long-term vision necessary to support electric cars. In fact, it seems to me they've actively resisted the RAV4 EV from the beginning. Yes, it's a California compliance car, but it could have been more than that.

Toyota will cease production of electric models of RAV4
Toyota plans to discontinue production of electric versions of the RAV4 compact crossover, called the RAV4-EV. The Japanese automaker did not say why it decided to no longer pursue the EV project. Read on: http://www.mercurynews.com/Business/ci_25795124/Toyota-will-cease-production-of-electric

Tesla Deal To Supply Toyota RAV4 EV Powertrain To End This Year
Several news reports over the weekend noted that Tesla's contract to supply Toyota with electric powertrains for its RAV4 EV crossover would end next year. In the words of Tesla's latest quarterly report, cited by Bloomberg in a Saturday news story, “Toyota is expected to end the current RAV4 EV model this year." Read on: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1092023_tesla-deal-to-supply-toyota-rav4-ev-powertrain-to-end-this-year

The only question is what our EVs will be worth later on when the lease term expires?

Yep, I believe most people who bought this car new this right away. My dealer appeared not to, but who knows

It's clearly a bummer that Toyota doesn't believe in EVs. If their compliance car is so good - imagine what they could do if they had commitment to EVs like Nissan or BMW do.