Preparing the RAV4 for Forest Roads

Hello Everyone,

I plan to live fulltime out of a RAV4 Hybrid when I retire and travel the country. (I know, nuts, but stay with me).

There are a few folks doing this out of a Prius but one complaint they have is about ground clearance when trying to access some roads less traveled.... thus the RAV-4 Hybrid and it's ~6.3in of ground clearance. So why the hybrid? The Toyota Prius Ready mode is a beautiful thing....allowing one to have genuine A/C (not a swamp cooler, and no need to be plugged in to run a 110v A/C) while on the road with the engine cycling on only when needed.

Anyway, here are my questions for those of you with this vehicle:

- What protects the vehicle from damage of road debris kicking up on the highway or rocks hitting the underside of the battery while on a forest road? This is the type of road I'd like to be able to handle: https://youtu.be/dEeT9OZ379A?t=8m47s. No special, chunky, huge tires or lift kits or anything like that.

- I've read the manual and come across the diagram asking not to lift the car with a traditional scissor jack (http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h40/wbielins/Capture.png) Would a bottle jack work? Are there other solutions to get a tire off while on the road?

- I've seen talk of a fold down rear tire carrier like this (http://www.cbioffroadfab.com/products/trail-accessories/fold-down-tire-carrier-premium-model/, are there other popular models that have been tested for fit? The car not having a spare tire worries me for being out there on forest roads alone.

Thanks!

I'm assuming you're actually talking about the EV not the Hybrid since you mentioned the problem with the battery below the car. The Hybrid probably doesn't have that issue.

I have a jack like the one pictured below and it works well. The one pictured is only $30 at Harbor Freight. Better than a scissor crank jack and better than a bottle jack.

The spare tire mounted from a tow hitch receiver like the one you linked is probably the best solution if you don't want to get a rear door with spare tire mount from a dismantler (wrecking yard) from an old ICE RAV4.

Hrmm, a bit embarrassed. I ~am~ talking about the hybrid, not the full on EV. When I viewed google images for "toyota Rav-4 Hybrid battery location" I saw pictures of the undercarriage of the car having batteries, assuming it was the hybrid, thus my worry about impact.

I have not had a chance to see the hybrid in person, and I realize this is an EV forum, but perhaps a forum member can tell em where the batteries are exactly?



They appear to be in the rear, under the seats, but from your previous statement ~not~ exposed on the underneath of the car?

And doubly embarrassing, I was viewing the EV manual from Toyota, the two models are right next to each other on the drop down, where it showed pictures of not using a scissor jack (because of the EV batteries underneath it appears). Now that I view the Hybrid manual, it at least comes with a spare tire and traditional jack:

http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM42A56U/pdf/OM42A56U.pdf

miimura said:

I'm assuming you're actually talking about the EV not the Hybrid since you mentioned the problem with the battery below the car. The Hybrid probably doesn't have that issue.

I have a jack like the one pictured below and it works well. The one pictured is only $30 at Harbor Freight. Better than a scissor crank jack and better than a bottle jack.

The spare tire mounted from a tow hitch receiver like the one you linked is probably the best solution if you don't want to get a rear door with spare tire mount from a dismantler (wrecking yard) from an old ICE RAV4.

Click to expand...

The 2012-2014 Toyota RAV4 EV is based on the North American 2006-2012 RAV4 chassis. It has a Tesla drivetrain and battery, based on the 2012 Tesla Model S.

Why not travel the country in a pure electric vehicle?

Yeah, I was thrown off quote a bit when I realised I was on a forum talking about the wrong car. Haha. Being on the east coast of the US I've never seen a RAV4 EV and with the low production #s in California it makes even more sense to why I'm coming off as a clueless twit in this post.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV

As for not going fully electric... I will be houseless, not homeless. I will be fulltime, 24/7 living out of my vehicle and the type of remote places I'd like to go, most likely won't have charging stations nearby. By giving up my home I hope to reduce costs and carbon footprint even with a hybrid, but I'd be lying if the climate control wasn't an overall driving facotr here.

TonyWilliams said:

The 2012-2014 Toyota RAV4 EV is based on the North American 2006-2012 RAV4 chassis. It has a Tesla drivetrain and battery, based on the 2012 Tesla Model S.

Why not travel the country in a pure electric vehicle?

Click to expand...

Electric vehicle is the better choice for this:

1) Electricity is everywhere; gasoline is not. You do not need EV charge stations; you just need an electrical outlet. Check out our JESLA charge cable.

2) Every campground is an electric charge station! If it has 30 amp or 50 amp service for trailers and motorhomes, it can charge your car. 50 amp service (NEMA 14-50) with a JESLA cable will fully charge the car from empty in 5 hours.

3) The air-conditioner will run all night long! One caveat is that you can't charge and run the air conditioner (except with JdeMO). Charge first, sleep in comfortable AC next.

4) You have lots of time on your hands!

5) You don't want to waste money on gasoline!

6) With our JdeMO, you can charge at lots of fast charging stations around the world:

http://www.chademo.com/wp/usmap/

Yes, you could put your car on a ferry boat and travel to Europe and Japan without gasoline.

7) There are tens of thousands of places to charge your car on the road.
Check out http://www.PlugShare.com to see where ALL charging locations are.

I've been camping out of my RAV4 EV since around June so don't feel embarrassed. I before that I did it out of a nissan leaf for a year. I don't do long distance travel though, but what Tony Williams says is true. If I remember right he has driven from like San Diego all the way up to Washington with his RAV4 EV (Has about 130 - 150 mile range @ 100%) and also with a Nissan leaf (I actually didn't know that was possible), so he definitely knows his way around the country and what is possible with the RAV4 EV.

He also has a huge point in that electricity is around many places in the USA. If there are people there living and there is electricity you can charge your vehicle and keep moving. Gasoline might be a little more scarce in some locations. It looks like the electric mode driving range is 0.6 miles for the RAV4 Hybrid at up to 25 mph which is pretty disappointing though I understand it mainly operates through gas. A small battery that I think is 245 V 1.6-kWh nickel-metal-hydride battery pack.

If we are talking stealth the RAV4 EV would be much better since when the hybrid engages its engine to recharge the battery it might alert other people of your presence . Another thing is that an electric vehicle can be charged with solar and for some reason I see some future where we will have all electric RVs with solar roofs and awnings.

Also I believe you can hook up a pure sinewave inverter to the lead acid battery and use an induction cooker to cook (No need for propane) You can essentially run any electronic from the rav4 ev with a pure sinewave inverter. I am assuming the dc to dc converter on the rav4 ev pumps at least 1k watts when charging the lead acid battery. Tony can you care to confirm on an exact number?

The DC TO DC converter is 100 amps, so about 1200 watts maximum.

Yes, I've done the following long distance EV drives:

1) June 12-20, 2012 - Nissan LEAF from Mexico to Canada during BC2BC-2012 (about 1600 miles)

2) July 2013 - Toyota RAV4 EV from San Diego to Canada, then return to Mexico during BC2BC-2013 (about 3500 miles)

3) May 2015 - Toyota RAV4 EV with JdeMO, San Diego to Santa Rosa, California in one day... (600 miles)

4) Oct/Nov 2015 - Tesla Model S-70D, San Diego to Washington state, then Texas, then Atlanta, then New York, then Chicago, then Montana to Washington state, and back to San Diego (7500 miles)

5) May 2016 - Toyota RAV4 EV w/ JdeMO from San Diego to Washington state with a trailer at 1500 pounds. (about 3500 miles round trip)

6) July 2016 - Tesla Model S-70D, San Diego to Montana, 26 hours, 1300 miles one way. I returned through Washington state