Hello to the Remaining Rav4 EV Owners Out There

[SolarDaveGreen]

I followed the suggestions here: https://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopi ... 155#p29155 so I had 500V and 50AMP Eaton (Bussman series) PN: FWH-50B in the charger when it blew the fuse(s) the second time. I moved my test procedures to the Technical DIscussions section.

I expected more people to say "hi" in this thread. Where are all the owners?

[james]

Hi

I purchased my Rev4-EV September of 2014 and it's been a great car. The only thing I had to replaced was the onboard charger at 3 years still under warranty. My extended Platinum warrantee ends soon so I took the Rav in for a quick checkup as the motor was making more noise. Toyota and Tesla agreed to replace the motor and fortunately it will be covered. I only have ~44500 on the odometer.

I'll be getting new (rather remanufactured) motor. Does anyone know what the remanufacturing process entails? I assume new bearings, seals and I believe a grounding fix to the motor but not sure. I was told that the replacement motor will take between 6 weeks to 6 months to get. Guess Il be driving with a noisy motor for a while.

[asavage]

Six weeks is rather a long time for the short end of the estimate.

It appears that, rather then adding a rotor ground, the later versions removed the Aegis ground brush ring instead. Rotor bearings went to non-conductive "ceramic" balls and nylon cages. The reluctor chamber removed a 5mm vent hole to the rotor cavity that early versions had. Triple-lip seal went to single lip. Probably another dozen or two things.

[james]

Just got a call and the motor / drive unit just arrived at my Toyota dealer. Less than a week after it was ordered. So much for the 6 week to 6 month estimate. Hopefully this motor has all the latest fixes. For all you folks in the Sacramento area, Folsom Toyota seems to have in house expertise on Rav4-EVs. I saw two other Rav4-EVs there as well.

[Alex 2013 rav]

James,
Can you tell us more about your experience obtaining that drive unit?
Last I checked, they were backordered with 4 people waiting.

Your story is very encouraging, as it means they are still supporting this car!

Thanks,
-Alex

[james]

I got my car back pretty quickly and the drive unit install went well. It took the dealer several days to do the work. The remanufactured drive unit is very quiet. The Rev4-EV drives / sounds like new. I also had the battery coolant replaced. The overall experience with Folsom Toyota was very positive. The Platinum extended warranty covered everything, including a rental car.

All in all I was pleasantly surprised by Folsom Toyota's level of Rav4-EV knowledge and ability. I also had a good service person to work with and he was on the phone with Tesla a lot to get everything hashed out. It sounded like they can repair all the usual REV4-EV failures.

One issue the Toyota dealer cushioned me about is a battery pack contact failure. Toyota can only replace the entire battery pack $34K. Hopefully, if that is ever needed we'll be able to find a source that could drop the batter pack and just replace with new contacts

[Alex 2013 rav]

James,

The good news about the battery is that the modules are the same as Tesla, and the contactors are a widely available and inexpensive part.

Unfortunately, the Drive unit/ Traction motor is absurdly different, even though they look identical to the Tesla ones.

Can you tell me how much the traction motor cost?

I'm still waiting for the dealership to receive the diagnostic tool
Pretty sure it's the drive unit though.

[asavage]

The good news about the battery is that the modules are the same as Tesla

Are you certain that the RAV4EV modules are the same form factor as the early Model S?

[alflash]

...

I'm still waiting for the dealership to receive the diagnostic tool
Pretty sure it's the drive unit though.

Remote diagnostics of Tesla systems is possible, as, for example, it is described in the links in
https://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2530 and/or https://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2537
This will speed up the diagnosis and possibly the repair process.

Has such a check been made
https://youtu.be/XfncTZcsSHM ?

Is the HV battery charging working?
Ready mode available?

[hokiematt]

The good news about the battery is that the modules are the same as Tesla

Are you certain that the RAV4EV modules are the same form factor as the early Model S?

The RAV4 battery pack is made up of bespoke modules that are a different configuration than those in any other Tesla vehicle.