While the Tesla Model X has been many people’s go-to electric SUV for many years, Toyota had one 15 years before. Despite the innovations, it didn’t work out.
Japanese auto giant Toyota has been experimenting with electric vehicles for a long time before launching its existing crop of EVs, such as the newly-renamed bZ crossover and the stylish CH-R EV. Toyota introduced the first-generation RAV4 EV in 1997, but the automaker began intensive research and development into electric vehicles all the way back in 1969. It wasn’t until 1983 that Toyota developed its first EV prototype, the EV-10, based on an E80 Toyota Corolla sedan.
After conceptualizing more prototypes, the automaker reached a milestone in 1993 when it began selling production variants of the Town Ace EV to local Japanese government bodies. It also leased the Crown Majesta EV to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government that same year.
Toyota unveiled the first RAV4 EV prototype in 1995 for commercial testing in Japan and the United States. The prototype initially came with a sealed lead-acid battery, which could achieve a range of 75 miles (120 km) and a top speed of 77 mph (125 km/h). Toyota and Panasonic co-developed a more advanced nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) battery for the commercial variant of the RAV4 EV, resulting in a 10% lighter battery pack that offered 1.5 times the energy storage capacity and three times the expected life cycle.The first-gen Toyota RAV4 EV was not sold publicly until 2002
It’s not that the RAV4 EV was a dud.
