2012 Rav4EV
09.20.2012
I
test-drove the 2012 Rav4EV at Crocker Park in Sacramento. Man, what a car! Gobs of power. Quiet. Plush. Lovely. Yes, the EVnut does the Rav4EV - take two.
I arrived at the EVent astride my truly green vehicle. I don't think I usually look that cocky, but who knows. I'd just come down off my high of a tire-smoking, rediculously over-powered test drive.
There is just something about this situation that makes me feel “complete” in a full-circle sort of way. While EVnut.com was started for the EV1, well before the original Rav4EV was available at the retail level – the site obviously became quite biased toward the car that we could own. While all the other EVs of the era dwindled rapidly (mostly from lease returns, of course!) the Rav4EV has soldiered on, and is still in daily use (by most of us!) and still in demand to this day.
Here we are a nice, round 10 years after the 2002 retail program – with “Rav4EV Redux.” An amazing EV that the car company was not forced to make. An EV that is better in almost every practical metric than its gasoline counterpart. Certainly it is a conversion, but it is an amazingly well done conversion that doesn’t seem to compromise anything. It was a blast to drive. Smoking the drive tires for a few feet, then reaching 50 mph before I could sneeze was a childish, immature, thoroughly enjoyable treat.
Links to: More pictures * Video
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