Toyota RAV4 EV: Oh, The Possibilities

Toyota RAV4 EV: Oh, The Possibilities

Maybe not all the press at the Los Angeles auto show today picked up on it, but some must have gotten the vibe of the potential dawn of a new business-relationship model when Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. president Jim Lentz unveiled the prototype battery-electric RAV4 EV by saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce the second-generation Toyota RAV4 EV - powered by Tesla."

Toyota and Silicon Valley automotive-startup darling Tesla Motors appear to be forming a fast friendship - one that has numerous intriguing possibilities to help begin transforming the century-old automotive manufacturing business model. Toyota has invested $50 million in Tesla and sold the now-famous maker of the Tesla Roadster its Fremont, California manufacturing plant (long the site of joint-venture auto assembly with the former General Motors Corp.).

The Fremont plant has vastly more acreage and latent capacity than low-volume Tesla needs - now, or long into its foreseeable future - leaving open any number of options for either company to produce advanced-technology vehicles and components there. Jointly or separately. Or, as some have speculated, perhaps in cooperation with yet other automakers or suppliers.

Another Battery-Powered RAV4, But Symbolically Much More

For now, all we know is this: Toyota and Tesla are collaborating on development of the RAV4 EV (actually Toyota's second, the first-generation launched in 1994), with Tesla supplying the lithium-ion batteries that has test prototypes, Lentz said in the Los Angeles auto show press conference, "consistently achieving a 100-mile range based on actual road driving patterns in a wide range of climates and conditions."

Tesla, which itself is hastening to develop a 4-door sedan, the Model S, with a range in excess of 200 miles, said last month during a media tour of the Fremont plant it is retooling that the company will build the Model S in cooperation with Toyota, but today neither company would go so far as to say production models of the new RAV4 EV - slated to begin sales in 2012 - also might be built at Fremont. Tesla also is projecting a mid-2012 launch for the Model S.

And although a Tesla executive said last month he expected the production version of the RAV4 EV to be assembled in Tesla's Fremont plant, Lentz would say only that for now the base RAV4 will continue to be built at Toyota's plant in Cambridge, Ont., Canada and Tesla will assemble the battery pack in Fremont.

Manufacturing Puzzle Pieces

"As for a final-assembly location, we are looking at many options and combinations," Lentz said. "How and where final assembly of the Tesla and Toyota components is conducted is still being discussed, so stay tuned.

Toyota, after nearly a year of battling wide-ranging quality and safety recalls, is been desperate to dispel the notion the company's executive and engineering bureaucracies have become hidebound, slow-moving, and ill-responsive and is looking to leverage its new relationship with Tesla as evidence the Japanese juggernaut is prepared to learn how to become faster on its feet.

"When we decided to work together on the RAV4-EV, President (Akio) Toyoda wanted to adopt a new development model that incorporated Tesla's streamlined, quick-action approach," Lentz said. "The result was a hybrid.

"A new decision-and-approval process and a development style that our engineers refer to as 'fast and flexible.' Led by our Toyota Technical Center in Michigan, it is a model that has helped reduce development time without compromising product quality," Lentz said.

"They have accomplished this by approaching this project as they would a mid-cycle 'major-minor' product change. To be more specific - midway through a generation - we begin with a fully engineered current-generation RAV4, to which we are adding a major powertrain option, along with minor feature and cosmetic changes."

A more-detailed report from the new RAV4 EV introduction at the Los Angeles auto show can be found at Edmunds Green Car Advisor.

But for now, the relationship between Toyota and Tesla will be the subject of intense scrutiny as the odd partnership of a newbie startup company everyone doubted - and many continue to doubt - and staggered industry giant unfolds between now and 2012.

Advanced new electric vehicles just may prove to be the least interesting outcome of the Toyota-Tesla adventure.

Photos by Toyota

Bill Visnic:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter