Toyota and Tesla to Build RAV4 EV in Ontario Canada

Toyota and Tesla Motors confirmed today that their jointly-developed RAV4 electric vehicle will be built at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada in Woodstock, Ontario beginning in 2012.

“The Tesla-Toyota joint development team has agreed that building the vehicle at the Woodstock plant on the same line as the gasoline-powered RAV4, will streamline and simplify the production process and guarantee the highest level of quality control,” said Ray Tanguay, TMMC Chairman, who hosted Canadian officials at the plant today and thanked them for their support. “This is a great example of Toyota’s determination to collaborate with companies with leading edge technology.”

As previously announced, Toyota will pay Tesla approximately $100 million to supply the electric powertrain, which includes the battery, motor, gear box and power electronics for the RAV4 EV. Tesla will build the electric powertrains at its production facility in Palo Alto, California and then ship them to TMMC for final assembly into the vehicle.

The RAV4 EV will be sold at U.S. Toyota dealers through Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (TMS). Details including pricing, volume and regional distribution will be determined and announced at a later time.

In July of last year, Tesla and Toyota Engineering and Manufacturing, America (TEMA) collaborated to convert 32 conventional gas-engine RAV4 compact SUVs into fully functional RAV4 EV prototypes.

Tesla Model S Alpha track testing [video]

From enhancing performance and tuning the suspension to quieting the interior and optimizing efficiency, Tesla engineers are applying knowledge gained from Alpha testing as they begin building Beta vehicles. Get a sneak peek at the first footage of multiple Model S Alpha sedans having fun together on the track.

Toyota RAV4 EV Coming to Market in 2012

Recent reports have incorrectly stated that the 2012 RAV4 EV will only be marketed to fleet and car sharing programs. We’d like to set the record straight. The 2012 RAV4 EV will definitely be sold to the general public. We anticipate robust public interest in the RAV4 EV and are keen to inform consumers that their future vehicle options include a battery electric Toyota.

Toyota is the only manufacturer bringing two battery electric vehicles to the market in 2012 - the RAV4 EV and the Scion iQ EV. While the RAV4 EV will be available to the public, the Scion iQ EV will be marketed to fleet and car sharing programs only.

Multiple reports have been corrected on various automotive blog sites

Toyota

Tesla Current: Maxim Ostapenko Envisions an All Electric S-Class Competitor

With Tesla’s long anticipated Model S sedan still more than six months away, designers from all over the world have begun to speculate what will be next for the Silicon Valley-based automaker.
One such design study is the Current by Maxim Ostapenko, a graduate of Pasadena, California’s Art Center College of Design.
Essentially a four-door all-electric saloon car to compete with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7-Series and Jaguar XF, the Tesla Current shares its design heritage with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz F800 Style and the Citroen Survolt concepts.

Tesla Roadsters are almost sold out

With production drawing to a close, Tesla Motors Inc. has sold almost all of the remaining electric Roadsters destined for the U.S. market, said Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. Supplies will last longer in Europe and Japan, but not by much.

"I think there's a handful of cars left to sell in the U.S.," Musk said. "People in Europe and Japan probably have another six months to place orders for the Roadster. In the U.S., it's maybe a month or two."

And that's after Tesla reached an agreement with Britain's Lotus Cars, which makes the Roadster's chassis, to produce an extra 100 of the vehicles. The full production run, which began in 2008, will end at 2,500 cars.

"So if somebody has an interest in buying a Roadster, they had best put in an order very, very soon," Musk said.

Tesla, based in Palo Alto, reported last year that it would stop making the Roadster before the company's next car, the Model S, hits the market in 2012. Lotus plans to retool its manufacturing facility, and Tesla chose to devote all its effort to the Model S rather than find another supplier.

But buyers have snapped up the remaining Roadsters faster than expected. In Tesla's last quarterly earnings report, the company predicted that Roadster sales in North America would finish by the end of the year.

Many electric-car aficionados will be sorry to see the Roadster go, even if few of them could afford one. With prices starting at $109,000, the car was never meant for the mass market.

And yet, the Roadster played a unique role in changing the public's attitude toward electric transportation.

Low-slung and high-powered, the Roadster popularized the notion that plug-in cars could be objects of desire. With movie stars and politicians among its buyers - think Gavin Newsom and Brad Pitt - the car quickly became an emblem of eco-chic. It caught the public imagination in a way that previous electric cars, like General Motors' EV1 or Toyota's electric Rav4, never did.

"That was the vehicle that stopped people from thinking electric cars were golf carts," said Felix Kramer, founder of the California Cars Initiative, a plug-in vehicle advocacy group. "It totally transformed the conversation."

The Roadster helped usher in the new wave of electric cars, such as the Nissan Leaf.

The end of Roadster sales will leave Tesla without its most visible product. But the company will continue selling battery packs and chargers to German auto giant Daimler. Tesla also is developing a power train for Toyota's next-generation electric Rav4.

And Musk says Tesla remains on track to start building the Model S next year at the former New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont.

"It's not a concern, because we all knew that there was a limit on the number of the Roadsters that would be produced," said Andrea James, research analyst with the Dougherty & Co. investment bank. "The fact that the company is selling out sooner rather later speaks to demand. The company does very well at creating buzz, and this feeds the buzz."