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An electric version of Toyota’s new RAV4 is possible, but the company says competing with the high-tech Tesla Model Y is what the bZ4X is for.
Electric Cars
Toyota says the electric-car market is better served by the bZ4X than a battery-powered version of the new RAV4 – and that it is moving too quickly to justify converting its top seller to EV technology.
The latest RAV4 is the first to offer plug-in hybrid technology in Australia, alongside conventional hybrid technology – but not electric.
Two generations of electric RAV4s have been produced by the Japanese car giant – a few hundred examples based on the original SUV in 1997, and about 2500 cars using Tesla tech in 2012 – but all have been California exclusives with sub-200km driving ranges.
New Toyota RAV4 chief engineer Yoshinori Futonagane told Drive through an interpreter that "we haven't given ... a lot of deep thought" to an electric variant of the latest model.
However, he said its platform – shared with the new Lexus ES sedan, offered in hybrid and electric variants – is capable of supporting full battery power.
"It does [support EV]. But let's not forget the bZ4X. When Toyota says [we] have a multi-pathway strategy, we don't want to have multi paths all crammed into the one vehicle. We're trying to do it with a vehicle line-up," said Futonagane-san through an interpreter.
"We judge the present time to be an important period of transition in the evolution of BEV [battery-electric vehicle] technology.
"And the Toyota thinking at the moment is we want to use the bZ4X as the vehicle where we explore and discover the most advanced expression of BEV technology, and engage most with the market, so that they can learn what BEV is all about. That's the vehicle for that project."
The bZ4X was recently overhauled with revised styling, improved technology, quicker charging, and much longer driving range, now rated for up to 591km based on the European WLTP standard.
In Australia, it coincided with a price cut to $55,990 plus on-road costs, undercutting a RAV4 Cruiser Hybrid 2WD ($56,990 plus on-roads), which has more equipment but a battery pack about one-70th of the capacity.
Adding a bZ4X-sized battery to the RAV4 could push its price well past the $66,340 plus on-roads of the top-of-the-range GR Sport PHEV.
Futonagane-san said the RAV4 is intended to appeal to general customers focused on SUV usability, rather than the most technically advanced vehicle.
"With RAV4, the way we conceive it is different," he said through an interpreter.
"We have a market segment, a very big market segment that loves SUVs, loves driving SUVs, knows how to use them, and the RAV4 is how we're going to answer that demand from the market, because we want to make that the SUV that people love as an SUV.
"That's why we haven't given [a RAV4 EV] a lot of deep thought.
"We want to [answer the question] 'what's the best SUV in the world?', it's going to be our RAV4, 'what's the most amazing BEV vehicle?', it's going to be the bZ4X.
"Now I don't want to rule out entirely the possibility that in the future, the technology leads us to a point where we all say: wait, we could do a BEV RAV4. That could happen, so I don't want to say that will never happen. [But] it's not going to happen today."
Toyota has previously sold two generations of an electric RAV4.
It converted 328 examples of the original RAV4 in 1997 to electric power with a 153km claimed range – sold in California only through leases – while it worked with Tesla in 2012 to sell 2489 examples based on the third-generation RAV4 in the US, with a 166km range.
Given the latest RAV4 launched in recent weeks is a new generation model, and the bZ4X’s technical overhaul only arrived at the start of this year, any future electric RAV4 would likely be years away.
The vast majority of the bZ4X’s closest electric rivals on price – the Tesla Model Y, Zeekr 7X, BYD Sealion 7 and more – are dedicated EVs with no petrol counterpart.
The Kia EV5 is understood to be related to petrol-powered models from the brand, yet despite being built in China, it starts from $56,770 plus on-roads before drive-away offers, with two-thirds of the bZ4X’s range and less equipment.
Electric Cars Guide
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
