2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime – Powerful and 39-miles of All-Electric Range!

Yah, I've been reading around a little more. Low $30's ain't gonna happen. Plus, wider tires with an emphasis on the sport performance. Probably 36-ish mpg and day in day out around 3 miles/kWh (?) --- You need really high gas prices and low electricity prices to make that pen out (vs efficient ICE or hybrid).

Still, I'm sure there will be plenty of takers at the start of sales. But may taper off after a year or two -- kind of like what we've seen with a lot of plug ins (PHEVs and BEVs).

/if Toyota can keep pumping the performance aspect (like Tesla has done) , .. then they may be able to hold their audience. -- I might expect Honda and the others to emphasize lowered 0-60 times on the phevs, ... it's really tough if not impossible to justify the added cost on pure economics {I've been saying this for years . ... really wished Honda would have went this route with the CR-Z}.

 

I just treat a PHEV as a better version of the hybrid model, albeit with the weight penalty but having more instantaneous power from the electric motor due to the higher power rating of the battery. It gives much better control of when to use the ICE, and on longer trips, I found it quite easy to control state of charge of the big battery, from saving for later to using judiciously and being able to recover the state of charge in incremental steps without going into engine-charge mode (on the Prime).

Of course, the cost aspect has to work out, but that's the buyer's problem.

 

Past power PHEVs haven't done well, but they did the economy and EV range worse than what this Rav will likely get.