USA: Toyota RAV4 PHEV to go on sale this summer

Toyota announced the 2021 RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid would hit the US market this summer. With a base price of $38,100, the SUV’s first plug-in version has up to 42 miles purely electric range, making it the highest electric range of any PHEV SUV out there.

+ + Kindly see our update below + +

With a powertrain that provides up to 302 horsepower, Toyota claims the vehicle can manage acceleration of 0-60 mph in a projected 5.7 seconds. Charging can be done with either 6.6 kW charger if you buy the premium package. Otherwise, the standard charger takes around 8 hours to charge the full 42-mile range (67km). No DC fast charging is possible with the PHEV RAV4.

There are two trim options for the RAV4, with the SE version starting at those mentioned above $38,100, and the XSE version starting at $41,425. The differences between the trim versions mostly concern comfort functions, such as a heated steering wheel or weather-sensitive windshield wipers, that can automatically detect and react to various weather conditions, including an automated defrosting function.

While Toyota has recently made some anti-electrification headlines, it seems the company has decided to provide a competitive and reasonably environmentally-friendly vehicle model.

Update 01 July 2020: Apparently, RAV4 Prime supplies will be incredibly limited in the USA. TorqueNews writes that the car will only be offered in ZEV states, which sounds like a compliance offering in accordance with agreed tighter emissions guidelines in these states.

TorqueNews noted also that only 5,000 units may be meant for the US in 2020. A Toyota spokesperson later confirmed this number to US electric mobility news site Electrek saying that: “Due to unforeseen supply chain constraints, we have revised our production plan downward for calendar year 2020. We expect to reach previously planned production levels by early 2021.” This apparently means that only 5,000 Toyota RAV4 Prime are to be sold due to battery constraints. Toyota seems to want to compensate for this low number, as the spokesperson told Electrek “We anticipate the first model-year would be about 5,000 – and year 2 forward would be about 20,000.”

electrek.co, carscoops.com, toyota.com, update: insideevs.com, torquenews.com, electrek.co