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Tesla Signs $60 Million Contract With Toyota
thecarchik writes "Tesla Motors announced that it has reached a $60 million deal with Toyota to develop the powertrain for an electric version of the strong-selling Rav4 sport utility vehicle. A prototype RAV4 Electric will be unveiled by Toyota at November's Los Angeles Auto Show. The company plans to sell the electric RAV4 starting in 2012, the same year that a number of new electric cars will join the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt in the US market."
The resources of Toyota. The electric car know-how of Tesla. The factory's in the US and will create jobs here. Absolutely excellent news.
Toyota cant R and D this themselves after decades of research?
sounds like a back scratching deal to me
Worker's wages account for the vast majority of people directly involved. Does it really matter whether the fat cats who keep all the profits are here or in Japan? The taxes on the profits, if any, are probably paid in the Cayman islands either way. And even if you still believe in trickle-down economics, money has no trouble trickling across borders.
It reminds me of news last year about building charging stations across California, when such facilities have lain abandoned for a decade.
So... how do I move heavy stuff? How do I travel when it's raining? When it's fucking cold? When it's fucking hot? When it's more than a few kms?
I don't own a car and I use public transportation, yet I can see a lot of uses for one. A bike is not, and never will be, a replacement for a car.
Kill all hipsters.
Of course they *could* do it, but Tesla has a powertrain that's pretty much exactly what they'd need already developed for the Model S, and they're presumably already gearing up for production of the components.
Tesla's proven they know what they're doing with the Roadster, so I can see why Toyota would want to spend $60M to adapt an almost-exactly-right design with a very low risk profile than spend probably more pulling together their existing R&D projects and tooling up, with all the entailing higher risk and extra development time.
The hybrid powertrains they've been developing are conceptually very similar to an all-electric powertrain, but there's a lot of mechanical re-engineering they'd have to do, and that takes time. Hell, maybe $60M is a loss, but they're doing this deal because all their best engineers are busy working on another project and they just don't have the staff to handle a big rush job right now. Staffing is a big deal!
look at the wikipedia page section regarding the battery. Besides the GM EV1 going 126 miles on a charge with the NiMH batteries, the Toyota Rav4 EV also used high power NiMH batteries until they were sued by the oil company owning the patent and required to discontinue making those batteries.
Pba batteries are too heavy for their energy density and LiOn are still very expensive.This has not helped the EV market but has helped keep oil flowing for the oil industry.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
True, the IC engine is the most efficient form of locomotion. Where it gets the bad rap is when it's being used to transport one person in 2 tons of metal. That's a lot of mass to be slinging around.
Life is not for the lazy.
What does this have to do with the band Tesla? Start your own thread, you moron.
I'm thinking this might be a "woosh" event. Subtly done if so.
Toyota owns 20% of Subaru now (GM's former 20% share - it goes from company to company).
Subaru has a very well defined niche that is not at risk. Despite not offering hybrids, they were one of the few vehicle manufacturers that had sales increase in past years. This is partly due to the fact that they've been marketing one of their vehicles (the Outback) as the fuel efficient SUV alternative for over a decade, so were well placed when the anti-SUV backlash hit. They also are tied with Audi for having some of the best AWD systems on the planet.
As an interim solution, Subaru started putting CVTs into their cars a year ago.
They're working on a few joint design efforts with Toyota, and I suspect we'll see a hybrid Subaru come soon using Toyota expertise. That and/or a gasoline direct injection engine are what Subaru is going to need soon.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?