Toyota and Tesla have been spotted holding hands behind the school gym on numerous occasions and now, finally, the result of their long hours working together in the craft room are being shown to the world. It's the RAV4 EV, announced earlier this year and finally unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Current pre-production models are delivering 100 miles per charge but apparently still need some climate-proofing to ensure that the 2012 version will hit that range regardless of conditions. That's a big deal for a big SUV, and of course it's a big deal for Tesla, which is providing the powertrain. It's also a good news for Elon Musk, surely injecting some much-needed funding to the company and, as he says, introducing other benefits as well:
In other words, expect the production Model S interior to be a little less fanciful and a little more familiar.We're giving Toyota a window into the entrepreneurial, Silicon Valley culture and, vice versa, we're getting a sense for the Toyota production system... I think we're learning a lot form Toyota, bidirectionally, in this process and I think that helps us with the Model S. Having access to Lexus components in the supply chain is also helpful.
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