Tesla planting electric engines into two Toyota prototype bodies
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Don't know if this was posted or not if so pls delte.
Tesla planting electric engines into two Toyota prototype bodies
By Darren Murph posted Jul 10th 2010 10:33PM
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Word on the street had it that Tesla's $50 million deal with Toyota wasn't formal back in late May, but evidently things have made positive progress since. According to a new (though admittedly brief) report over at CNN, Toyota is currently working with the electric automaker on a pair of prototype vehicles. As the story goes, Tesla will be delivering two prototypes to Toyota "by the end of the month," with the vehicles using "Tesla's electric motors and battery packs and the bodies of Toyota vehicles." Tesla Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel has been quoted as saying that the two outfits have "made a lot of progress in a short amount of time," and we couldn't be more excited to see what kind of results will come from this tie-up. We can't help but hope that those regenerative brakes do a bit more than regenerate, though. Sorry, we had to. Really.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/10/t...totype-bodies/
By Darren Murph posted Jul 10th 2010 10:33PM
![](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/07/tesla-skeleton.jpg)
Word on the street had it that Tesla's $50 million deal with Toyota wasn't formal back in late May, but evidently things have made positive progress since. According to a new (though admittedly brief) report over at CNN, Toyota is currently working with the electric automaker on a pair of prototype vehicles. As the story goes, Tesla will be delivering two prototypes to Toyota "by the end of the month," with the vehicles using "Tesla's electric motors and battery packs and the bodies of Toyota vehicles." Tesla Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel has been quoted as saying that the two outfits have "made a lot of progress in a short amount of time," and we couldn't be more excited to see what kind of results will come from this tie-up. We can't help but hope that those regenerative brakes do a bit more than regenerate, though. Sorry, we had to. Really.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/10/t...totype-bodies/
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It was reported on Friday that Toyota is working on a new electric-vehicle prototype that will feature Tesla Motors technology, the 1st time we’ve heard anything on the 2 companies working together every since their new partnership was formed.
According to a report by Bloomberg Tesla Motors will develop and deliver 2 battery-powered prototypes to Toyota this month. The 1st will be the company’s Toyota RAV4 compact SUV/CUV and the 2nd will be a Lexus RX.
Sources familiar with the matter said that Toyota also wants to test an electric version of the Corolla, but the RAV4 and RX are better suited to carry the weight of Tesla’s battery pack.
“We anticipate range and acceleration exceeding that of other announced electric vehicles of this class,” Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, said today in an e-mail message to Bloomberg. He declined to talk about the project details.
Toyota bought a $50 million stake in Tesla Motors this month.
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It was only a matter of time. Like the RX400e idea.
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/09/t...-battery-pack/
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/11/r...es-for-toyota/
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During a interview with a group of American media this afternoon in Nagoya, Japan, Toyota president Akio Toyoda revealed that his company is already in the process of building a prototype electric vehicle with a Tesla battery pack. The statement came in response to questions about the relationship between Toyota and Tesla. As time ran out, we did not have an opportunity for further follow-up or clarification.
However, both Toyoda and executive vice president Shinichi Sasaki both indicated that Toyota was interested in comparing Tesla's battery configuration against their own internally developed battery. Toyota has a joint-venture with Panasonic that is building larger format automotive batteries that are similar to those used by most other manufacturers. By comparison, Tesla uses commodity 18650-format cells that are typically found in laptop computers. The Roadster's pack contains 6,831 such cells.
The long-term durability of the Tesla approach is still very much in question as few Roadsters have accumulated high mileage especially in harsh conditions that more mainstream cars would experience. We may or may not ever see a Toyota car with a Tesla battery pack publicly, as it all depends on the results of this stu
However, both Toyoda and executive vice president Shinichi Sasaki both indicated that Toyota was interested in comparing Tesla's battery configuration against their own internally developed battery. Toyota has a joint-venture with Panasonic that is building larger format automotive batteries that are similar to those used by most other manufacturers. By comparison, Tesla uses commodity 18650-format cells that are typically found in laptop computers. The Roadster's pack contains 6,831 such cells.
The long-term durability of the Tesla approach is still very much in question as few Roadsters have accumulated high mileage especially in harsh conditions that more mainstream cars would experience. We may or may not ever see a Toyota car with a Tesla battery pack publicly, as it all depends on the results of this stu
AutoblogGreen had the rare opportunity on Friday to chat with Toyota CEO and president Akio Toyoda. During the conversation, he revealed that a prototype vehicle with a Tesla electric drive unit was under construction. Tesla's Chief Technology Officer, J.B. Straubel, has confirmed this to CNN Money, saying that the Silicon Valley company is indeed preparing two mule vehicles for Toyota. Tesla battery packs, power electronics and motors are being installed into Toyota bodies.
Straubel expects to deliver the vehicles to Toyota by the end of of this month. Toyota officials told ABG that the initial plan is to just test the performance and durability of the Tesla packs to determine whether they meet Toyota standards. If Toyota proceeds with a production program using a Tesla-style battery (employing small laptop-type cells) it will be for a new vehicle, not the iQ-based EV arriving in 2012.
Straubel expects to deliver the vehicles to Toyota by the end of of this month. Toyota officials told ABG that the initial plan is to just test the performance and durability of the Tesla packs to determine whether they meet Toyota standards. If Toyota proceeds with a production program using a Tesla-style battery (employing small laptop-type cells) it will be for a new vehicle, not the iQ-based EV arriving in 2012.
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Electric vehicles are popularly perceived as the front-runner of the alternate fuel competition, but successfully developing EVs has proven to be a difficult and expensive task. To help share the burden and the expertise necessary to get an electric car to market, Japanese auto giant Toyota and Tesla, builder of the high-performance Roadster EV, recently announced a new strategic alliance.
The two originally announced that they intended to cooperate on the development of electric vehicles, parts, and production system and engineering support. Today we have the first solid details of what the alliance deal will entail; more specifically, we have news that the two companies have signed an agreement to initiate the development of an electric version of the Toyota RAV4 compact SUV.
With an aim to market the electric SUV in the U.S. in 2012, prototypes will be made combining the Toyota RAV4 model with a Tesla electric powertrain. Tesla plans to produce and deliver a fleet of prototypes to Toyota for evaluation within this year but the first examples have already been built and are currently in testing.
This isn't the first time that we’ve seen an electric RAV4 prototype built by Toyota, however. Back in 1997 Toyota built a small batch of RAV4 EV prototypes (pictured) to meet certain CARB legislation at the time, but the vehicles only saw a brief flicker of life before being extinguished in 2003.
The decision to form an alliance is a shrewd move for all parties involved. With improved battery technology and Tesla's proprietary control logic (probably the Californian start-up’s single greatest asset as a company) the new EVs could deliver truly competitive performance with modern combustion engines, while delivering greater range and more affordable production costs than the original RAV4 EV.
Tesla, on the other hand, will be able to learn and benefit from Toyota’s engineering, manufacturing, and production expertise to help with its future range of models.
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I find the only major pitfall of EVs is that if you live in the city and don't own a home or townhouse you don't have the choice to plug in your vehicle to charge. I live in a condo, I can't run an extension cord to my parking spot to charge an EV if I owned one. If I could quickly install/uninstall the batteries to charge in doors that'd be worth it but you're missing out on a large market of people who don't have the ability to charge from where they park.
However, I think it'd be genius for Zipcar (or the like) to install charging stations in parking lots and use EVs.
However, I think it'd be genius for Zipcar (or the like) to install charging stations in parking lots and use EVs.