Toyota and Tesla to work on electric RAV4

Toyota has announced plans to work with electric car company Tesla in order to develop a battery-powered version of its popular RAV4 crossover.

The Toyota-Tesla partnership began when Toyota invested about $50 million in the small company earlier this year. Since then, Tesla successfully went public and began plans to take over Toyota’s closed NUMMI factory in California.

The new electric RAV4 is the first joint venture on a vehicle between the two. Toyota will provide most of the parts for the vehicle, while Tesla will contribute its electric powertrain and battery technology, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Interestingly, the car is not the first electric RAV4. Toyota previously made several limited edition prototypes of the vehicle earlier in the decade, but never commercialized the product for the mass market.

“The Toyota RAV4 EV has been a terrific workhorse for the past decade. Hundreds of the original cars are still running seven to 10 years after manufacture in both fleets and private hands,” Paul Scott, one of the rare owners of the first-generation RAV4 EV, told the news source.

Those who still prefer their vehicles powered by gas may want to consider purchasing a used Toyota RAV4.