100,000-Mile Evaluation of the Toyota RAV4 EV

摘要

In early 2000 Southern California Edison (SCE), in partnership with the Toyota Technical Center, initiated a test of five RAV4 Electric Vehicles (EVs) to evaluate the durability and reliability of their traction battery, and drive train, over a driving distance of 100,000 miles and beyond. The five vehicles in the project include three 1998 conductively charged RAV4 EVs and two 1999 inductively charged RAV4 EVs. The 320 RAV4 EVs of the SCE fleet are used primarily by meter readers, service managers, field representatives, service planners and mail handlers, and for security patrols and carpools. As of June, 2003, and in 5 years of operation, the RAV4 EV fleet had logged more than 6.9 million miles, preventing the emission of about 830 tons of air pollutants, and of more than 3,700 tons of tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions. SCE and Toyota began the test project in February 2000 to obtain data on operating costs, vehicle efficiency, maintenance requirements, battery life, charging issues and other factors that are specific to the long term use of EVs. Employees with long commutes were selected to drive the vehicles daily to and from work, at SCE's headquarters in Rosemead, or at the ISO 9001:2000 - certified Electric Vehicle Technical Center (EVTC) in Pomona. On November 7, 2002, the first of the five RAV4 EVs under test to reach 100,000 miles had traveled the equivalent distance of Los Angeles to New York City 34 times without emitting a single tailpipe pollutant, or using a single quart of oil. In early June 2003 two other vehicles had reached the 100,000 mile goal. Data collected with the test vehicles, and the RAV4 EV fleet, are confirming that EVs with Nickel Metal Hydride batteries, and a mature drive train design, are compatible with a variety of mission requirements.