2002 RAV4 EV - How, Why -- And What We're Going To Do With It

My 2002 RAV4 EV is back on the road. Here's what life is going to be life with it -- and what I plan to do with it!
Watch the video above and leave your thoughts in the Comments below. And if you'd like to support Transport Evolved, don't forget to make a donation via / transportevolved .
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Please watch: "2023 Kia Niro EV: Why You'll Want To Drive This"
• 2023 Kia Niro EV: A Fa...
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[@paulgracey4697]

As a member of one of the oldest EV clubs in SoCal, I recall one member who bought a second home paddle charging unit for his EV-1, and kept it in the trunk. It was equipped to use any 240V outlet such as the ones at RV parks. Simple, if a bit of an overkill.

[@DonMillerNC]

Actually li-ion batteries if stored at ~50% SOC can be stored for years and will still be usable. They have a very slow self discharge rate.

[@LoanwordEggcorn]

As an original and current driver of a silver RAV4 EV like Sparky, I'd recommend changing only the radio (and usnig 1 DIN height). If you need more audio power, add a separate amplifier. Surely there are many current radios that can take music from your phone over Bluetooth. In general I'd recommend changing very little. Moving around wiring harnesses can cause connectors or wires to fail, and replacing even parts of the wiring harness would be a lot of work. I understand the urge to modify things, but from nearly 20 years of practical experience driving one, the first generation Toyota RAV4 EV is perfectly usable in standard form, and in a way it's a shame to make too many changes to a very rare, classic car that someday may belong in a museum. At this point Toyota's RAV4 EV is the only surviving highway capable EV left in America from the end of the previous millenium. Arguably, it has global historical significance. I'm glad your battery pack conditioning is going well. Please continue to treat Sparky well! I'm sure you don't want to hear it, but I recommend resisting the urge to make changes to it. You have a piece of history.

[@Anthony-nx5yu]

I like keeping cars as stock as possible, it just feels right to me. Keeping the radio stock is a big one. I would’ve just got a palm pilot 😂

[@blabla-sv4pm]

Very interesting content!! Almost a classic... In the mean time (we are in 2023 now) what happened with this 2002 Rav4 EV? Could you do a follow up video? I own myself a rare 2023 Toyota ProAce CityVerso EV, which is a re-badged by Toyota Stellantis family van. I'm very happy with it...

[@sbellaharris]

I think EV manufacturers should produce new battery replacement with new battery technology for their older models. I think tesla does that to their roadster iirc.

[@mulletmotors22]

This is so cool! I love old electric cars just now learning all about them. Also cool that your close to me I’ve driven all those roads in the video! ;) can’t wait to see more.

[@torresalex]

Good luck! Love your approach that will allow reversing the mods!

[@svendholme3627]

Nicki, I love the looks of that old RAV. It still has a true "utility" aspect to it, not like the pseudo utility vehicles of today. I suspect that in the next few years as EV's get more mainstream there will be 3rd party battery pack modifiers to upgrade older cars and that will include the electronics to charge them.

[@hylacemess]

Interessting project! I got myself a Peugeot 106 electrique. Its original NiCD battery pack has been replaced with a lithium polymer pack some time ago. It has not aged well and it was a huge pain to repair. But for now the car is back on the street! I would recommend a cheap china windows tablet as a telemetry dashboard. I myself started out with a pi and it was a huge pain to get everything up and running. The overall price of a pi with wifi/cellular, touch lcd and power managment is comparable to such a tablet. The difference is that the tablet is a all-in-one package. Much less hassle to set up.

[@antpowell5974]

So same range as a 2018 Honda EV.

[@fredericborloo1910]

Ant Powell Hahahaha. We really should tell Honda! See what they say!

[@antpowell5974]

Might be worth reminding Toyota as well.

[@benbrown8258]

I wonder if this is the major reason OEM's fear private ownership of electric cars. The original ones weren't designed to break down.

[@franackerman295]

Fab! Love it Nikki... nice to see a classic EV on the road... if you manage to get to the 80+ miles range... you will beat my first gen leaf by at least 8 miles 🤣 Fab video keep them coming

[@falcon7350]

the plug in the side finder of the gen 1 chevy volt can be used ,, the pins for the wire can be ordered in most online stores for making your own stock wiring and the way the push door is made and installed out be used as well . if i live next to you i would help you hack that part in no time ... my volt was in a crash so i got to know my car really well

[@matiasclaviji1424]

Tom Hanks had the same Toyota RAV4 EV and ride it for a long time.

[@gonfaraway]

H sh** major project! i'm envious! love your RAV i didn't even know they existed!!!!!

[@WickedMuis]

More general thing for your videos: maybe add annotations (I sometimes see other informative channels use the ( i ) thingy at the top right corner which provides links to other videos or websites) that mention your sources from which you base your claims in your videos? Kinda like academic research :)

[@flaminraymon]

Wow awesome find never knew these existed in nz the petrol cars are still invincible

[@transportevolved]

They didn't. Nikki is based in Portland, Oregon

[@chrisp7214]

I have recently bought a similar 1999 RHD LWB car in the UK. Only getting 50 miles rage currently, but working on that. The car has covered jus 63k miles...Love it! Chris P, (also into DeLoreans)

[@chrisp7214]

Now up to 70 miles range...and counting😀

[@kristersalmela9660]

Litium ion batteris don't have just 2 year shelf life. You should know that. Don't add to that myth please.

[@davidellis4031]

I think she's saying that lithium cells in a car, with the standard vampire drain, will be severely damaged if you leave the car unused and uncharged for two years. The same will happen much quicker to the lead acid battery in an ICE vehicle if left for much less time - I've done it more than once.

[@davidellis4031]

EDIT: I've seen other posts saying that lithium cells can last much longer than two years when stored, so I defer to greater numbers and experience so please ignore my earlier response.

[@calinutzzz]

True! I stopped watching further...

[@unclegeorge7845]

Heavy key rings kill ignition switches.

[@FillingTheGap1]

excited to see the RAV4 EV fixed up. looking forward to seeing modern charging installed on it. Does the rarity add any value to this car?

[@sebistancu]

For charging you might wanna look also into the option of creating an adaptor from J1772 or type 2 or whatever, to the inductive paddle. I think it will be cheaper and ofcorse more convenient than installing two combersome boxes under the hood that will also alter the originality of the car. You cand build something like a ChaDeMo adapter for Tesla, that you can carry around in the trunk.

[@keithvaughan1363]

Good to keep a classic EV on the road, well done Nikki.

[@MeridianLuxTravelService]

Hi Nicky just for your knowledge TFL has just released plans to invest £18 million pounds into EV Charging network in the UK

[@capcom4eva]

Quick question: How are the '13-'14 RAV4 EVs holding up?

[@Neojhun]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5Oap5pmbd-fq7M - Rav4 Tesla battery on a trailer. They are a mix of Prius & Tesla drive train parts. Soo crazy reliable and still going strong.

[@thomasfx3190]

Ignore the naysayers, do what you like with your RAV4!

[@jesuisravi]

I have a Leaf and love it. I might wish that it had been built by Toyota (the Toyota of the 80's, 90's , and early 2000's) but maybe Nissan has a trick or two up its sleeve as well.

[@Trades46]

If you can modify the charging system to accept a J1772 plug that would extend the life greatly on this well preserved example. While the EV1 is sadly gone (though GM has made up for it with the brilliant Bolt) this would likely be one of the 'classic' EV that would likely be a museum piece down the road.

[@alvaromz]

If you want to monitor the ev there are a lot of infotainment systems with obd capabilities on aliexpress and ebay, but I am not sure if they are compatible with ev readings. Or you could try and find the palm pilot it would be very interesting to see how that works

[@Chrisb8s]

That is amazing! Well done keeping her going and going. The ev1 is in the smithsonian and this car was covering the road at the same time. Does it use that paddle type inductor charger? You should calculate the savings in pollution and petrol

[@daroachdoggjr188]

This is an incredibly rare vehicle

[@chrisp7214]

I love rare Cars...they are a challenge to keep on the road ....my other car is a RHD Euro=spec DeLorean!!

[@capcom4eva]

Was it able to fully wake up to 80 mile range?

[@josecortez4789]

Nice car

[@ozo1010]

Once toyota fully comits to evs, they will own it, just like they always do

[@lovelyheiferdev]

Really hurts that LiMH batteries on cars are essentially no more. I'd love to see all types of batteries on all cars on the road, but moneyed interest prevails.

[@GPaulDiddy]

what's that button to the left of the 4 way flashers? i got my neighbor's 98 Rav 4 and its for snow/power

[@AshleyMillsTube]

Cool!

[@statistics_em]

Has anyone else noticed an issue with her audio cutting out on recent videos? Last week or two?

[@pauljosse]

how many kms did it do before the original battery fail?

[@josephpadula2283]

The patent expired already on the NiMh battery. Panasonic can start making them again if they wanted to. Lithium has surpassed the battery now but not having large format NiMh batteries delayed electric car. On the other hand , it forced Allan Coconni To use lithium 18650 lab top batteries Since he could not get the Cobasys NiMh. Tesla bought the design and still used large number on small laptop type batteries rather than large format ones.

[@brockturner3112]

Does it take the same batteries as the nwh-10 prius?

[@zymurgic]

Surely that patent dispute should be over soon, since most of the patents in question should have expired by now, the patent in question would have been before 1994.

[@dansanger5340]

FWIW, Wikipedia says that there is still a relevant patent set to expire on August 23, 2018.

[@mikelewis6726]

Hi love the video of the car big fan of yours it's nice that you are keeping the car original for if you want to sell it to someone I was thinking that they killed off all the electric cars off that Error it's nice that some of them survived.

[@mikelewis6726]

keep evolving

[@chrisrix7645]

Running in please pass. That was the sign on the back window of a recon car

[@nochan99]

Hi! Great video! I have the petrol version of this car. Since there is an EV version, would it be easy to convert mine to EV?

[@lejurassien2870]

Well, is there any possibility to buy such a car today, i mean in used condition ?

[@chrisp7214]

I bought mine in Sept 22 off eBay.....very happy with it. Mine was originally imported from Japan...so I guess there could be few more out there??

[@hamfish225]

make it rainbow coloured!

[@FillingTheGap1]

Question. When does the patent expire for the battery?

[@alikhoobiary6595]

2014

[@FillingTheGap1]

Um, then why are they complaining that cheveron owns the patent? If it expired in 2014 it obviously doesn't matter anymore. I guess no one would want to make one anyway if replaced they would go with more modern battery.

[@tannithk.correa1331]

It has 18 moving Parts for one thing that's a reason to keep it.

[@44Bigs]

Chevron hoarding those patents.. they’re fighting a losing battle.

[@grandtheftauto1233]

Wonder where this car is today

[@ArpanMukhopadhyay93]

So, you are a maker!!!!

[@Knightairman1]

will torque pro not work with the OBD II port on that vehicle. if it will, just use the tablet and I'd use your cell company's new obd II wifi device to help monitor your system and keep your teens happy while traveling in the old girl.

[@LoanwordEggcorn]

The diagnostic port on the Toyota made RAV4 EV is not a standard OBD II.

[@tuc-dh4df]

There she goes with the lithium ion myth...........wrong!

[@ShabaaUkelele]

Kevin Tucker without reasoning it's nothing but a silly opinion. please tell us why you think what you think.

[@tuc-dh4df]

There are other youtube channels that have gone into depth over this myth, where would Tesla be if this lithium ion information were true? she seems to have made a off the cuff comment, She is trying change car users ways by championing EVs viewers seeing this could change their minds on EVs!!

[@kdreed96]

How is your range after a few months of "waking up" the pack?

[@ferkeap]

I would possible lower the car (hard for aero), put on new low rolling-resistance tires. Not sure if you can adapt the mirrors or any weight-saving! Battery upgrade to li-ion by a private person should not be braking into licensend tech, the solution you took is a better re-use. I think all EV's should be kept up as much as possible and be upgraded. I think my 1st EV will be a second hand.

[@LoanwordEggcorn]

It is a very major engineering task to change from NiMH to Lithium Ion battery chemistries. There are multiple computers in the car that communicate with each other and expect a certain battery type.

[@chrisp7214]

@@LoanwordEggcorn I am sticking with my NiMH batteries..they are now back up to 70 miles range...As Its only a second car, so I dont need lots of range. CP in UK

[@LoanwordEggcorn]

@@chrisp7214 Same here. By the way, there is a supply of Panasonic EV-95 batteries in the hands of third parties, particularly people refurbishing Ford Ranger EVs. And it is possible to re-match a pack of EV-95s for use in the RAV4 EV. We are having that done with ours now. The pack is a combination of our original EV-95 and some from Ranger EVs, all very carefully tested and matched of course.

[@_Randwulf]

Go Sparky (Evolved)...

[@herehere3935]

Why dont you show us the power train of this Rav 4 EV?

[@msgmathis]

Why not just ask tesla to update your battery pack? I'm sure they would love to show up Toyota or ask one of the shop in California that build electric cars to do it and film the whole thing for your show and their business. I know you want to keep it stock as possible but if the new technology is readily available and at this point better than go for it. This also might increase the range and inspire others to do the same thing. As far as cost you could ask for donations for the project I would give to see it done. Just my two cents!

[@LoanwordEggcorn]

Tesla is not going to spend millions of dollars of engineering to upgrade 300 cars. Also they have much higher priorities in getting ready to build millions of Model 3, Model Y, etc.

[@msgmathis]

Not what I had in mind. There are plenty of shops and people who have taken tesla and others batteries and adopted them to their projects. Maybe tesla or Panasonic would provide the batteries. If not there are plenty of laptop batteries available build your own!

[@LoanwordEggcorn]

It is a very major engineering task to change from NiMH to Lithium Ion battery chemistries. There are multiple computers in the car that communicate with each other and expect a certain battery type.

[@msgmathis]

Ev west is doing some great work converting vehicles to electric. I'm not an electrical engineer I just play one on KZbin however a simple search will show a guy who is using laptop 18650 cells to convert his VW bus. Or just wait until the Patents run out next year I'm sure someone will start making these battles again. There are plenty of options

[@Christian._.]

Does this rav4 make any noise?

[@chrisp7214]

Basically....NO......just a bit of tyre and wind noise, mych less than an ICE version.

[@zerix01]

Note to self. Don't name an EV Sparky unless I'm going to start a vlog. (Now you know has a Model X named Sparky)

[@welcome2myworld1.o89]

If you ever want to sell it I’ll buy it

[@sneekylinux]

There are some pi guys working on this sort of thing if you have a seach

[@alikhoobiary6595]

The patent ended in 2014

[@positv333]

the tech is old news now, this would've been much better to have back then

[@chanyuthsok4549]

Wanna buy Rav4 EV

[@lostie1]

Say Nickel-metal hydride one more time..

[@mrjaffar]

As much as I love electric cars they are just a means to an end... I'm not into the nostalgia.

[@jeffreywoodin8549]

If you are going to recommend people watch "Who Killed the Electric Car" you really should also recommend they watch the sequel as well "REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR"!! Hint, Toyota is NOT in that. There is enough anti-GM BS out there about one business decision made by one guy at GM (who is long gone) made almost 20 years ago! Why do you want to keep perpetuating this "GM hate"??? There are a lot of valid reasons why GM did what it did almost 20 years ago. The main reason was electric cars were not money makers....and GM is a business! Sorry, that's the truth. Even today there has not been ONE car marker that makes money on electric cars!! Sorry, that the truth too. The difference between GM and Toyota, after the RAV4, was Toyota totally gave up on battery electric cars, until just a couple months ago in fact (like Honda)!! While GM went on to try and try again and again with Volt, Spark, Cadillac EVR and now the Bolt. For Christ sake, GM has done more to promote electric cars than almost anyone!!! I wonder if there would even be a Tesla if there was never an EV1? Maybe GM never should have even tried to do the EV1...then they wouldn't have got all this BS nonsense! But I for one am glad they did the EV1 to try to get the ball rolling ...then did all the electric cars they did since. And Nikki, I a recent video you were (in a way) trying to defend GM by saying to the effect "we don't still blame Germany for NAZI Germany or Japan for what they did".......REALLY? Is that really a good analogy??? BTW amazing GM war production help DEFEAT both those horrible regimes in WW2!! This whole thing with "GM" is just .....INSANE! There are amazing people at GM working, and have been working for YEARS, to make EV's most people can afford. They also deliver the first affordable 200+ mile EV in history! They don't deserve this "EV1" BULLSHIT.

[@jeffreywoodin8549]

An interesting read: www.military.com/veteran-jobs/career-advice/military-transition/how-gm-divisions-tackled-war-effort.html GM also helped put men on the Moon and bring them back safely: history.gmheritagecenter.com/wiki/index.php/GM_Goes_to_the_Moon

[@jeffreywoodin8549]

This is interesting too, and these numbers can and do change monthly, but it looks like GM was the biggest seller of EV's in the U.S. for April at 3,113. A winner by a long shot! Good job GM. insideevs.com/april-ev-sales-in-us-rise-for-19th-consecutive-month/

[@XXXXXX-vw6rl]

very nice video about this legendary car👍

[@mtt3870]

And yet... Toyota has absolute zero presence in the EV world right now.... Toyota led the way with autonomous driving with the LS been the first mass produced car that could drive it self (Albeit just to park). Toyota was the first car manufacturer to produce and useful hybrid and sold hundreds of thousands of the Prius (millions by now). Toyota was the first car manufacturer to come up with as SUV for the family with the 4Runner, practical, good of road and not a behemoth of a vehicle. Toyota was the first car manufacturer to come up with a compact cross over that everyone is so obsessed about today and the first luxury one as well with the RX300. Toyota completely changes the luxury market and bear the Germans in their own game with the LS400. Toyota has the first ELECTRIC SUV for crying out loud.... and now in 2019 they have nothing to show for an EV, they are hung up with Hydrogen which has many more challenges than electricity.... what in the world Toyota... and rebadging the Supra, that was like rebadging a Camry or a 4Runner or a Land Cruiser... what is going on with the directive of Toyota is not leading much now a days.... so disappointed at Toyota. They don’t think a electric 4Runner or SUV is what people would want, in the mean time Ford is kind of manufacturing the Rivian that so far seems very promising... SMH!!!

[@alexanderpetrov7027]

Nice car