TOYOTA CONFIRMS THE UPCOMING RAV4 electric vehicle will be fully assembled at its Woodstock, ON, Canada, plant, with output beginning next year. Ward's first reported the news Aug. 3.
The RAV4 EV will go down the same line as the gas-engine RAV4, already built at Woodstock.
It originally was thought that final assembly of the electrified RAV4 would occur at upstart EV-maker Tesla's Fremont, CA, plant, with Tesla installing the motor, battery, gearbox and power electrics in bodies shipped from Woodstock.
Toyota is paying Tesla about $100 million for the RAV4 EV's powertrain, which Tesla is assembling in Palo Alto, CA.
However, “the Tesla-Toyota joint development team has agreed that building the vehicle at the Woodstock plant on the same line as the gasoline-powered RAV4 will streamline and simplify the production process and guarantee the highest level of quality control,” Ray Tanguay, chairman of Toyota Motor Mfg. Canada says.
The RAV4 EV will go on sale in the U.S. in mid-2012, and initially be offered in California.
