Toyota and Tesla Motors announced today that their jointly-developed RAV4 electric sport utility vehicle will be built at Toyota's plant in Woodstock, Ontario, beginning in 2012. Tesla said in a July 15 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that Toyota had agreed to pay Tesla about $100 million to supply the Japanese automaker with an electric powertrain for the RAV4 EV, but until today neither company had said where the vehicle would be assembled. "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 Manufacturing Canada, said at a news conference at the plant, nixing speculation that the all-electric SUV would be assembled at Tesla's new plant in Fremont, Calif.
The electric powertrain includes the battery, motor, gear box and power electronics. Tesla will build the electric powertrains at its production facility in Palo Alto, Calif., and then ship them to the Woodstock plant for final assembly into the vehicle. The RAV4 EV will be sold in the U.S. and elsewhere beginning next year. Pricing, volume and regional distribution have not been announced. The RAV4 EV is one of several advanced-technology new products coming for Toyota in the near future. In addition to expanding the Prius family with the upcoming Prius V hybrid-electric wagon and the Prius Plug-in Hybrid, Toyota will introduce an electric version of the Scion iQ in 2012 and a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid vehicle by 2015. Tesla, which produces the Roadster battery-electric sports car, will offer a battery-electric luxury sports sedan beginning next year.
