Toyota RAV4 Hybrid now top selling car in Australia

Ratbag said:
How much is a new battery after 5 years?
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Most of the purchasers probably don't know, don't care or both.
Disposable society and all.
 
Ratbag said:
How much is a new battery after 5 years?

Just a thought ... ;) .
Click to expand...

We priced a new battery for my mate's Outlander Phev he bought new about 5 years ago... It was about 8K at trade price. They're also pretty labour intensive to replace depending on the car
 
If it's anything like the quote for a 2012 Nissan Leaf, you can expect around $33,000. :eek: See the picture of the quote below.

Saw this post via a friend on FB, a bit of background.

A first gen Nissan Leaf was bought in 2012, after 6 and half years the battery capacity had gone down to 63%, the owner could barely get 40km before low battery warning. He took it to a Nissan dealer, who refuse the warranty claim because this is consider in "normal condition", so he asked for a battery replacement quote.

Nissan came back with a quote of $33,385, just for the battery, surely this is ludicrous, how does Nissan expect to sell anymore Leaf with pricing strategy like this?

Pic of the quote is here.
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The RAV4 is also the best-selling vehicle in 2020 here at 700+ units. The next is the Sorento with 300+ units, haha. We may not get the most updated RAV4 unit here because of our relatively small market.

Ratbag said:
How much is a new battery after 5 years?

Just a thought ... ;) .
Click to expand...
Oooof!

Ben Up North said:
Most of the purchasers probably don't know, don't care or both.
Disposable society and all.
Click to expand...
Yup that plus consumerism and their belief that one is saving the planet as long as he/she doesn't use petrol/diesel. Haha.

subyroo said:
If it's anything like the quote for a 2012 Nissan Leaf, you can expect around $33,000. :eek: See the picture of the quote below.
Click to expand...
It's the same amount here. We have refurbished ones, though, that cost around NZD 8,000 to NZD 10,000. The replacement is tedious.

Nissan said 10 years ago that all their battery compartments should be able to adapt to newer battery designs/technology and, if Nissan will keep its promise, it's future-proofing for the owners. Let's see if that will happen soon as we are in the advent of solid state batteries.

Toyota, which is the biggest Subaru shareholder, will release their solid-state battery in 2025 and will most likely be implemented in future Subaru EVs.
 
Huh? What battery replacement 5 years down the road? Never heard of a Prius or other Toyota battery being replaced. Plenty of those around here.

Leaf had issues that were unique to it. I don't like the complexity of hybrids, I like all-electric, but there are no systemic issues with Toyota hybrid batteries.

EDIT: in 2020 Toyota sold 116,000 Rav4 hybrids here and 430,000 total RAV4s. It is the first Rav4 since the 1 gen that actually has some actual outdoors appeal.
 
@Ratbag I have an Escape hybrid that needed a new battery when I bought it. $1100 for parts and labor(dealer paid) to install a refurbished battery with a 1 year warranty. They said there were only 2 bad cells in my old pack, they also said it was most likely due to not being driven for an extended period of time and sitting out in the cold. I have a friend with the same car...380,000 miles with the original battery and he's still getting roughly Ford's claimed efficiency.
 
Veganpotter said:
@Ratbag I have an Escape hybrid that needed a new battery when I bought it. $1100 for parts and labor(dealer paid) to install a refurbished battery with a 1 year warranty. They said there were only 2 bad cells in my old pack, they also said it was most likely due to not being driven for an extended period of time and sitting out in the cold. I have a friend with the same car...380,000 miles with the original battery and he's still getting roughly Ford's claimed efficiency.
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I know one of the Fords did have an issue with batteries, not the Escape, but if I remember correctly the issue was Ford and not the battery per se. My Subaru master tech was using it to commute to work so he explained to me in detail but that was like 3 years ago.
 
heard one russian guy told some smart thing about those hybrids that kinda make sense, like he had range rover SVR before , much power fun drive but every month so much expences on car, then he got new PHEV with 2.0 petrol engine and rest on battery E motor, and now monthly hes doing like 10x less expences just because almost nothing is used, brakes pads are almost not used and on petrol its very economical car for city. yes E motor is used and after some years it come to price maybe to change ot or repair, but why keep car for so long then , change it to other new one.
and i see in this perfect sense to buy if you can buy new car , buy hybrid but proper hybrid that could be used on E motor alone for some distance or work together with petrol . engine is spared , brake pads spared. all those parts will hold for much longer
 
Anyway. I like that hybrids use much less oil, but I would not buy one because I don't want the complexity.

Unless my 4Runner gets totaled or the like events, I only expect to buy an old gas vehicle, an X-Terra 4x4 or something like that for my first son. For my next, I think robotaxis will be all over the place here. Other than that, all electric from now on for my wife and me.

The Tesla Cyber Truck promises to be an amazing off-road performance machine straight off the factory floor. I have no use for its size but it just shows what is possible. The Rivian truck and SUV are also very appealing. But Tesla has the ultimate performance DNAs so....

Btw, if I lived in Australia (may be I can retire there :) ), I would be especially interested in something like that. I bet sun is much more abundant than oil in the midst of nowhere :) and charging methods/systems are getting better by the year. I guess in 5 years, driving anywhere with your own sun-charging capability will be totally feasible and quite affordable.
 
@MiddleAgeSubie until there are electric cars with a +500km range that charge in under 10min, without prematurely wearing the battery, I want hybrids. I want them better than what we have now. My 2006 Escape handles really well. But its CVT really makes offroading modest obstacles extremely difficult. And it's worthless driving up a mountain with the weight of extra passengers. I've driven the new Rav4 hybrid on the street and I'd love to have that car but it doesn't do well off road. It totally could but it drives like it has an open diff on the road. It could totally drive like a real off roader with few changes. Jeep says their new hybrid will be there most capable car ever. They also rarely need repair. So complexity wouldn't be a big issue for me with them.
 
When I first saw the Rav4 hybrid in the flesh I instantly wanted one.

Then I found out that the petrol engine is only connected to the front wheels. The rear wheels are powered by a single 40kw electric motor. Once the battery has run out of power the vehicle is front wheel drive.

Driving on low traction surfaces requiring all 4 wheels to be driven can deplete the battery in 15 mins (or kms I can't remember) - either way it is very limited - and then you are back to 2wd in the front.

I can't see how the battery can remain topped up enough to get the vehicle to do what we are used to in our Subies. Some fairly Subaru-capable locations here in Australia would most likely be touch-n-go with a Rav4 Hybrid - e.g. Simpson, Fraser, Stockton, Robe, Coorong and Big Desert NP to name a few famous sand drives. I wouldn't feel confident with the Toyota drivetrain on these drives.

The Flinders Ranges after rain would also end up consuming the battery power required to drive the rears in no time.

In these locations there aren't enough long downhill cruises to put enough power back in the battery, and besides, 40kw shared between 2 back wheels isn't really going to give you a 50/50 torque split is it?

The tech is improving - however I think this vehicle is best suited for people who think they need an SUV because they have a few leaves on their driveway.
 
Nonsense.

I can assure you that driving across the Simpson (over 1100 dunes over 2-3 days) you will have no charge left after the first 30 mins.

The battery will deplete and not come across suitable conditions to recharge for days.
 
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