Toyota Confirms EV Pickup Truck

Electric Toyota trucks

As if hybrid Tacos and 4Runners weren't awful enough, they are going EV. Meanwhile EPA mandates were pulled back, so we might actually see more V8 and diesel trucks.

Good luck to Toyota selling these EVs in US.

 

You should edit your title to "Toyota Confirms EV Pickup Truck - FOR THE EUROPEAN MARKET"

This won't affect America.

 

So this is the next Land Cruiser?

 

EV sales are still up in the US 28% YTD so there are clearly plenty with (get ready!) “use cases” that fit.

Granted, tariffs and expected loss of incentives are likely pushing purchase timelines up but for a while now, even those “EV sales crater!” type articles were citing a slower or slowing rate of growth, but sales were technically still going up even if the rate slowed.

But we’re likely not going to see a big step back in engines as planning is done on time scales where presidential elections are a smaller factor. not to mention I doubt being able to shove in a 2UR was in the design documents for the current batch of vehicles and surely production targets are set ahead of time.

I bet Toyota put hella effort in differentiating the 4Runner/LC/GX trio and nudge people uptrim/upmarket so the V6 is a Lexus exclusive now.

Not to mention Toyota still has to keep the rest of North America and the world in mind as well developing their product mix.

I would love to see more wackiness and variety in the auto market but with so much chaos, I can’t see businesses really taking any additional risks especially with all the flip-flopping on a dime. Staying the course is a safer bet if somehow the folks up top say “never mind on _____!” even if we wouldn’t expect it.

 

I’d rather have a full electric than these goofy power boost hybrid trucks. Give me either an engine or batteries, not both.

 

Hybrid makes a lot of sense for urban commute, where short city drives in traffic are the main use, with occasional long drive/road trip. While many people do commute in pickups, this is not the intended purpose of such vehicle.

 

I like the idea of a plug in hybrid in this scenario. I'm not sure how much something like that would benefit me personally. But, it sounds great for folks who have a short work commute, but still want to be able to travel freely.

 

Gotta check out the Scout.

 

The problem is that the plug in hybrids are so much more expensive than the straight gas models that you don’t actually save any money over the life of the vehicle.

 

I would think this would depend on the individual situation. In my case, you'd probably be right. But, for somebody who doesn't travel beyond the electric range very often, it might save them some money. Of course, this all depends on fuel prices and rates on electricity.

 

Check out the pricing of a regular RAV4 vs a plug in hybrid RAV4. The plug in is $15-20K more money. Thats an insane amount of gas money.

 

This is true at the current gas prices, but at around $10/gal math works out.

 

Interesting! I mean people will definitely buy the things, always a surprising amount of people that are able finance vehicles.

So is it tranquil and quiet now inside these EV trucks when doing 4wd donuts? No I bet it can play IC engine sound through the speaker system.

 

Without government taxation to artificially raise the price to that level, $10 a gallon of gas any time soon means the US is in a world of hurt at that point through either inflation, or major disruption in the petroleum industry.

I hope you enjoy your plug in hybrids when that day comes.

 

For new, $15k (not counting tax or incentives) is the difference between a base LE FWD gas RAV4 and the base SE AWD RAV4 Plug-in - but the Plug-in starts at SE trim and the gas RAV4 goes up to XLE Premium at ~$10k below. Hybrid SE is $35k.

the gap is $20k only if you compare absolute bottom RAV4 to most expensive RAV4, and I don’t think that’s ridiculous considering the MSRP spread for others.

It’s still a lot of gas money obviously but one can think of it as added flexibility (more options in a fuel or electricity supply interruption/outage, especially with the inverter), performance and the gee-whiz factor. I’d love a PHEV but if it’s fuel economy is anything like a (more reliable) 4xe, I’m not sure I’d bite over a hybrid - if the packaging in Toyota-land gets sorted.

Savings will vary depending on driving habits, electricity prices (and if they vary depending on time of day), gas prices, etc. but I’d say it’s a solid vehicle to cover many bases - albeit I’m sure we’d be looking at AWD LE RAV4’s.

But one neat thing I would like is that charged up, you could run the heat pump or AC overnight without using the engine in a campsite. (but of course, a Hybrid in a dispersed site where engine use doesn’t matter would do great too - dubbed “Hotel Prius”)

Of course someone looking to penny pinch may or may not even be looking at buying new - or even a vehicle at this price point.

I’m still iffy on their programming if the last gen is anything to go off of but the current Outlander PHEV has (or at least had) base trim PHEV’s comparable to their lower trim Outlanders - ES i think. But no spare.

 

Just taking a look at Toyota's website, it doesn't appear that there's a direct comparison, as none of the trims are available in both a plug-in hybrid and ICE version. With so many variables, it's hard to say where the break even point really is.

My initial comment was just to say that a PHEV sounds like a good option for folks who have short work commutes, but want to be able to travel freely.

 

tax incentives also help.

 

Are the tax breaks still available or is that getting phased out?

 

If the federal level rebates get phased out you can bet CARB States will double down and give more incentives to make a point.

 

I think the federal ones are being phased out, when we got ours we had fed and state, convinced us. Our Rav4 prime had 13 miles of fuel left last weekend, used all week to go to work and grocery store, never had to take the time to go at a gas station, and that is a win for my wife especially.