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Both Toyota and Mercedes sought Tesla's help with EVs for their California "compliance" vehicles: both the RAV4 EV and the Mercedes B-class EV had a Tesla frame
by robterrell 8y ago
Both Toyota and Mercedes sought Tesla's help with EVs for their California "compliance" vehicles: both the RAV4 EV and the Mercedes B-class EV had a Tesla frame, motors, batteries, and drive controller underneath. I don't know about the MB but the Toyota was rumored to cost roughly 2x the list price. In 2014, after Toyota made roughly 2000 of them (the minimum required by law) they stopped.
You can read about the common problems on the forums; lots of the same problems Teslas had in the time period (i.e. loss of all propulsion while driving, loud motor noises followed by eventual motor failure, etc) in addition to software problems bridging the two companies' systems.
All solvable but I'm sure Tesla prefers selling $100k cars better than selling $15k generic skateboards.
- ams6110 8y agoI thought the MB B-class EV had Tesla motors but their own battery tech. MB has made huge investments in battery factories. https://electrek.co/2018/10/08/mercedes-benz-breaks-ground-battery-factory-us-electric-vehicles/ https://electrek.co/2018/10/08/mercedes-benz-breaks-ground-b...
- greglindahl 8y agoIsn't the B-class that Tesla was involved with the one that was discontinued (in 2017) after selling fewer than 4,000 cars? http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/13097/mercedes-benz-discontinues-the-b-class-electric-drive http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/13097/mercedes-benz-disco...
- greglindahl 8y agoThe Rav4 and B-class had much better performance and range than the cars we usually call "compliance cars".