Toyota’s RAV4-EV Priced at $42,000

Toyota Motor Corp.’s U.S. sales division said its new RAV4-EV electric sport-utility vehicle will be priced at $42,000, roughly twice the cost of its popular gas-powered version. Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. plans to produce about 700 of the electric vehicles from 1998 to 2000 for the corporate and government fleet markets, a company spokesman said. The vehicles, which have already been tested by some local government organizations, will be sold in the Northeast and California, where restrictive vehicle emissions laws make them a popular market for alternatively powered cars.