Both of my RAV4-EVs had one of the two standard LRR stock tires for the car -- the Yokohama AVS-EF1, with the other standard LRR stock tire for the car being the Bridgestone Ecopia E02. With the Yok LRRs, both of my RAV4-EVs had a range of 130 miles on the highway and around 110 miles in city driving.
Problem was, however, that my front end was out of alignment on both cars, which was causing uneven/excessive wear to the passenger side front tire on each car. The Yok LRRs are getting increasingly harder to source and obtain, because they (and the Bridgestone Ecopia E02's as well) were only made for one and only one car -- the RAV4-EV. So rather than spending a lot of time chasing all over California to every tire distributor in the state to try to find those Yoks, I decided to just try some standard non-LRR tires for the car. I went on and made my decision based on Darell Dickey's excellent RAV4-EV FAQ, which lists a number of substitute standard non-LRR tires on it. I consulted with FLEAA Secretary and meeting site host Bob Fuerstenau of Coastal Tire in Boca Raton and went over the list with him. Given the premature wear on the LRRs (which is a common problem with LRR tires in general), Bob looked up wear ratings and various such characteristics for me for the RAV4-EV non-LRR substitute tires on Darell's list. The best wear rating was for a Continental tire, I forget the exact model number now. I read users' comments on Darell's FAQ. There was only one RAV4-EV user comment for this particular tire, and the person claimed little-to-no loss of range. I didn't feel too comfortable relying on only one such user comment, i.e. that only one RAV4-EV owner had tried these tires. There were other substitute tires with more RAV4-EV user comments claiming little-to-no range loss, and I would have felt more comfortable going with those, but their wear ratings were lower. So I decided to take a gamble on the one single user data point claim of little-to-no range loss for the Contis and decided to go with the higher wear rating. After a couple of months of use, I can tell you that my experience has been a 30% loss of range vs. the Yok LRRs. And I've really got the perfect controlled test conditions, with two identical cars of the same model year, both of which had the Yok LRRs for over 3 years, both getting 110 city / 130 highway, and now the one with the new non-LRR Contis is getting 30% less, about a 30 mile range drop. I have often read that LRR tires generally add 15% to your range. That may be true in general or in some cases, but in my case it is making a difference of twice that, namely about a 30% greater range with good LRRs. And BTW, I *did* have Bob's shop do the much-needed front end alignments on both cars. Just thought I'd share that experience, which you may find useful. Overall, I'm not displeased at all, because it has indeed been a very useful learning experience for both me and Bob that we can share with the rest of you on the important advantage of good LRR tires. But let me also emphasize that you should also expect a shorter life with LRR tires, probably about half the life of non-LRR tires with twice the wear rating. The shorter range car with the non-LRR Contis has now become an exclusive in-town commuter, while the other car with the LRR Yoks serves as the longer-range highway driver. Many thanks to Bob Fuerstenau for the great job he did in helping me with all of this! As I said, it has been a very interesting and useful learning experience for both of us. Charles Whalen Florida EAA Delray Beach, FL ----- Original Message ----- From: Bernie Crews To: 'Al Lococo' ; 'FLEAA Mailing List' Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 12:53 PM Subject: [FLEAA] has anyone tried different tires like the one the RAV4 EVuses? Just a thought. Has anyone used anything other than standard tires? In Al's pdf http://evnut.com/docs/flyers/rav4ev_flyer_arb.pdf the tires were specified. Here is the link to the tires specified for the RAV4 in Al's email. http://www.bridgestone-firestone.com/news/index_enviro_news.asp?id=2003/030326a I wonder how much more miles we could expect? Any ideas? Bernie "History is full of people who out of fear, ignorance, or lust of power have destroyed knowledge of immeasurable value which truly belongs to us all. We must not let it happen again." -Carl Sagan From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Al Lococo Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:28 PM To: FLEAA Mailing List Subject: Re: [FLEAA] Fw: Article #1 Harvey, Everything I know about the subject I learned from Charles. I believe this is an important topic, so I have created a handout that I use at events. It is my effort to inform the public. I have two documents that I print on both sides of the same page. It makes a single piece of paper that in my opinion tells the story succinctly as possible on an 8.5" x 11" page. One side is my summary of the situation and the other is the CARB window sticker from the RAAV4-EV. My History of the Panasonic EV-95 NiMH powered RAV4-EV. http://www.evprogress.org/Plug.rtf This is the CARB Window Sticker. http://evnut.com/docs/flyers/rav4ev_flyer_arb.pdf Both of these document can be found on my web site www.evprogress.org. This is a link to something which gives the whole long story, by Charles. http://www.evworld.com/blogs/index.cfm?page=blogentry&authorid=51&blogid=104&archive=1 Cheers, Al Lococo www.evprogress.org ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 9:00 PM Subject: Re: [FLEAA] Fw: Article #1 Thanks Ted. Charles W. and Al Lococo (Ted referred me to you both.) Can you either of you please "connect the dots" or expand the history and accuracy of this story. When I give a verbal presentation on the whole battery patent story, I want to be assured of the accuracy of what I communicate. Thanks. Harvey ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Florida EAA mailing list [email protected] http://www.floridaeaa.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ Florida EAA mailing list [email protected] http://www.floridaeaa.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.5.6/1572 - Release Date: 7/25/2008 6:51 AM
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