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The official Environmental Protection Agency fuel economy and carbon numbers have been released for the new Toyota RAV4 Prime all-wheel drive plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle (PHEV). The numbers reflect honesty on Toyota's part about what was to come, and prove that this vehicle is the single-most energy-efficient affordable all-wheel drive crossover sold in America. By a country mile.

The RAV4 Prime AWD earns a staggering 94 MPGe overall rating, and can travel up to 42 miles in EV-Mode. More than enough to get most commuters to and from work without the need to charge while at their place of work. When the RAV4 Prime is being operated as a hybrid, its fuel economy is an impressive 38 MPG Combined rating from the EPA. That means even with its heavier battery to carry, the RAV4 prime is still as efficient as Honda's new CR-V Hybrid (which cannot be plugged in).

Due to its combination of electric drive and also a gasoline engine, the AWD RAV4 Prime is capable of a sprint to 60 MPH in under six seconds. The last RAV4 Toyota produced that could do that was the V6 RAV4 model from 2012. We compared the energy data for these two models with similar performance and the difference was staggering. The RAV4 Prime has nearly double the rating of the outdated V6 RAV4 when operated as a hybrid and its 94 MPGe is almost four-times the V6 RAV4's 22 MPG Combined EPA rating. Furthermore, the RAV4 Prime creates just one-sixth the carbon per mile while in operation that the old V6 RAV4 did, while also producing significantly less smog-creating compounds. Over a fifteen-year lifespan, the RAV4 Prime would cost its owner about $12,000 less in energy than would a RAV4 V6. And that is using today's rediculously-low gasoline prices.

The RAV4 Prime offers shoppers a vehicle with the top performance of a V6 engine while offering the fuel savings of an electric vehicle. The RAV4 Prime has a cost after incentives in EV-targe states of around $30K and rises to about $34K after incentives for the top-trim with faster charging. Check out our full price breakdown. It is on-sale now at Toyota dealers across America.

John Goreham is a life-long car nut and recovering engineer. John's focus areas are technology, safety, and green vehicles. In the 1990s, he was part of a team that built a solar-electric vehicle from scratch. His was the role of battery thermal control designer. For 20 years he applied his engineering and sales talents in the high tech world and published numerous articles in technical journals such as Chemical Processing Magazine. In 2008 he retired from that career to chase his dream of being an auto writer. In addition to Torque News, John's work has appeared in print in dozens of American newspapers and he provides reviews to many vehicle shopping sites. You can follow John on the Torque News Facebook Page, and view his credentials at Linkedin

Toyota RAV4 Prime Plugged In Image by Toyota Media Support
EPA Charts Courtesy of www.FuelEconomy.gov