Tom Hanks, electric vehicle enthusiast, loves his RAV4 EV
A few years ago, a video of Tom Hanks excitedly talking up his electric Scion xB (aka eBox, which he got first) made the rounds. All Hanks' Hollywood money means that he can drive and be excited about not just one, but multiple electric cars. Hanks recently went on the record to discuss his EV fandom as he cleared up a mistake in a New Yorker article. Writer Peter Boyer apparently mistakenly wrote that Hanks once owned an EV1. Hanks, who stars in the new movie Angels & Demons that opens this weekend, wrote in to say, no, not and EV1 but a RAV4 EV, and has put 50,000 miles on the 2003 car once it escaped the crushing fate of many other EVs at around that time. Hanks' wrote to the magazine (and reprinted at Ecorazzi):
When the car companies collectively, and, to some, diabolically, decided to take these cars back, the electric vehicles disappeared. But not mine. I have the pink slip. I own that car, and it is still driven every day, albeit by one of my crack staff of employees. My electric car recently crossed fifty thousand miles on the odometer with its original battery but without so much as a splash of gasoline.If you want to be like Tom, keep an eye on eBay. All-electric RAV4's pop up there now and again and prices have come down since the crazy highs of $70,000-ish a few years ago.
Gallery: Right hand drive Toyota RAV4 EV
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[Source: New Yorker (subs req'd) via Green Car Advisor, Ecorazzi]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Yanquetino 9:33PM (5/15/2009)
For those who haven't see it, here is an interview that Tom did with the "crack employee" who drives that very RAV4-EV most of the time:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=45910971
Note the music coming out of the stereo in the car. Nice touch!
Gotta hand it to the Hankster. As busy as he is with his films, he somehow finds a moment here and there to plug for EVs!
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Chris 2:28AM (5/16/2009)
That's why he's my favorite actor. What a class act.
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Luke 4:35PM (5/19/2009)
No, he's a joke for driving an electric car. As you commented earlier, the electric car is a joke, so he's no "class act."
brn 1:00PM (5/16/2009)
I did a little googling to see what Tom really drives.
Interestingly, it appears to be a PT Cruiser. Not what I expected.
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Yanquetino 2:45PM (5/16/2009)
brn: Pass along some of the links you found! I'd like to read more about Tom's PT Cruiser.
I had the impression that his "daily driver" is his AC Propulsion eBox. He talks about it at 1:36 and 3:00 in this video:
http://current.com/items/89594878_ac-propulsion-making-gas-cars-electric.htm
You'll hear that he also has hybrids (plural), but his "favorite car" is definitely the eBox. This would explain why his "crack employee" has apparently inherited the RAV4-EV...!
stevezilla 1:33PM (5/16/2009)
He owns it, but doesn't drive it.
Super.
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Dan 11:22AM (5/18/2009)
The kind of environmentalist who personally lives in a house the size of a hotel and jets around the world with an entourage of servants.
And writes letters to the editor bragging about the electric car used by one of his butlers and calling the auto industry 'diabolical'.
That's not a class act, it's run of the mill Hollywood hypocrisy.
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