Tom Hanks Writes To The New Yorker About His Electric Toyota RAV4

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by Michael dEstries May 12, 2009
Categories: Transport
Tags: .

tomhanks_electric

Tom Hanks has written a letter to the New Yorker setting the record straight about the electric cars he has owned over the years. The actor was replying to a piece by Peter J. Boyer in which it was claimed (or assumed) that Hanks had at one time owned the ill-fated all-electric EV1 from General Motors. This was something we also thought was true — but according to Hanks, he never actually owned one. From his letter:

“By the time I began shopping for an all-electric car, in 2003, the EV1 had already been yanked from showrooms as if the car had never existed. Instead, I found what was purported to be the very last electric car available for sale in the state of California—a Toyota EV. It had four doors, a rear hatch, room for my family, including a dog in the back, power windows, A/C, a great sound system, and the fastest, most effective windshield defroster known to mankind. 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.”

Said Treehugger in response to Hank’s letter: “If the RAV4 EV is driven by one of his employees, what does Mr. Hanks drive now?”

Savvy Ecorazzi readers will know that Tom Hanks today drives an all-electric Scion XB conversion that he picked up in 2007 from AC Propulsion.

You can read Hank’s full letter to the New Yorker here.


Categories: Transport
Tags: .

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

View all posts by Michael dEstries →
  • http://www.beforewisdom.com beforewisdom

    I’ve read rumors that GM will offer the Volt as a leased car only. Why is the government giving them millions in bailout money and not helping out Tesla Motors, which is working hard to produce practical electric cars?

  • Whoever…

    Why do you think Exxon had record profits once again!?
    http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/30/news/companies/exxon_earnings/?cnn=yes

    Financial crisis!? For whom?

    Corporations like those, rule the world – they create wars, hunger, regional conflicts, diseases… anything you can possibly imagine so that they can make huge profits!

    Do you think I am a conspiracy looney?

    Well just do some research and reach your own conclusions… There are thousands of sites like these:
    – http://www.enlightenedbeings.com/water-fuel-cars.html
    - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dmPchuXIXQ
    - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6426393169641611451&q=COLD+FUSION&hl=en
    - http://peswiki.com/index.php/Site:LRP:James_Boswell_-_Green_Technology_That_Works_For_You
    - http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates/
    - http://www.remyc.com/endsecrecy.html
    (sorry for posting so many links)

    Do you think that making it difficult to produce an electric car is hard for ‘them’?
    Think again! Corporations like Exxon are owned by people who I call ‘human daemons’…

    In the beginning I also thought this was just hocus pocus but slowly I started realizing we are lied to everyday although we accept it as the truth… thus making it very easy for ‘them’ to control and manipulate us! I’m not saying that all the information in the previous sites is true but many of the things stated there make one think about what’s really true and what isn’t… At least it makes people think which is already a good thing!

    So don’t expect governments to solve anything. Things are only going to improve and truly change if we all ‘wake up’ and demand the truth to be told to us… before it’s too late!

    This is just my opinion…

  • kerry bradshaw

    Tom Hanks is nothing if not stupid and impractical. “One electric car at a time” would brankrupt this nation, if they are dumb enough to follow Hank’s lead. He couldn’t find an EV-1 for sale because they were never for sale – the only way GM could find people willing try them was to lease them – the same thing both Honda and , to a certain extent, Toyota did. You’d think that one of the stars of that utterly ficititious film “Who Killed the Electric car?” would at least know SOMEHTHING about the EV-1. Hanks has certainly run his lying mouth plenty criticizing GM. I notice that he never mentioned the fact that Toyota destroyed threee times as many electrics as GM did. Good old Don’t-believe-a word-he saays Tom. The EV-1 was in the showrooms for 7 long years, and never were more than 75% under lease at any given time. Where was Hanks during that time? I see that Hanks must have tired of that paltry 45 mile driving radius and 8 hour recharges for his Rav4, so he paid almost $100,000 for a crappy little Scion to electrify it, throwing away in the process, machinery that required tons of carbon to produce. Hanks will NEVER make up for all that carbon he squandered. Nice job there Tom, or is it Forrest?

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  • Pingback: Tom Hanks, electric vehicle enthusiast, loves his RAV4 EV | Only Hybrids

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