Another one of the surviving Toyota Rav4 EVs is up for grabs on eBay and as this is written it has yet to get any bids. The starting price for this one is a steep $45,000 and there is also an undisclosed reserve price. The seller is located in Santa Clara California and claims that none of the 50,600 miles the 2002 electric CUV have been outside of the Bay area, something that is easy to believe given the estimated 85-125 mile range. The Rav4 EV has a nickel metal hydride battery and comes with an in-home charger. The buyer is of course responsible for calling an electrician to install the charger. For those looking for an EV this a more practical (and possibly cheaper, depending on the final price) alternative to a Tesla Roadster and easier than building your own.

[Source: eBay]

Click above for more shots of the smart Crossblade on eBay

Mercedes shocked the motoring press when it announced back in the early 2000's that it would actually launch a production version of its crazy smart Crossblade. Equipped with the same turbocharged three cylinder engine as the regular smart fortwo was offered with, what really distinguished the Crossblade from a run-of-the-mill smart was what it was missing. Gone was the roof and normal doors, along with most of the windshield. What was left intact were the Tridion cell and the rest of the smart's safety features.

The smart Crossblade never made it across to the United States, but there are apparently a few of them over here anyway, one of which has just appeared on eBay. According to the current owner, the car was titled in Cali, though it now resides in Idaho. Unfortunately, the far-left state has now decided to nullify that original title, as the car doesn't fit their definition of an automobile. We wonder if they have the same problem with the Jeep Wrangler. In any case, the asking price is a bit steep, though the new owner would likely never see another Crossblade on the road. Thanks for the tip, Cary!


[Source: eBay Motors]

Click above for more shots of this Porsche 911 EV conversion

Sometimes, we find various electric vehicle conversions on eBay to share with our readers. In many cases, the cars are in pretty sorry condition and the work which was done is highly suspect. In the case of this 1973 Porsche 911, though, everything done to the vehicle has been well documented in an online diary. There are also over forty pictures of the completed vehicle including every single dent and paint scratch. Most impressive. The EV conversion was officially started in late '93 and officially finished in late '96. Three years went into the removal of the engine and its related bits along with the addition of a DC electric motor along with 96 volts of lead-acid batteries. A bit later, the voltage was increased to 120, which yielded almost ten miles of range. Yeah... that's bad.

The good news, if it could be called that, is that the brakes were and are dragging, which is not helping performance at all. With a little work and some new batteries, this Porsche EV could be back on the road and getting somebody to work. Take a look at all the pics in our gallery, read the entire diary here and see the car's dedicated website here. Thanks for the tip, Dustin!


[Source: eBay Motors]

If you're looking to get into an all-electric truck soon - and don't mind doing a bit of work - then eBay has got the Ford Ranger EV for you. The current bid on the 1998 truck is $4,000, but the reserve isn't met and there are over six days left. If you think that price if a bit low, the seller's vehicle description explains why: "The battery pack on this truck is depleted and the truck does not run. It was running perfectly until June 26th, 2008 when the battery pack wore out."

Still, for the price of some new batteries, you could be driving around in a zero-emission truck with "QUIETER" on the license plate and a iPod-ready Sony CD sound system in the clean interior. Perhaps more importantly, an HOV access lane sticker is included and you'll never need to go get a smog check if you keep the truck in California. The truck has 61,000 miles on it and is in Santa Cruz, California. The seller is throwing in two 220V 40 amp Avcon charging stations. h/t to Mike!


[Source: eBay]

Another RAV4 EV is up on eBay. The last time one of these rare fully electric cars was put up on the auction block it sold for nearly $70,000. It was a 2002 with less than 50,000 miles on it. This time it's a 2003 model. The 2003 was stripped of a few perks. No heated front seats, and no heated front windshield for defrosting. But the battery was said to be improved for the last model year the car was made. And the car being sold has shown its chops; it already has over 125,000 miles on the original battery pack. The seller says the car still gets 100 miles per charge. The seller's thorough report makes some interesting reading about electric cars and service. One example: the car, which utilizes regenerative braking, is still on its first set of brake pads.

[Source: eBay]

With skyrocketing gas prices causing buyers to bid up the prices on old eco-boxes to seemingly ridiculous prices, it should come as no surprise that others are being pulled out of barns and garages. The latest is this Vangaurd Citicar that was built in 1975. The current bid as this is written is $2,650 with 6 days to go. In the mid-'70s, the Sebring-Vanguard company built about 2,200 of these electric city cars. Eight 6V lead acid batteries provided enough juice to the 3.5hp motor to achieve speeds up to about 35mph for up to 50 miles.

This particular example was apparently only driven 2,900 miles during the first year of its life before being mothballed. The Citicar won't offer you luxury features like roll down windows or a radio and meeting modern safety requirements is not even remotely in the cards. If perchance you find this ride appealing you might want to take care before bidding. If the bids hit the upper four figures you might be better off with a modern NEV which will offer similar performance and usually a warranty.


[Source: eBay, thanks to Emil for the tip]

We've been following the saga of a 2001 Toyota RAV4 EV that came up for auction on eBay and sold for a record-setting (as far as we know) bid of $89,200. Unfortunately, for the seller, monkeydude12, the winning bidder backed out and, according to ABG commenter Yanquetino, a message appeared on the auction stating that the seller had received a message from the original winning bidder stating that, "I am sorry about the bid my husband placed on this item. He thought he retraced it but I guess he didn't. He has a brain tumor and can't see real well. Could you please offer this item to the next highest bidder? Thank you for understanding." Bummer, monkeydude.

However, all was not lost. There was still a rare RAV4 EV to be had and so negotiations soon ensued with the 2nd highest bidder. We are happy to report at this time that, although the original record price was rescinded, the final agreed upon price of $69,850 is still (again, as far as we know) a record.

Alas, records are made to be broken. As we reported to you earlier today, a seller by the name of "fluffytheleopard" has just entered another RAV4 EV into the eBay fray and the bidding combat has already pushed the price of that very cherry looking ride to the dizzying height of $50,100. We shall continue to monitor the situation and keep you informed.

[Source: monkeydude12 A.K.A. "Joe"]

Looks like fluffytheleopard (seller rating: 0) saw the possibility of big cash when that 2001 Toyota REV4 EV sold for a record $89,200 on eBay the other day. Actually, the record price in that sale turned out to be a bit of a problem for the high bidder, about which we'll have more later today. Still, after a few months with nary a RAV4 EV on the internet auction site, a second all-electric vehicle is currently on the block. And fluffytheleopard is hoping his or her RAV4 EV with 60,000 miles on the odometer will bring in the big bucks like the other. Here's a snippet from fluffy's lengthy auction description:

Here are some highlights for you, which I hope you will find helpful:

1. Recent prices: A 2001 model in white, which did not have leather upholstery and did not appear to have tinted windows, sold for $89,200 on Ebay on May 25, 2008. That particular car also had two previous owners before it was sold again on Ebay. By contrast, I have been the single owner of my EV since inception.

We're not against fluffy - or anyone else - trying to catch a wave and make some money on a six-year-old electric car. We mention this sale to point out, one again, that electric vehicles that operate like real cars are in incredibly high demand. So far, after just a few hours on eBay, two bidders have bid fluffy's ride up to $50,100. We'll see where this ends up.

[Source: eBay]

The Toyota Rav4 EV we brought to your attention the other day has sold on eBay with the auction winner making a final bid of $89,200. We have seen the Rav4 EV bring in over $50,000 on eBay before and they've even reached up to almost $70,000 but this may very well be a new record. Perhaps it was the extra goodies included in the deal such as the wall-mounted Magnecharger and the spare pair of new tires. Maybe it was the low mileage or the high price of gas (We are pretty sure it wasn't the factory-installed cassette tape player). Whatever the motivation, the new owner went up $100 mere seconds after the next highest bidder had upped the ante by $10,000 ending a very spirited bidding war.

Not much is known about the buyer except that, judging by their other recent purchases, they are into woodworking, possibly owns a Blackberry as well as a trailer and no longer needs a leather wallet. They also have good taste in wallpaper borders and apparently enjoy making purchases on eBay.

*Update: Sale has not gone through to this buyer. Will report final price when known.

[Source: eBay, Thanks to Rei for the tip]

Click on the image for more shots of the Electrek electric car

Good old eBay strikes again with another unusual but very interesting electric vehicle up for auction. Before seeing this auction, we were not really familiar with the Unique Mobility Electrek electric vehicle at all. As usual, the internet proves our friend, as a test of the vehicle was done by the DOE way back in the early eighties, and it's been made available online. So, we know that the Electrek uses a Soleq controller, a specially modified General Electric shunt wound 32-hp electric motor, and 16 6-V Globe-Union batteries. Those lead-acid batteries have been removed from the vehicle, as they are rather old and needed to be replaced. A fiberglass body, which may not be the prettiest design in the world, lies atop a custom-designed chassis with a central battery-tunnel running the length of the vehicle. Top speed is claimed to be seventy-five miles per hour and the range, when new, varied between seventy-five and one-hundred miles per charge (at 30 mph or so).


[Source: eBay Motors]

"I am selling this truck in the hopes of buying a new hybrid for my growing family." That is the reason eBay user jeremg gives for selling his Nissan Xterra. His timing could not be better.

You see, this particular Xterra was featured on The Office earlier this week (jeremg works for the show) when the plot revolved around Dwight selling the Xterra on eBay. Since jeremg owns the SUV and was able to score a signed script and a few other show goodies, off he went to eBay Motors. All the goodies - and the SUV - can be yours if you're willing to overpay for what the vehicle is worth.

Our friends at Autoblog checked, and Kelley Blue Book values an Xterra in excellent condition at $9,715. Current bid for Dwight's Xterra is $15,300. So he's up five grand and change thanks to his star car. Still, jeremg has a ways to go before he can just use money from the sale of this Xterra to buy a Prius or a hybrid SUV (the latter would be my guess, considering jeremg made a point of "my growing family" and all the stuff he carries). Now, if only we could get Dwight's gun rack Prius.


[Source: eBay Motors via Autoblog]

Click on the image for more shots

Here we have an electric car which is not an electric car. When the current owner got the car, is was stripped of its motor, batteries and other assorted bits. For that reason, in went a Ford 2.8 liter V6, meaning that the vehicle you see here is a Detroit Electric in name only. The vehicle has gone through a complete overhaul, with a new custom chassis underpinning the aluminum body. While it's not uncommon to see a previously gasoline-powered vehicle converted to electric, we collectively shed a tear that this particular piece of motoring history is no longer powered by electrons. It's a bit ironic that the seller points out the good gas mileage of the small V6 engine. Thanks for the tip, Dad!


[Source: eBay Motors]

You might look at the above picture and say to yourself, "Hey look, it's a Geo Metro!". You'd be wrong. Or at least, partly wrong (or partly right depending on whether you're a glass-half-full kind of person) because this, my friends, is a rare Solectria Force. Restored and upgraded with 11 Deka sealed gel cell batteries, a new Zivan charger, a PakTrackr monitoring system and way too many other items to list. This vehicle has about a 40 mile range and is capable of 55 mph - though the seller doesn't consider it a very good highway car because of, well, "modest" acceleration. On the plus side, it has air conditioning so traveling about town would be comfortable in the summer heat. Bidding starts at $9,000 if you want to say goodbye to gasoline.

Hit the jump to take a guided video tour of this piece of automotive history.

You can only feel two ways about the microcar fad:

1. it was a good attempt at creating very efficient cars
2. it was the greatest mistake in automotive history

Love 'em or loathe 'em, one of these microcars - a 1962 Electrodyne Mark II - is currently on sale over at eBay with a Buy It Now price of $2,500. There were 10 offers last I looked. The auction ends tonight so you just have a few hours to enjoy bidding on the microcar goodness or gasp in horror at the monstrosity, depending on how you look at it. I think it's kinda cute.

[Source: eBay via CarDomain Car Blog]

Looks like I underestimated by around $2,000. As the auction for Daryl Hannah's matte black El Camino was ending yesterday, I guessed the bidding would reach $13,500. Since the car was a.) reconfigured to make it more biodiesel friendly and b.) owned and driven by Hannah herself for quite a while, it seemed that a jump of $4,000 in the last few hours of the auction was reasonable. Instead, the final bid was $15,600, and it looks like that beat Hannah's reserve price.

The car was bought by someone who uses the eBay handle bhagwano, and we wish him or her the best of luck with this black beauty.

Related:

• So, who wants to get into Daryl Hannah's biodiesel El Camino?
• Now this is a biodiesel ride - Daryl Hannah's matte black El Camino

[Source: eBay]