Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle: User's Guide

Apollo 15 Commander David Scott drives the lunar roving
vehicle on the surface of the Moon, the first time the rover
was used. Source: NASA

The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) was an electric vehicle that allowed Apollo 15, 16, and 17 astronauts to drive on the Moon. It was folded up in the lunar module (LM) and deployed as show in in Image 1.

Image 1: Deployment sequence.
Source: Boeing Company

Astronauts were able to explore much more terrain with the rover.

 
The Apollo 15 astronauts drove a total of 27.8 km (17.3 miles) in 3 hours, 2 minutes of driving time.

 
The Apollo 16 astronauts traversed 26.7 km (16.6 miles) in 3 hours 26 minutes of driving.  Apollo 16 covered less distance in a longer time.  Note comments about visibility by Apollo 16's commander HERE.

 
The Apollo 17 astronauts went a whopping 35.9 km (22.3 miles) in 4 hours 26 minutes total drive time. At their farthest, the Apollo 17 astronauts were 7.6 km (4.7 miles) from the LM!

Image 2: Control and display console. 
Source: Boeing Company

The final cost of this amazing machine was $38 million. Four lunar rovers were built, one each for Apollos 15, 16, and 17, and one that was used for spare parts after the cancellation of further Apollo missions.

A 1-gravity trainer was also built to allow astronauts to practice driving.  They also trained to handle malfunctions.  Fortunately, the LRV operated just fine for all three missions.

Image 3: Example of one of many malfunction logic flow diagrams.
Source: Boeing Company

It took only 17 months to develop the LRV. Apollo 17's lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt said,

"....the Lunar Rover proved to be the reliable, safe and flexible lunar exploration vehicle we expected it to be. Without it, the major scientific discoveries of Apollo 15, 16, and 17 would not have been possible..."

Image 4: When the steering dies, just pick up the rover to change direction! 
Source: Boeing Company

Sources:

[1] "Lunar Rover Operations Handbook"; Doc. LS006-002-2H; Boeing Company, LRV Systems Engineering; July 7, 1971; https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/43944200-Lunar-Rover-Operations-Handbook-07071971.pdf

[2] "The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle"; https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_lrv.html