Chrysler Unveils Three Electric Vehicles Destined for Production
Dodge EV Photos
GM’s Volt has been stealing all of the EV limelight in recent weeks, first with a “premature” release of photos and more recently with the production car’s official unveiling at the Detroit automaker’s 100-year celebrations, but yesterday it was Chrysler’s turn to shine a bright light on its zero-emissions future.
Prior to today’s announcement, the privately held Auburn Hills automaker has been preparing hybrid-electric versions of its full-size Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen sport utility vehicles to go head-to-head with GM’s Tahoe, Yukon and Escalade hybrid models, and has been a leader in clean-diesel sales for quite some time, as well as an electric vehicle purveyor through its GEM division, but not many expected CEO Bob Nardelli to show up to his CNBC interview with a trio of electric vehicles yesterday, and then later at Chrysler’s world headquarters to a gathering of automotive journalists, wowing viewers and onlookers and simultaneously giving new hope to Mopar fans and alternatively to critics of the production Chevy Volt who don’t find it as sporty as the concept version shown last year.
The Dodge EV might even cause some waiting for the Tesla sports car to put stop-payments on their $100,000+ checks, especially considering that the car is in fact a revised Lotus Europa (the Tesla is a reworked Lotus Elise), with a promised pure-electric drivetrain that delivers top-tier performance from the brand behind the Viper and other sporty SRT models.
More likely the drivetrain and undercarriage for this sports car will hail from Britain where Lotus helped to turn the Tesla into the performance poster car for the green movement. The Dodge EV incorporates a 200kW (268 equivalent horsepower) electric motor boosted by an “advanced lithium-ion battery pack and an integrated power control module”, says Chrysler. Torque is outrageous for such as small and potentially lightweight car, maxing out at 480 lb-ft and resulting in a zero to 100 km/h sprint of less than five seconds, and a 193 km/h (120 mph) terminal speed. Chrysler targets its range at between 240 and 320 km (150 and 200 miles), with a full recharge only needing eight hours via a 110-volt outlet and four hours through a 220-volt connection.
But the Superbee-colored Dodge was only the icing on a very full EV model lineup, the most aggressive single showing of electric cars ever thanks to a year’s quiet development within Chrysler’s in-house ENVI division. Auburn Hills has committed to produce an electric vehicle for each Chrysler LLC brand, Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, the Chrysler being the perfectly practical Town & Country minivan and the Jeep being the best-selling four-door Wrangler Unlimited, a green answer for venturing into the wild.
Unlike the all-electric Dodge, the T&C and Wrangler will sport series hybrid drivetrains like Chevy’s Volt, which translated means that they’ll integrate an internal combustion engine (ICE) only to power a generator that recharges the electric motor’s lithium-ion battery packs.
Like the Volt, Chrysler is touting a 40 mile range without the need to spark the ICE for recharging the batteries. Altogether, both the Chrysler and Jeep will deliver a 400 mile range from just eight gallons of gas, which equals 50 mpg.
The Jeep EV appears to use the same 200kW (268 hp) electric motor as the Dodge EV, although its torque is rated much lower at 295 lb-ft, while the Chrysler EV features a 190kW (255-hp) electric motor that puts out 258 lb-ft of torque.
Chrysler is mum about which gasoline engine will be used in either series hybrid, mind you, saying that its engineers are researching a number of alternatives which could include in-wheel electric motors for the Jeep, potentially allowing for better off-road use due to the ability to power each wheel separately.
Nardelli told CNBC that Chrysler would have one of the three electric vehicle to market by 2010, right about when Chevy plans to unleash its 2011 Volt on a very eager public.