Chrysler Says It Will Offer Three Electric-Powertrain Models Within 3-5 Years

Chrysler Says It Will Offer Three Electric-Powertrain Models Within 3-5 Years

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

Chrysler is working on three extended-range electric vehicles that will be ready for market within three to five years, a company spokesman told Green Car Advisor today.

The EVs will be based on the Jeep Renegade, Dodge Zeo (at right) and Chrysler ecoVoyager (in Moon rock silver-beigel, below) concept vehicles that stole much of the limelight for their über-cool designs at their debut in Detroit this past January.

All three production models will be powered by electric motors connected to advanced lithium-ion battery packs, and each will be capable of extended drive ranges, Chrysler's Nick Cappa said in an interview.

The Dodge Zeo will be a pure plug-in electric sports car packing enough lithium-ion battery modules to travel 250 miles between charges, Cappa said. The sleek, four-door coupe will certainly be one of the most exciting concept cars to debut all year, and the reason should be apparent (it's breathtakingly beautiful!).

What's not apparent is the fact that the Zeo's doors -- front and back -- open upward instead of outward. Also not apparent is the Zeo's single 200-kilowatt/hour, 286-horsepower electric motor capable of propeling the EV to 60 miles per hour in under six seconds.

To keep costs and prices in check, the same motor, electrical architecture, power electronics and next-generation lithium-ion battery technology in the Zeo will be used in Chrysler's two other initial EVs.

The ecoVoyager will be able to travel 40 miles strictly on electricity supplied by a 16 kilowatt/hour lithium-ion battery module. An advanced hydrogen fuel-cell range extender will push the vehicle's total driving range to about 300 miles, Cappa said. The common 200-kilowatt electric motor will drive the front wheels.

The Renegade, the magnetic-green concept pictured below right, will also be electrically propelled 40 miles using the same battery module found in the ecoVoyager, but it will uniquely incorporate electric motors on each axle for true four-wheel-drive capability.

After traveling 40 miles on electricity, the Renegade's driving range will be extended to 400 miles by a turbocharged three-cylinder Bluetec diesel engine. In addition to being fuel efficient, the engine will emit far less climate-changing gas than conventional diesels.

That's the Bluetec technology at work. Emissions are reduced through the use of an oxidizing catalytic converter, a particulate filter, and a "DeNOx" nitrogen-oxide reducing system. Together, they treat engine exhaust gases before they are emitted from the tailpipe, reducing nitrogen-oxides by up to 80 percent.

Cappa made the point that if you have a long commute, you might still be able to get to work and back driving an ecoVoyager or Renegade using only electricity.

That would be the case if your vehicle was charging while you were working.

Just as some of us regularly search airport waiting areas and Starbucks for outlets to plug in our laptops, so might we soon find ourselves looking for power (paid by others, come to think of it) in parking structures and areas that don't belong to others.

"Free juice," anyone?

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.