Chrysler Unveils Prototype EVs And Says At Least One Slated For Production
By John O'Dell September 23, 2008 Aiming to show that it is not irrelevant in today's fast-changing auto market, Chrysler is announcing today that it will have at least one electric vehicle in production by 2010, a timetable that would put its zero-emissions, gasoline-free car into competition with EVs and plug-in hybrids being launched by General Motors and Toyota in the same timeframe.
To prove it is up to the challenge, Chrysler Chairman Bob Nardelli is giving journalists a peek this morning at four EV prototypes it has developed in its year-old green car R&D program- one of them a close relative of Tesla Motors' already-in-production electric roadster, another -- more likely for production, based on the Town & Country van.
Chrysler raised the curtain with a preview this morning on CNBC, and promised more details later today after a press conference at its Auburn Hills, Mich., headquarters
The cars, descendants of concept vehicles Chrysler introduced at this year's Detroit Auto Show, are being unveiuled just as Congress begins considering funding $25 billion loan program to help Detroit finance a new generation of fuel-efficient vehilces that could helkp it compete agan with cars from Asian and European manufacturers..
What we know now is that the operating prototype roadster (left)
, called simply the Dodge EV, is based on an extended Lotus Europa chassis, uses a lithium-ion battery pack and has a claimed range of 150-200 miles per charge and a 0-60 acceleration time of under 5 seconds.
The specs closely mimic those of the Tesla Roadster, which uses a much-modified Lotus Elise chassis.
Other cars being shown are the Chrysler EV based on the T&C van (top), a Jeep four-wheel drive EV (bottom right) based on the Wrangler, and a bubble-shaped low-speed neighborhood EV (bottom left) that sprung from the imagination of a designer who apparently was once traumatized by a jelly bean.
The Chrysler and Jeep prototypes would use series hybrid electric drivetrains similar to that scheduled to be introduced in late 2010 in General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Volt.
A grid-charged lithium-ion battery pack would provide up to 40 miles of range, after which an internal combustion engine/generator would kick on to produce enough juice to continue powering the electric drive motors while recharging the battery packs.
Click here to jump to the CNBC page where you can watch a (very slow to load) video of a test drive session.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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The Dodge EV looks very promising. My first thought is: will I be able to afford it? Second, would the interior quality be turn me off? Can't wait to learn more!
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