Jewel of a Deal: Army Orders 4,000 Low-Speed EVs From Chrysler's GEM
By John O'Dell January 10, 2009
Struggling Chrysler's electric vehicle subsidiary, Global Electric Motorcars, has won a valuable contract to supply 4,000 of its low-speed EVs (right) to the U.S. Army for use on bases around the country.
The contract comes a few weeks after the the U.S. Army command in Europe rejected small EVs after testing a trio from GEM. An Army spokesman in Germany said the test uncovered maintenance and range limitations.
But the U.S. military services already had announced in November that they would collectively be ordering at least 10,000 low-speed EVs from a variety of suppliers in coming years for use on North American military installations.
The GEM EVs will be leased for six years, with the first batch to be shipped in April from GEM's factory in Fargo, N.D.
The deal represents the largest single order for GEM, which has leased or sold 38,000 electric vehicles in the decade since it was founded.
Rechargeable GEM vehicles are so-called neighborhood EVs with top speed limited to 25 mph. They are legal on public roads with speed limits of 35 mph or less.
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