Chrysler joins the EV Race

As General Motors has been crowing about its extended-range electric Chevrolet Volt since the January 2007 Detroit auto show, Chrysler has quietly been working on battery technology and extended range vehicles, too.

Chrysler has announced it has several "production-intent electric vehicles" in the works, including a Lotus-bodied Dodge electric-powered two-seat sports car that it intends to put on North American roads in late 2010 and European roads thereafter. There's also a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited extended-rangeelectric vehicle capable of off-roading and a Chrysler Town & Countryminivan extended-range electric. Warning: the press release includes the words "production intent" and says of the Chrysler minivan for example, it's "a Range-extended Electric Vehicle that demonstrates another possible application of ENVI electric-drive technology in the segment-leading Chrysler Town & Country minivan (emphasis added).

The most certain thing you can read into the press release is that Chrysler intends to make the acronym "REV" the "SUV" of the '10s.

Like GM, Chrysler is dealing with technology that isn't quite ready. It's working with "four or five" out of the dozen lithium-ion battery companies to have something ready by 2010. It's also working with Lotus on the pure electric sports car, but it doesn't yet have an agreement to co-produce the car. All three models are roughly at the same point in development, Chrysler says, so any one of them could be the first to go on sale in 2010. The Town & Country is a static display; Chrysler used a Mercedes B-Class development mule to demonstrate the car to the press. The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited mule uses the extended range electric motor to drive the rear wheels, only -- in-wheel electric power is still being developed. The two extended-range vehicles and the Lotus-Dodge mules use batteries from A123, which also has worked with GM. Chrysler says it will determine in about six months which of those three models it will offer first.

Chrysler established its ENVI (first four letters of "environment," and NV for "new vehicles") organization about a year ago, shortly after its separation from Daimler, to develop and market such cars and trucks. In fact, Chrysler has probably been ahead of GM on the Volt-type powertrain development and R&D, which obviously began during the DaimlerChrysler years. The extended-range Jeep and Chrysler will use a small gasoline engine and an integrated electric generator to charge the system when needed, like the 2011 Chevy Volt that GM promises for November 2010. Batteries are lithium-ion, and while Chrysler didn't team up with GM on the project, it's likely the two have been shopping the same Li-Ion battery suppliers.

Chrysler intends to launch the first of those three models, probably the Dodge electric sports car, right on top of the Chevy Volt's premiere. However, the words "production-intent" gives Chrysler wiggle room.

Here's the requisite quote from Chrysler Chairman Bob Nardelli: "We have a social responsibility to our consumers to deliver environmentally friendly, fuel efficient, advanced electric vehicles, and our intention is to meet that responsibility quickly and more broadly than any other automobile manufacturer."

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