Chrysler's plan to beat the Chevy Volt

Chrysler is pinning
a huge part of its
future on a plan to
produce a full line
of electric vehicles,
at a reasonable
cost to both the
carmaker and the
consumer.

While General Motors is moving ahead with its
Volt electric midsized car, Chrysler says it already
has plans in place, not just for electric cars, but
also for minivans and even off-road vehicles.
Chrysler's strategy hinges on keeping it cheap.
The carmaker will dispense with flashy designs
in exchange for low cost and flexibility. And it
plans to pile on more electric-powered models
quickly once the program launches in 2010.
"We aren't a one-electric-vehicle company,"
Lou Rhodes, Chrysler's vice president for
advanced vehicle engineering, told CNNMoney
in an exclusive interview.Rhodes is also
president of Chrysler's ENVI, a separate
business division tasked with bringing new
electric vehicles to market.Instead of making
one, or just a few, electric-only models, Chrysler
will sell the same models in both gasoline
powered and electric-powered versions.
This low-cost, high-variety electric-vehicle
strategy will play a big part in any comeback
plan Chrysler may present in hopes of getting
government rescue funding.Chrysler's strategy
substantially cuts costs, Rhodes said, and it
reduces the risk of entering uncharted market
territory. That will translate into lower costs and
more choices for customers.If gas prices stay low,
Chrysler factories will produce more gasoline
powered models. If gas prices rise, factories
can start rapidly turning out more electric cars
since the models are essentially the same.
Chrysler's first electric vehicles will be based
on current vehicles. The carmaker hasn't yet
announced what the first model will be but,
based on prototypes Chrysler revealed in
September, it will likely be a minivan, a Jeep
Wrangler 4X4 or a 2-seat sports car built in a
Lotus body.At least some of Chrysler's products
will be extended-range electric vehicles, like GM's
Volt. Because the car's body will not have been
designed around optimal weight and aerodynamics,
the Chrysler vehicle will need a more powerful
electric drive system to provide performance similar
to the Volt's. For instance, Chrysler promises the
same 40-mile all-electric plug-in range as the Volt.
(After that, a small gasoline engine will start up to
produce more electricity as the car drives.) But the
heavier Jeep prototype has a 27-kilowatt-hour
(KwH) battery back compared to the Volt's 16
KwH pack.Round twoChrysler's second-generation
electric vehicles, which the carmaker plans to start
rolling out between 2012 and 2015, will be
engineered from the wheels up to use either
gasoline or electric power.No matter which drivetrain
the customer chooses, the vehicles will not be
compromised, Rhodes insists."If you know what you
want to achieve up front, you can certainly design
that flexibility in up front," he said.Electric cars will
not have useless transmission tunnels running along
the center of the floor, he said. If a rear-wheel-drive
gasoline car needs that, a different floor will be used
when that version is built.The electric power systems
are also being engineered for maximum flexibility,
Rhodes said. Bigger, heavier vehicles take more
power to move, whether that power is from gasoline
or batteries. For gasoline-powered cars, engineers
have to design larger and smaller engines for different
uses. A small Jeep Compass, for instance, gets a
2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine while a Jeep Commander
SUV can come equipped with a 5.7-liter V8 engine.
But what if going to a larger engine was as simple
as just plugging in more cylinders? Chrysler's
electric drivetrains will work something like that.
To hold more battery power, larger vehicles
will simply get more battery cells. The cells
themselves will be exactly the same whether
in large or small vehicles. That's important because
batteries are the biggest expense of creating an
electric car."The real economy is in the cells,"
said Rhodes.Likewise, the electric motor will be
the same. It will just be up-sized for bigger jobs.
"All we change is the length of the rotor and the
number of windings to span between different
power outputs," Rhodes said.Even the housing
that goes around the motor will be same
regardless of the size of the motor . The magnesium
housing will be so lightweight that it simply won't
be worth the added cost of creating smaller housings
for the downsized motors, Rhodes said.Electric cars
aren't just a side-show or a public relations move for
Chrysler, Rhodes insists, but a major strategic move.
Through its GEM (Global Electric Motorcars)
subsidiary, Chrysler already claims to be the largest
seller of electric vehicles in the U.S. But those are
so-called "Neighborhood Electric Vehicles," ultra-light
cars with a top speed limited to 25 miles per hour.
Chrysler claims sales of 40,000 GEM cars over the
last 10 years. With its new plan, Chrysler plans to
produce over 500,000 electric vehicles by 2013.
"This is going to be a big deal for Chrysler," he said.