By Robert Farago
September 23, 2008
Why would Chrysler unveil its new Electric Vehicles (EVs) on CNBC? Hell if I know. What I can tell you is that is that I can’t tell you the battery type or supplier involved. ChryCo CEO Bob Nardelli claims the suspiciously Elise-a-licious (i.e. Tesla-esque) Dodge EV has a range of 150 to 200 miles and recharges in eight (110 volts) or four hours (220 volts). Prez Tom LaSorda says the “extended range vehicles” (converted Jeep and minivan) will have a Volt-like 40-mile all-electric range (400 mile range in total). Frank Klegon says his mob are developing a system that uses an electric motor in each wheel. And there’s the automaker’s latest Pokemon egg-shaped Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NHEV). When asked if Chrysler can make these things price-competitive, Nardelli placed his hopes on federal bailout bucks. Which could well be the whole point of the exercise. [thanks to .soL for the link]
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POWERED
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:03 am
Whoa, egg on wheels!
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:20 am
Electric Jeep? That’s either brand heresy, or freakin awesome – I haven’t decided yet, but I did say out loud at my desk “whoa”. Definitely more mass appeal than GM’s electrified jellybean.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:23 am
Can I see it? Or will it have the usual quality (read: crap) Chrysler interior and they’re too embarrassed to show it?
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:37 am
Now, if they could only get rid of that pesky cord . . . .
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:39 am
Conslaw> Maybe they should include a 50 mile electricity cord to go with it ? :)
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:43 am
Are you sure you don’t mean “four (220 volts) or eight (110 volts) hours”?
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:50 am
I was flipping through the channels this morning in a hotel room, and couldn’t believe ny eyes when I landed on this. A CNBC exclusive? Is CNBC that popular or influential?
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:58 am
It’s a play for the bailout bucks. All three are far less viable than the Volt.
An electric Jeep is absolutely brand heresy, at least until Moab installs remote charging stations.
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:01 am
So why are they showing the Europa?
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:11 am
My, my. This just has “The New Chrysler” written all over it, doesn’t it?
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:14 am
sean362880:
Doh! Text amended.
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:23 am
A fellow actually came by a lot that I had to look at of all things… a late 90’s Escort.
Turns out he works for Chrysler’s Electric Vehicle division and, yes, the one electric motor for each wheel setup is indeed what they’re looking at for a design.
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:29 am
I wonder what happens to electric wheel motors when salt gets to them? It plays havoc with brake rotors right now.
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
with everyone & their pet pig (put some lipstick on that pitbull) building electric sportscars based on the elise, lotus must be doing really well. or are they?
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:54 am
Would you buy a Chrylser that had “4″ motors that could go wrong instead of one. Remember this is Chrysler quality we are talking about here.
In search of these bailout bucks did they happen to put a date on these magic cars, I don’t see 2010 happening for this vaporware.
Isn’t it sort of obvious the US doesn’t need Chrysler at this point. Like we are trying to pump life back into an Egyptian mummy.
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:32 am
Wow. I guess you don’t need a loan then, right? I mean, you’ve developed the car so the most expensive part of the process is complete.
Let’s see you sell this thing without completely pissing off your suppliers. Now THAT would be impressive Cerebrus!
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:47 am
The GE Evolution locomotive has an individual electric motor on each axle. Good design.
It also has a 4,400 HP diesel connected to an electric generator. A new Viper powertrain, perhaps?
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:58 am
Nobody seems to to have picked up on ethermal’s comment.
1st there was the Tesla with an electric version of the Lotus Elise and then there was the Dodge EV with an electric version of the Lotus Europa.
Is the Lotus the preferred source for lightweight EV bodies?
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:05 pm
This is actually a really smart move. Besides the lust-worthy EV prototypes they also have more practical applications of hybrid technology. So far, we’ve seen companies only produce one or the other.
I’m glad you guys are not engineers.
Re: electric Motor in Wheel
This is an extremely elegant solution. It has the following bennies:
It’s easy to fix should anything go wrong
It’s better than GM’s solution
It allows for intelligent 4WD
And it increases efficiency by targeting regenerative breaking right at each motor and wheel.
If they can develop it it has huge ramifications and will put Chrysler on a better track than GM.
Redbarchetta, Chrysler reliability has not been so bad (they still score higher than some Japanese and European makes). There are millions of satisfied customers in that regard, or they would have gone under a long time ago. Chrysler quality such as materials and fit and finish has been another thing entirely, thanks to Count Daimlercula. But now changes are happening as evidenced by the Challenger, Ram, and the redo’s of the Compass and Patriot. This is just the beginning not the end of those changes. Cerberus/Nardelli/Press has had the reigns for a little over a year, not 5 years. They have done more than put lipstick on the pig they were given by the crazy German uncle.
“In search of these bailout bucks did they happen to put a date on these magic cars…”
“With regard to timing, Chrysler says it would like to have “at least one” of these vehicles on the market by the end of 2010…”
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
windswords benefit list is correct, if not more expensive. One other benefit to add for those who are concerned about motor failure – propulsion redundancy. If one fails, you still have some propulsion from the second motor.
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:16 pm
It’s Europa based, rather than Elise. Press conference at 1. We’ll have updates at 1:03.
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
By the way…………ain’t nothing new about electric motor wheels. Hydro Quebec had a fully developed system 10 years ago.
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Wow! Thats amazing that Chrysler was able to develop and test these vehicles completely under the radar and already they have a completed driving ev sportscar!
I mean its not like they just slapped a bunch of stickers on a Lotus or anything. Why, “Frank Klegon says his mob are developing a system that uses an electric motor in each wheel.” And by developing he means, doing final verification testing on. You probably wouldn’t have to change much in the suspension or chassis to compensate for all that unsprung weight, so that should come together quickly as well.
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Call me when I can actually (a) buy one (b) afford it (c) have the same useful life as my current ICE-based mode of transportation.
I keep my cars a long time, and based on my experience with other “rechargeable” gadgets I have to assume an EV couldn’t match the useful lifetime of my current ride without multiple battery replacements.
I hope they (and the other players) ultimately succeed on this. Count me out as an early adopter.
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
guyincognito:
“Wow! Thats amazing that Chrysler was able to develop and test these vehicles completely under the radar and already they have a completed driving ev sportscar!
I mean its not like they just slapped a bunch of stickers on a Lotus or anything.”
Guy,
Could it be that the Europa was the closest in form to their concept electric vehicle the Dodge Zeo: similar platform, similar size, so they snagged it for some mule testings?
In any event this the best way to concentrate on the technology, rather than spending all kinds of money on developing both the vehicle AND the technology. They can always incorporate the technology into their own vehicle later as they become available.
This isn’t the first time they have worked with Lotus. From 1991-93 the Dodge Spirit R/T and Daytona used 16v heads developed by Lotus on their turbo engines.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Justin Berkowitz : It’s Europa based, rather than Elise.
Isn’t a Europa just a long-wheelbase version of the Elise?
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Samuel L. Bronkowitz :
Tires don’t last the life of a car even though you could make tires that could, you just wouldn’t want to drive a car that had those tires. The same is true for batteries. I don’t see a problem with changing batteries after four years or so under the condition that it doesn’t take 3 days, have slow degredation and not sudden failure and knew it at the time of purchase how many miles the battery would last