Chrysler Reveals Electric Vehicles
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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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.
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.
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