The current credit crisis could be playing further havoc with Chrysler's future powertrain product plans. In the first half of 2007, Chrysler announced investment plans to build two new engine plants and a transmission plant for 2010 model cars. The transmission facility was to be a joint venture with Getrag to build fuel saving dual clutch transmissions. Chrysler already offers German-built Getrag DCTs in the European specification Journey and Sebring. Unfortunately Getrag's apparent inability to raise $300 million in debt financing that it committed to in the deal with Chrysler has led to a lawsuit from the automaker. Chrysler apparently wants damages for any delays to the program that might be caused by Getrag's financing problems. The privately-held carmaker also wants Getrag to cover the costs of switching to another transmission supplier if that becomes necessary.

Apparently, Getrag was hoping to get the money through loans guaranteed by the German government. The Germans however, wanted Chrysler to put money in escrow to guarantee repayment. So far, construction at the plant site is continuing but it's unclear how long that will go on.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

Chrysler's much ballyhooed deal with China's Chery Motors to build small cars hasn't yielded much of value for the Auburn Hills manufacturer yet. Chrysler offers a Dodge-branded version of the Chery A1 in South America, but no new cars have emerged yet. It looks like Chrysler may now be working with a new Chinese partner to build an A-segment car. Great Wall has been better known up to now for building cars with a startling resemblance to models from other manufacturers, such as the first generation Scion xA and xB. Chrysler staff are reportedly working with Great Wall to produce a micro car for Chrysler to be sold world-wide. Fans of the original xB probably shouldn't get their hopes up though. Selling this model outside of China probably wouldn't sit well with Toyota.

[Source: China Car Times]

Lee Iacocca, the man that many ascribe Chrysler's pivotal '80s K-Car, minivan and government loan guarantees to, has just been delivered the keys to the first Chrysler hybrid vehicle. It is a bit interesting to compare the time period in which Iacocca first took the helm of the Chrysler Corporation with that of today. In the early '80s, Chrysler was hemorrhaging money at an alarming rate, much like it likely is today (now privately owned, the automaker does not make its financial records public knowledge any longer). Chrysler's former president and chairman pushed forward small, front-wheel drive cars inspired by those in Europe, much like is presently taking place with Ford. Lastly, Iacocca has been a strong opponent to the country's increase in foreign oil use, a problem that is currently rearing its ugly head and a hot topic in everybody's mind. So, while the Aspen isn't exactly going to set the world on fire due to its sales, it's a symbolic vehicle in that it's Chrysler's first vehicle with the fuel-saving hybrid technology. And that the first one goes to Lee Iacocca.


[Source: The Oakland Press]

If you want an electric car with some serious style, you could either fork over a ton of dough for an electrically-converted DeLorean or you could convert an older muscle car of some sort. We advise the latter. Take the early '70s Chrysler A-Body, like the Plymouth Duster, for example. It's relatively lightweight, has lots of room for batteries and has the easy-to-convert front engine, rear-wheel drive architecture with a full frame. Perfecto! And, you can even see an example of the work done rather nicely in a blog format.

Electricity storage comes by way of 26 six-volt Trojan T-125 batteries wired up to deliver 156 volts to the Netgain Warp 9 DC motor. A Logisysystems controller is capable of sending 550 Amps to the motor, which should make this machine move pretty smartly. The original three-speed manual transmission has had its clutch and flywheel removed and the motor is mated up. Batteries are now being installed. Check out all the progress here.


[Source: Electric Mopar via CarDomain]

We've taken a good look at each of the three electric vehicle concepts that Chrysler took the wraps off of last week, plus one extra for good measure. For various reasons, none of these vehicles really seems quite ready for prime time - one is based on a Lotus sportscar chassis, two require huge battery packs and the last is limited to 25 miles per hour. Tough bring those to market. Still, Chrysler says it plans to launch one of them by 2010 in the U.S. with European delivery scheduled a bit later. We'll see. If that does happen, Chrysler's EV would join the Chevy Volt as the first mainstream(-ish) cars in the States not powered by gasoline in a very, very long time.

If Chrysler's predictions are accurate, though, don't expect the market to stay petroleum-dependent for long. In fact, Chrysler's executive vice president of product development, Frank Klegon, has said that half the cars sold here in 2020 will feature electric power. That's a long way to go in just a decade. In any case, the future promises lots of interesting things for the domestic auto market.


[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

The U.S. Senate on Saturday passed a continuing resolution that keeps funding federal government operations at current levels for several more months and also includes funding for low interest loans for U.S. automakers. The bill is expected to be signed by president Bush by Tuesday when the current fiscal year and budget expires. Since the Congress has failed again to finish all the appropriations bills for the new fiscal year, an interim spending bill was needed to prevent a government shutdown. Supporters of the federal loan program attached the provision to the continuing resolution to ensure that it would not get vetoed by the president. The program will provide low interest rate loans that car makers can use to develop more efficient vehicles and re-tool factories to build them.

The unfortunate reality for Chrysler in North America is that aside from the new Ram, the Wrangler and the minivans, few of its products are considered desirable alternatives in their segments. At least part of that is due to what many consider - rightly or wrongly - to be outdated powertrains. That impression certainly won't be helped by this latest release from Chrysler. When the Dodge Journey was launched in the European market this summer, it was offered with both a 2.0L turbodiesel engine and an optional 6-speed Getrag dual clutch transmission. Here in the home market we only have the option of four and six cylinder gas engines with automatic transmissions that have four and six ratios respectively.

To make matters worse, the Sebring and Avenger which were already available overseas with the diesel engine now also offer the dual clutch gearbox. The DCT uses a pair of wet clutches that are coupled to alternating ratios, one handling 1,3, 5 and the other taking care of 2,4 and 6. The electronic controls offer quick, seamless automatic shifting and a six percent reduction in fuel consumption than the four speed automatic. Over here we're going to have to wait until 2010 to get DCT's in Chryslers to go along with the new Phoenix engines. I'm generally a manual transmission kind of guy, but my experience with VW's DSG has convinced me that DCTs can be OK. How come the Europeans get so much of the good stuff first?

[Source: Chrysler]

When Chrysler introduced us to its EV line-up the other day some of us were a little taken aback. Although they hadn't explicitly said so prior to the unveiling, the fact that they had shown off two ER-EVs and an all-electric concept at the last Detroit Auto Show led some to assume that one or more of these might be involved in this new unveiling. Obviously this was not the case. Instead we we're treated to the somewhat dowdy Chrysler mini-van mainstay, a Jeep of SUV-like proportions and a freshly painted Lotus Europa with a UQM electric set-up. Oh yeah, there was also the peculiar Peapod.

That got us to thinking, what if Chrysler had of reached into its closet and pulled out some of its previous concept vehicles and presented them with electric drivetrains installed instead. Recycling is pretty green, no? They must have something from the not-so-distant past that had decent aerodynamics or some other quality that might give it an advantage as an EV over the ones they actually chose. We decided to take a look for ourselves and humbly share our choices after the jump.

Along with all the photos of its new battery-powered vehicles, Chrysler yesterday also provided some video footage. The clips after the jump include Chrysler VP for ENVI, Lou Rhodes, discussing the electric vehicle program, and running footage of the Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep EVs. There isn't much new here but you might want to see these vehicles in action, silently humming along as they do their business. Although Chrysler has made some bold claims, it will be interesting to see which if any of these ever make it to mass production. The Jeep in particular is interesting because if Chrysler can build a commercially viable Jeep EV it could also presage a similar RAM.

Related:

• Officially, official: Chrysler's late 2010 electric vehicle lineup!
• Specs on Chrysler's new EV lineup, bigger batteries than the Volt
• GEM changes name to GreenEcoMobility, plans new vehicles
• Chrysler execs talk about new electric vehicles

[Source: Chrysler]

As we wrap up Chrysler EV day, Vice-Chairman Tom LaSorda, EVP-Product Development Frank Klegon and Chief Innovation officer Peter Arnell held a conference call to discuss their new offspring. As one might expect, the trio were deliberately vague on a lot of details but they did tell us a few things. Given Chrysler's partnership with General Motors on the Two-Mode Hybrid system (along with Daimler and BMW), it seems reasonable to ask if the cooperation extends to the ER-EV platforms. Klegon made it clear that Chrysler has done all the development of these vehicles in-house and with their suppliers. GM played no part in creating these vehicles, other than maybe some inspiration.

Development started in early 2007, and then moved into the ENVI group when it was formed one year ago. LaSorda emphasized that no production battery supplier has been selected and Chrysler is working with a number of vendors, including A123 Systems. Given that the Jeep and Chrysler have significantly larger battery packs than the Volt, that also points to a higher price. None of the officials would talk about potential pricing at this point but they did acknowledge that they are looking at some different models. They couldn't say which vehicle would be the first to be produced, that will depend on performance during development. They also said that these three will almost certainly not be the only such vehicles produced. The Dodge will likely get some styling tweaks to give it more of a family look before production. We'll be looking for a lot more details in the coming weeks and months.


[Source: Chrysler]

We've taken a pretty in-depth look at Chrysler's three most visible electric or range-extended concepts already, leaving just the neighborhood electric vehicle from its GEM division to peer into. First, those three letters now stand for GreenEcoMobility, much more interesting than Global Electric Motorcars, which is what it stood for until now. What's in a name, anyway... Moving along, Chrysler showed off the new GEM Peapod, a low-speed electric vehicle designed primarily for city use. Unlike past GEM efforts, the Peapod is rather car-like in its look; although it is rather egg-shaped, it has a real enclosure with four doors and what appear to be roll-up windows. Inside is a new dash layout that incorporates iPod and iPhone integration. Expect to see them for sale next year.

GEM also has plans to launch "a new light-duty, battery electric commercial truck and a larger city electric vehicle, with more range and performance." We don't exactly know what that means, but we've heard that the truck may be an electric version of the Tata Ace. Of course, as we know more, so will you. Full press release after the break.


[Source: GEM]

Now that we've had some time to find the spec sheet for Chrysler's new EVs on the company's media site and then perusing it, we can answer some of the questions that initially came to mind from the press release. You might have noticed that Chrysler is claiming the same 40-mile electric range for its T&C and Wrangler ER-EVs that GM claims for the Chevy Volt. And yet GM had to completely redesign the car to minimize drag in order to achieve that range. How is Chrysler doing it with a brick shaped Jeep and a maxi-sized minivan? Why, more batteries of course. The Volt is spec'ed out with a 16 kWh battery pack. The Chrysler uses a nearly fifty percent larger 22 kWh pack while the Jeep goes all the way to 27 kWh. The Jeep actually has a larger pack than the Dodge/Lotus sports car which only has a 26 kWh pack. That raises both questions and answers. At 26 kWh, it only takes 4 hours to charge from a 220V / 30A outlet. That kind of charge time with a Tesla Roadster is only available with an 80A outlet. The question is how do they get the 150-200 mile range with a pack roughly have the size of the 53 kWh unit used by Tesla? You can read the full spec sheet here.


[Source: Chrysler]

Chrysler is playing a massive game of catchup in the electric drive sweepstakes right now and today is rolling out four different vehicles that it's working on. Three of the four take ideas from the company's 2008 Detroit Show concepts and are currently badged simply as Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep EV. Like the Dodge ZEO, the Dodge is a lithium battery powered sports car. The EV begins with a Lotus Europa and dispenses with the 2.0L four cylinder engine and transmission in favor of a 268 hp electric motor. In much the same fashion as a certain Silicon Valley based start-up, the only way to fuel up the EV is with a plug. It will take 4 hours to charge up from a 220V outlet or twice that long if only half the voltage is available.

The other two concepts that Chrysler showed were both ER-EVs. The EcoVoyager used a fuel cell to keep a sufficient quantity of electrons available while the Jeep Renegade used a small diesel engine driving a generator. Since neither of these vehicles is ready for production yet, Chrysler's ENVI team has chosen the closest analogs they have as the basis for production models. Both the Town and Country and Wrangler Unlimited EVs are supposed to be able to move their occupants up to 40 miles without any direct combustion. Once the battery packs have reached depletion level an range extender kicks in to keep the fun going. Read on after the jump for more information.


[Source: Chrysler]

Ahead of a dealer video conference later today, Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli spoke with CNBC this morning and unveiled the first product of its ENVI electric car division. Nardelli pulled the covers off of the Dodge EV which is based on the Lotus Europa. Like the Tesla Roadster which has a chassis derived from the Lotus Elise, the Europa is also based on an extended Elise chassis. ENVI has created the Dodge EV by adding electric drive and lithium ion batteries to the Europa for a plug-in range of 150-200 miles and 0-60 time of under 5 seconds. Like the Zeo concept unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show, the Dodge EV is a pure electric sports car. Paralleling that, Chrysler is also showing a pair of extended range EVs based on the Town and Country Van and Jeep Wrangler. Like the Volt, both of these are expected to have a 40-mile battery range and 400-mile total range. The Jeep at least is also using four hub motors to provide individual torque control at each corner. The fourth vehicle in the lineup is the Pea-pod NEV. During the interview, Nardelli and Tom LaSorda indicated they are targeting a late 2010 launch for at least one of these vehicles. Chrysler will be making a more detailed announcement today at 1 p.m.

[Source: CNBC]

Most of the rumors in recent months have indicated that LG Chem/CPI have the upper hand and are likely to be chosen by General Motors to supply the lithium ion battery packs for the Chevrolet Volt. However, there are plenty of electric drive vehicle projects out there and just because A123 systems may not get the Volt business, it doesn't mean they are completely out. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Massachusetts based battery maker may be in the running to supply energy storage systems to Chrysler for that companies ER-EV. During a nationwide video conference today with dealers today, Chrysler is expected to show a preview of the challenger it is developing to the Volt. ABG asked Chrysler about attending the video conference which will be held in 100 movie theaters around the country but was told the event was for dealers only. However, a spokesman told ABG that we would see the new ER-EV "very, very soon." We'll be watching to see if the tortoise can come from behind and beat the hare, even though the long-eared one hasn't been napping of late.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]