As we learned this morning from Bob Nardelli's appearance on CNBC, Chrysler LLC is getting into the electric vehicle game and plans to have something on the market by the end of 2010 – the same time GM plans to start selling the 2011 Chevy Volt. The vehicle in question will be one of these three EVs, all of which are powered fully or in part by electrons.
The first and perhaps most exciting is the Dodge EV, which is an all-electric sports car like the Tesla Roadster. In fact, Chrysler seems to have taken a few pages from Tesla's playbook, which is evident by the fact that its EV is wearing the body of a Lotus Europa at the moment. Lotus also worked with Tesla on the development of its Roadster and is probably offering its expertise in electronics and lightweight vehicle design to any automaker willing to pay for it.
Chrysler says the Dodge EV uses a 200kW or 268 equivalent horsepower electric motor mated to an "advanced lithium-ion battery pack and an integrated power control module". Peak torque is 480 lb-ft, which helps propel the lightweight Europ... Dodge EV to 60 mph in less than five seconds and a 120 mph top speed. Its range is pegged at between 150 to 200 miles with recharge times of 8 hours for 110-volt outlets and four hours using a 220-volt.
GM celebrated its 100th anniversary by unleashing the production 2011 Chevy Volt to the world. It was a great way to show that the General is working hard on innovative transportation to kick off its next 100 years, but we're still two years and a month away from being able to actually buy a Volt. Until that time, we're forced to gather intelligence as it becomes available without being able to get behind the wheel. Thanks to the Volt-o-files over at GM-Volt.com, we now know what the Volt looks like when it's traveling on the open road. The video after the jump shows the Volt strolling around GM's closed course proving grounds in Milford, Michigan. The two-minute clip reveals very little of the Volt's capabilities because it's chugging along at a leisurely pace, and the Coldplay soundtrack hides the Volt's audio, which should be limited to rolling tires and an electric motor. You do, however, get to see the Volt on the road, as well as some functional views of the Volt's interior. Hey, we'll take what we can get.
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The 2011 Chevy Volt has been getting the lion's share of news on the EV front, but it could be jostling for attention in late 2010 with an all-EV sedan from Tesla. Tesla has secured $100 million in private equity and another $150 million in loan guarantees from the federal government to build a new factory in San Jose, CA. The company on Wednesday announced that the facility would build the $60,000 Model S sedan, which was originally dubbed Whitestar. The new Tesla plant will be able to produce 11,000 Model S sedans per year by the end of 2011, giving customers a much more mainstream EV entry than the $100,000 Tesla Roadster. We haven't heard too much about the Model S sedan, but earlier in the year Tesla co-founder Elan Musk said there could be a fully functioning prototype and a finalized design by the end of 2008. We're with you in hoping it looks as good as the Tesla Roadster while providing similar range in a more family-friendly package.
General Motors' goal for the exterior of the 2011 Chevy Volt is to create as much pizazz as possible with superior aerodynamics to ensure the least amount of parasitic loss for the electric drivetrain. The interior, however, is all about how the driver interacts with the vehicle. And with the Volt, GM designers attempted to pull off a Buck Rodgers meets Apple iPod theme. A quick glance at the futuristic Volt interior shows a very unique approach to integrating design and technology. The first thing we noticed was that GM decided to use two seven-inch LCD screens, with one working as the main driver instrument panel (no gauge cluster here) and the other for everything from navigation to tracking battery charges. Both screens are user configurable, and two different configurations can be saved for two different drivers.
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The Tesla Roadster launch has been anything but silky-smooth, but the upstart EV automaker hopes its problems are in the rear view mirror with the completion of Drivetrain 1.5, which includes an upgraded electric motor and swapping the original two-speed automatic transmission for a Borg Warner-sourced one speed. The changes will improve the Tesla Roadster's instant torque from 211 to 280 lb-ft while also improving its range by 10% to a shockingly impressive 244 miles. Drivetrain 1.5 also means Tesla can finally ramp up production of its well-publicized roadster. Within the next few weeks, Tesla will begin producing 10 Roadsters per week. By next March, that number will increase to 40 samples per week, which will go a long way toward satisfying demand for the sexy EV. The new, upgraded Drivetrain 1.5 is so much better than the mechanicals it replaces, Tesla will keeps its promise and retrofit the 38 models already produced and delivered with the new equipment.
Toyota is the undisputed leader in the hybrid space, and the Japanese automaker is looking to expand its kingdom by adding an all-electric vehicle to the mix. While there are few details available, Toyota has said the EV would likely be an urban city-type vehicle that will be available in the "early 2010s". Hopefully it will be more accommodating than Toyota's last attempt at an EV: the eCom (above), which used the innards of the RAV4 EV to achieve a top speed of 62 mph and a range of just 60 miles. Toyota's new EV, however, will be preceded in 2009 by the arrival of the brand's first plug-in Prius hybrid.
Nissan has been selling a hybrid version of its Altima sedan in select U.S. states for the last two years that uses a licensed version of Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive. At the same time it's been working on its own hybrid and all-electric powertrains, and yesterday it unveiled two prototypes that show us exactly what it will be replacing those Prius parts with.
The first is a new hybrid system that will debut on a rear-wheel-drive Infiniti model, most likely the G. It employs a parallel hybrid system with one electric motor and two clutches that allows the gas engine and electric motor to power the vehicle at the same time. Nothing fancy there, but Nissan's new hybrid will be one of the first to use lithium-ion rather than nickel-metal hydride batteries. The smaller, more efficient batteries were developed by a joint-venture company between Nissan and NEC called Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC).
Meanwhile, those same li-ion batteries are also being tested in an all-electric vehicle. Though currently installed in a JDM Nissan Cube, the system will eventually be put in all-new model with unique styling and be on the Japanese market by 2010 and sold globally by 2012. It uses a new 80kW motor and inverter and packs all the batteries beneath its floor.
Pending white collar cuts and dismal sales data have resulted in morale problems at General Motors. That's going to put a damper on the Detroit automaker's centennial celebration, so the General plans on showing employees a near-production-ready Chevy Volt to give workers hope. The (hopefully) game-changing extended range electric vehicle will be shown internally around the September 16th centennial, and employees who see the Volt will, of course, have to check their cameras and phones at the door. That doesn't mean the public won't soon get an eyeful of the car, as GM sources report that it'll be shown in production trim at this year's LA or Detroit Auto Show. Don't forget also that it's also been rumored that Volt could show up in Paris in October.
GM has 200 engineers and 50 designers working long hours to make the ER-EV happen by its late 2010 production target, and there are another 400 people working on components. GM is also constructing a new 530,000 sq-ft facility to build the Volt's 1.4L engine and working on getting incentives for the planned construction.
The first Chevy Volt and its E-Flex brethren are still more than two years away, but vice chairman and corporate quote machine Bob Lutz is already targeting 2020 for 1 million annual worldwide sales. The lofty target would go a long way towards the General's goal of meeting tough fuel economy and CO2 standards in the U.S. and Europe, while also providing customers a mass-market choice that can run mainly on electricity. While E-Flex will be a big part of GM's long-term plans, the technology will be slowly introduced to the buying public and ramped up as battery costs drop. Europe will get 30,000 E-Flex equipped vehicles in 2011, but at a starting price of about £32,000. GM introduced its E-Flex based Flextreme concept last year at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has held to his belief that hybrids are not the answer to the fuel efficiency question. The Japanese automaker came out with a very capable Altima hybrid last year, but it was Toyota technology purchased to help Nissan look good in the short term. Nissan has been betting most of its R&D dollars on electric vehicles, and the fruit of its engineering labors will be first seen stateside in 2010. It's important to note that Nissan intends to launch the technology here in the States, which is significant because Japanese automakers typically launch new technology in their home market first before U.S. customers ever see it.
Nissan hasn't revealed much about the vehicle besides a 2010 release date, but we do know that the automaker is working to install charging stations in many urban parking garages and railway stations in the U.S. A robust EV charging infrastructure will quell critics' worries that electric vehicles' limited range will prevent the technology from becoming a mainstream answer for gasoline power. It'll be interesting to see if Nissan can surprise the car-buying public with a game-breaking EV before GM and Toyota can deliver the Volt and plug-in Prius.
