Chrysler is getting into the electric automobile business — but I find the company’s strategy a bit confusing.
The Doge EV, pictured above, is a fully electric vehicle based on a Lotus chassis and designed to compete with Tesla.
The others are modified versions of existing minivans and SUVs that use battery power for the first 40 miles and engine generators to extend range.
Chrysler’s blog has video of execs explaining the vehicles and their electric-car plans.
Given all the effort GM has made to build its Volt from the ground up — an effort designed to minimize both weight and wind resistance — I’m surprised that Chrysler thinks it can just drop new components in old bodies.
Apparently, the specs for Chrysler’s vehicles call for batteries that are twice as massive as the battery in a Volt, but that, too, puzzles me.
For one thing, I’m under the impression that engineers are having trouble building a battery that’ll be powerful enough for the Volt, so it seems odd that Chrysler thinks it can develop one that puts out twice the power.
For another, batteries are very high-priced. Indeed, they’re the big reason that the Volt will nearly twice as much as a mid-range, mid-sized vehicle. Thus, it would seem, that a battery that was twice as massive would make these Chrysler cars very high-priced.
What am I missing?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Entries (RSS)