Introduction

Chrysler along with Ford and General Motors represents one of the “Big Three” automakers in the United States.  It has of course come under much media scrutiny lately due to bankruptcy problems and financial bailouts, but the fact of the matter is that there are few companies out there that have been as on the ball when it comes to electrification as Chrysler.  They just never get any credit for it.

 Company History

The history of Chrysler begins in 1925 when it was founded by Walter Chrysler who went on to give his own surname to the name of the company.  It was actually formed from the ashes of a previous company known as the Maxwell Motor Company when that company ended its run of production that had started in 1904 and continued for 20 years.

 Almost ever since its founding, Chrysler has been on the cutting edge of automobile manufacturing and while they have an impressive environmental record relative to the other two major automakers on the continent, they did fall prey to some of the same bad decisions as their counterparts.  The difference is that they didn’t have the same massive revenue stream to fall back on and therefore were probably hit hardest by the economic collapse that took place in the United States in 2008.

 Now, Chrysler occupies a relatively diminished position within the scheme of global automobile manufacturing, but it also continues to put forth the idea that electrification is a big part of their strategy going forward.  They continue to be majority owned by the United Auto Workers and now the Italian manufacturer Fiat holds a 20% stake in the company.  Also, both the US government (around 10%) and the Canadian government (around 2.5%) hold stake in the Chrysler Corporation.

 Electrification Philosophy

The philosophy of Chrysler when it comes to the push for electrification is somewhat varied.  They believe not only that they would like to eventually make all of their cars electric, but they also believe that it is a good idea for now to release hybrid designs at the same time that electric designs are released.  The reason for this is that people in some cases will need to be weaned off gasoline and onto electric.  The hybrid engine between gas and electric power is of course the perfect intermediary to accomplish this goal and that is why Chrysler will usually try to release a plug-in hybrid design at the same time that they are releasing an electric design for the same automobile.

 Chrysler apparently cares enough about this philosophy to create a wholly new subsidiary of their own to operate towards this particular goal.  The organization is known as ENVI and the development of good electric drive technology is exactly what it is trying to accomplish through its very existence.  It has been in place since late 2007 and already since that time it has put forth designs that have put Chrysler on the map as far as the electrification movement is concerned.

 Chrysler Automobiles

The Detroit Auto Show has typically been the place where Chrysler has unveiled new hybrid and electric designs and while many of their designs have not made it to market yet and some probably won’t as far as mass consumption is concerned, it is still good to take a look at everything they are working on right now.

 Hybrid technology used with some of their existing designs is probably the biggest in terms of the wow factor that can be put across.  As an example, Chrysler has taken existing models such as the Jeep Renegade, Chrysler Aspen, Dodge Durango and Dodge Ram and created hybrid versions of all of those vehicles.  The hybrid technology was developed in a joint venture with both General Motors and BMW and in cases like with the Dodge Ram where horsepower is still a high priority it is combined with Chrysler’s famous HEMI engine in order to create power while at the same time improving fuel economy.

 Out of all of these designs, the Dodge Ram hybrid is probably the one that has advanced the farthest as it is supposed to be in select showrooms right now.  The combination of the hybrid electric engine and the HEMI has turned out to be masterful for the truck as it still maintains the power of previous Ram designs such as the 2009 model while at the same time giving people that fuel economy that has become so important in the modern world.

 As for completely alternative means, Chrysler has been involved both in electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles.  In fact, they have hybrid technology between those two forms being developed as well.  The proof of this is the Chrysler ecoVoyager, another car that was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show for the world to see.  This car, not to be confused with the Dodge EV, runs an electric motor with Chrysler’s best battery pack technology together with a Hydrogen fuel cell in order to get 300 miles on a single charge and 0-60 acceleration in a very impressive sub eight seconds.

 Although the ecoVoyager is certainly an impressive design, the cars that you will see on the market sooner are probably the EV series of automobiles that Chrysler has currently in production.  These include the Dodge EV, the Chrysler EV and the Jeep EV, all of which are fully electric vehicles and all of which Chrysler has promised to have in showrooms across the country by the end of 2010.

 Perhaps the best of these three will be the Dodge EV as it is designed to be a high-end automobile that will be expensive but at the same time deliver high performance.  It is supposed to be able to travel at a maximum speed of 120 mph while at the same time being able to travel up to 200 miles on a single charge of its fully electric engine.

 In short though, you can expect more on the fronts of electrification, hydrogen fuel cell and hybrid technology as Chrysler has plans to expand their fleet in all three areas.  They want to be the first North American company to become completely alternative in their approach to propulsion and that means that even classes like trucks and SUVs are going to have EV counterparts unveiled on the market within the next decade.