Lou Rhodes, president of Chryslers ENVI unit has said that Chrysler plans to order 100,000 vehicles from Lotus (the Circuit is going to be based on a Lotus vehicle just like the Tesla Roadster is).  They will be shipped over to the US where the EV parts will be installed and tested.  With that many on order Chrysler can save thousands of dollars per vehicle sold through economies of scale.  They’ll get a lower price on the Lotus vehicle, and will be able to produce all of the EV parts at less cost per part.  This will allow them to price the Circuit well below the asking price for a Tesla Roadster.

As for when this vehicle will be available?  Rhodes hinted that production could start as soon as late next year.

Dodge Circuit

The evolution of the Dodge EV has finally arrived.  The Dodge Circuit is everything the Dodge EV was and more.  Boasting a premium sound system, power windows/doors, cruise control, leather seats, leather wrapped steering wheel – everything you would expect from a high performance sportscar.

“The exterior styling of the Dodge Circuit EV mates bold Dodge styling to the no-compromise performance attributes of an all-electric performance sports car,” said Ralph Gilles, Vice President – Design, Chrysler LLC. “The Dodge Circuit EV offers an extremely fun-to-drive, expressive sports car without fuel consumption and with virtually no impact on the environment.”

The Circuit utilizes a very simple powertrain to get it moving: the electric motor, battery system, and the controller that controls the flow of energy.  The motor is a 200kW (268 HP) motor that’ll propel the Circuit from 0-60 in just under 5 seconds.   It does the 1/4 mile in just 13 seconds and has a top speed of over 120 miles per hour.

The battery pack on the Circuit provides 150 to 200 miles of zero emission driving before needing to be recharged.  That’s more than three times the average daily commute.  The Circuit can be recharged by plugging into any standard 110 volt household outlet, it can also be plugged into a standard 220 volt appliance outlet to cut the recharge time in half.

Thus, Chrysler’s big EV plans are to forgo aerodynamics, weight and fancy designs. Instead, Chrysler will begin its EV program by converting traditional Chrysler vehicles into electric vehicles, while achieving the same kinds of performance as a Volt – all at a cheaper cost to the automaker and to consumers.

So, why didn’t GM think of that?

Find the answer at the link

The spy shots were taken at night, Chrysler is being very secretive and sneaky with testing their new EV.  They don’t want to let the cat out of the bag on this one just yet.  The new face is distinctly Dodge, however, we don’t quite know yet what the rest of the body will look like.

Although Chrysler has not yet said which EV it will make first (they only said that one of them will be produced in 2010, the others will, but not until later), there’s a good chance that it’ll be the Dodge EV.  They already have it up and running and the speed at which it’s received a new body indicates that they’re going to be pushing this one out the door sooner than later.

Assuming that Chrysler gets those auto loans the Dodge EV would hit the lots in late 2010.

The Tesla Roadster is built on top of a Lotus Elise.  Tesla imports the Elise and then modifies to a great extent to make the Roadster.  As an all electric car it uses no gas and almost no oil during every day use.  It also has a lot fewer moving parts so there’s less chance of something going wrong.  The Roadster has a battery pack that will give it a 250 mile range and can recharge overnight.

The Dodge EV is built on top of a Lotus Europa.  Dodge imports the Europa and then modifies it to make the all electric Dodge EV.  It is very similar to the Roadster in the manner in how it drives, acceleration, braking, handling, etc.  According to Dodge the battery pack will let you go 200 miles before needing a recharge, 50 miles less than the Roadster.

We should also note the biggest difference is that the Roadster is already in production.  Tesla has delivered 70 of them so far and has over 1200 people on the waiting list.  Right now they can produce 10 a week but that is expected to double in 2009.  Notably Jay Leno, George Clooney, and the Governator have all bought a Roadster.

Assuming Chrysler makes it through the next 18 months (big assumption right now) the Dodge EV could very well be their first production vehicle.  Chrysler intends to have one in production by the end of 2010.  The low volume and prebuilt chassis make the Dodge EV a prime suspect for the first ENVI production vehicle.  My guess at the price would be in the 90k range, undercutting Tesla by 20 thousand.

Competition is good, but I hope that the Dodge EV doesn’t hurt Tesla’s sales.  They are, after all, the first new American car company in a long time and they’re building cars that will help us get off of oil.  Good luck to both.

The Dodge EV is essentially a Lotus Europa, but uses lithium batteries and a 268 hp electric motor in place of the standard 2.0L four cylinder engine and transmission. It promises a range of 150-200 miles and a 0-60 time of under 5 seconds. It’s a full-blown, plug-in EV, just like the Tesla Roadster, and should require a 4-hour recharge from a 220V outlet or 8 hours on a 110. To help launch Chrysler’s new ENVI electric car division, the Dodge EV has been traveling the show circuit, but today we spotted it at one of our favorite local cruise-ins.

The vehicles — the Dodge EV, Jeep(R) EV and Chrysler EV — will be on display during press days (Nov. 19-20), and throughout the show’s public days (Nov. 21-30). Frank Klegon, Executive Vice President – Product Development, Chrysler LLC, will attend the show tomorrow to discuss the vehicles with journalists.

Chrysler recently announced that at least one of these models will be produced in 2010 for consumers in North American markets, and European markets after 2010. Additionally, the Company will have close to one hundred electric vehicles on the road in government, business and development fleets in 2009.

Chrysler is well into the development of advanced production-intent electric vehicles, and will apply its electric-drive technology to its front-wheel-drive, rear-wheel-drive and body-on-frame four-wheel-drive platforms in the next several years.

“We have a social responsibility to our consumers to deliver environmentally friendly, fuel efficient, advanced electric vehicles, and our intention is to meet that responsibility quickly and more broadly than any other automobile manufacturer,” said Bob Nardelli, Chairman and CEO – Chrysler LLC. “The introduction of the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge electric vehicles provides a glimpse of the very near future, and demonstrates that we are serious and well along in the development of bringing electric vehicles to market.”

Electric Vehicle Technology

Chrysler’s Electric Vehicles utilize just three primary components. These include an electric motor to drive the wheels, an advanced lithium-ion battery system to power the electric-drive motor, and a controller that manages energy flow. The electric-drive system is being developed for front-wheel-drive, rear-wheel-drive, and body-on-frame four-wheel-drive vehicle applications.

Source

Source: allpar

The other two EVs are extended range electric vehicles (that’s GMs term for it).  They use batteries for the first 40 miles to power an electric motor that drives the wheels and then a gas engine switches on to extend the range.  The Chevy Volt does the exact same with it’s engine and motor.  The question has been, does the gas engine bypass the batteries like the Volt does, or does it run a generator that recharges the batteries so that the batteries will always power the electric motor.

“The gas engine recharges the battery a little bit,” said Cole Quinnell, a Chrysler spokesman. “But that’s just excess and overflow, not the central intent. It’s more efficient for the gas motor to drive the wheels, not recharge the batteries. The cost to recharge the battery by running the generator is eight times the cost of taking it home and plugging it in.”

Along with the actual dollar cost of using gas to recharge the batteries the longevity of the battery pack is a consideration for this decision.  Rechargeable batteries have a lifespan of only so many charges.  Having the gas engine constantly recharge the battery pack would shorten the life of the batteries significantly.