Chrysler: Trying to Stake Its Claim in Electric Cars

By Michael Kanellos

Forget global warming and high gas prices. Desperation is the driving force in the electric car market.

Chrysler, the limping American auto maker that was absorbed by Cerebrus Capital Management, will demonstrate a serial hybrid to dealers next Tuesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. The car will drive on an electric motor, reports the Journal, while an integrated gas-powered generator will recharge its battery.

This kind of car, also called a range-extended electric vehicle, has advantages over fully electric cars, say advocates. First, the battery pack is smaller, and because batteries are one of the most expensive parts of electric cars, this should bring down the price. General Motors (GM) plans to sell its Volt for around $40,000. Yes, that’s more than a Chevy Malibu, but less than a Tesla Roadster.

Second, these cars can go farther before conking out than a full electric car. The Tesla Roadster has a 250 mile range. The Volt is expected to go 400 miles.

Critics, though, note that the rapid recharge cycles and overall system complexity make these a challenge. No one sells serial hybrids less. (The Toyota Prius and existing hybrids are parallel hybrids in which the gas and electric motors both drive the car. There are also power-split hybrids, which Toyota is experimenting with in which the gas motor drives one axle or takes up some specific task and the electric motor does other tasks or axles.)

Chrysler showed off the all-electric Zeo at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year and two serial hybrids. Giving a presentation to the dealers inches up a notch the possibility of these cars becoming real. The WSJ says Chrysler’s cars might come out in 2011.

In some ways, you can gauge a company’s interest in serial hybrids and fully electric cars by how well the company is doing now or how big it is. In short, the bigger splash you need, the more you are drawn to electricity.

Toyota (TM), king of the car heap these days, remains skeptical about fully electric cars. It continues to push hybrids. Toyota will have a plug-in hybrid next year, but the car will likely be a parallel hybrid, with more batteries than a regular Prius. Toyota right now is testing a plug-in hybrid which has two of the battery packs found in a regular Prius. Next year, it will test a lithium battery.

GM and Chrysler are both losing money and have a keen interest in more complex serial hybrids. Nissan (NSANY), which has trailed Toyota and Honda (HMC), is big on electrics.

A lot of startups, such as Tesla, meanwhile, favor all-electrics and serial hybrids.

Comments

[SpartanToJo:]

The statement that serial hybrids are more complex is not accurate. The real complexity exists when you are driving the same axle with two different drive systems, electric and internal combustion. Getting the two forms of motive force to "play nicely togther" adds significant weight and complexity to the vehicle. In contrast, serial hybrids have only the electric motors driving the axles. The motors draw electricity from batteries which are charged by a generator. The generator is driven by a small I/C (internal combustion) engine. Think of it this way: is it simpler to drive while eating and talking on your cell phone or to make a call, then eat, and then drive?

2008 Sep 23 09:19 AM

[Pierre007:]

Agreed, having only the electrical engine drive the wheels is so much better. and then have a gaz generator provide electricity if the batteries are dead. I've bought Toyota's and Honda's all my life. For the first time in my life, I'm considering buying an american car: the GM volt (if it's close to 32K$) and available in Canada that is... Before you complain about coal, my electricity comes from Hydro, no pollution. I don't like the fact that the Prius and Civic Hybrid need the gaz engine to run all the time to help drive the wheels. I want all electric and am willing to pay extra for it. I have a daily commute of less than 15 miles so I'll be able to go full electric all the time (except on those long weekend drives where the gaz generator will kick in which will be totally fine). Thanks GM and chrysler for going that way, you just might finally get one new customer. The only thing I hope is that GM and Chrysler will fire all these people that were not really believing in this electric stuff (I can only imagine how they are suddenly all saying it was their idea all along; yeah right, truth is, it's probably a rogue department that had to plead for money all these years while the rest of the org was spitting on them).

2008 Sep 23 01:23 PM

[Paul Killinger:]

My suspicion is that spending the amount of capital it takes to bring this type of technology to market will be the final nail in Chrysler's coffin. Or., more cynically, is this simply a ploy to ensure they get their share of the automakers' raid on the federal Treasury?

2008 Sep 23 01:55 PM

[car_guy:]

Not only is the serial hybrid approach simpler, but it is more efficient since the gas engine can operate at constant RPM charging the batteries. This is like driving on the highway at a constant speed 100% of the time, even a full size SUV uses only 40 hp to cruise at a constant highway speed. They key to making this work is batteries with enough power density to get the 40 miles on electric w/o charging and to reduce the vehicle's weight as much as possible to compensate for the heavy batteries.

Paulk8756 - Chrysler is using suppliers for the technology and 3 of the 4 vehicles (EV, Jeep, & Minivan) are modifications of existing designs. They face a bigger challenge to reduce the weight of the existing vehicles to compensate for the batteries, but all of this investment can be distributed across the non-electric vehicles which will benefit from being lighter.

2008 Sep 23 05:15 PM

[car_guy:]

Paulk8756
What 'raid on the federal treasury' are you referring to? The $25B in LOANS was part of the original energy bill that raised the CAFE standards and is forcing the auto industry to spend $35B in tooling & research trying to meet these standards. If the government is going to force the companies to make cars consumers may or may not buy the least they can do is help them pay for it.

Also, the Japanese government has been investing heavily in the development of batteries for the Auto industry which is why most of the companies supplying hybrid batteries are Japanese. Since the US has been investing nothing, we have nothing. If we do not start investing now, we will be importing batteries forever.

2008 Sep 23 05:21 PM

[Deweyp:]

I here that a battery company, A123, is applying to incorporate this week and that they will likely be the supplier for the GM Volt. This is good news because they are an American company, providing American jobs and with sufficient volume could easily keep the price of the battery pack below that of the offshore companies. I live for the day when paulk8756 has something constructive, accurate and positive to say about the American auto industry.

2008 Sep 23 07:42 PM