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Chrysler’s Electric Cars and Minivans: TEVan, EPIC, ENVI, and more

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Chrysler's Electric Cars and Minivans:
TEVan, EPIC, ENVI, and more


Land vehicle Vehicle Car Van Minivan


Chrysler's furthest roots were in electric cars, namely, the first Electrobat (1894) of Henry G. Morris and Pedro G. Salom. They founded the Electric Carriage & Wagon Company, which made electric cabs, and was purchased by Electric Boat's founder, Isaac Rice. Through several other consolidations and sales, the company ended up as Electric Vehicle (1901-09), and renamed itself Columbia Motor Car, before joining with Maxwell and others (1910) to form the company rescued and (in essence) renamed by Walter P. Chrysler. (Details)

Chrysler's electric minivans, 1990s

In 1991, Chrysler started a program with the Electric Power Research Institute to develop an electric-powered minivan. They produced the first TEVan concept in 1992; the T is from the T-115 code name for the minivan, and E is for Electric. It used a nickel-iron battery pack (weighing 1,800 pounds) and DC motor, with a 120 mile range.

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1993, the world's first electric minivan, the TEVan, was introduced for fleet buyers. Not many were built - some sources claim 56 were made, while 1994 Chrysler press materials claim 80 were sold in 1993.

James Wolfe wrote that the electric minivan used a 180 volt battery pack (either nickel-iron or nickel-cadmium batteries) weighing 1,800 pounds, and that the TEVan was sold mainly to electric utilities. According to James, the van was purpose-built by Chrysler (rather than being converted as many alternative-power vehicles are) on the same Windsor assembly line as the gas versions. Standard equipment included air conditioning, power steering, power brakes, and seating for five along with cargo space.

The batteries were built to last for 100,000 miles or 20 years; the battery water was replenished automatically. The battery charger was built in, and used a standard receptacle with 220V single phase power. When we last heard from him in 2006, James was driving his 42 miles a day, charging it at night, providing 185 miles of use for under $2.40 (the economic equivalent of around 220 mpg).

The TEVan, according to Chrysler, had a 54 kilowatt direct current motor, with solid state microprocessors developed by Pentastar Electronics; it reached a top speed of 65 mph, using a two speed automatic transmission, power steering and brakes, and air conditioning. Peak power was 70 hp; continuous power was 35 hp; the range was estimated at 80 miles. These TEVans were fully certified and met the 1998 California zero emission vehicle (ZEV) requirement. Numerous changes were made in 1994 based on owner input; they were joined by CNG-powered minivans in that year, too.

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After the electric minivans were used, they could be sold or scrapped; James Wolfe bought one
at a public auction. He wrote that there are about a dozen TEVans in
private hands, four or five of which are still in use.

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Jerry McIntire wrote: "I own one of the working Dodge TEVans. It has NiCad batteries and still works well, range is over 50 miles per charge on the original 1993 batteries.
Regarding the EPIC, it was available with lead acid batteries at first, and later with nickel-metal hydride batteries. It's a van to die for! The AC drive is more efficient and much more powerful with the battery pack's increased voltage."

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After the TEVan was in production, Chrysler built a 1992 concept minivan, called EPIC, or Electric Power Inter-urban Commuter. The production Dodge and Plymouth EPIC was introduced in July 1997, and was leased to government and utility fleets. It used a 324 volt advanced lead-acid battery pack, with nearly twice the voltage of the TEVan. EPICs were all made in Windsor, Ontario.

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Powered by nickel-iron batteries with a range of around 120 miles, the EPIC used the TEVan powertrain assembly, in a newer different package; the windshield was raked more aggressively but the A-pillar was modified to change perceptions of the distance from the door to the cowl. The exterior had sliding doors on each side, presaging the next generation of minivans, and the rear hatch followed a track that hugged the minivan more closely to make cargo loading and unloading easier. The stow-n-go rear seat folded completely into the floor when not used, another feature that would eventually show up in gas-powered minivans (albeit taking longer). [The photo above is almost certainly the 1992 concept van, not the real EPIC.]

In 2000, Chrysler's EPIC won two categories in the five-day Tour de Sol - the minivan category and Customer Acceptability. About 200 EPICs were being used around the country at the time.

The 2017 Chrysler Pacifica minivan included a hybrid option that could run on full electric for around the first 30 miles.

Dodge 50 Electric Commercial Trucks

The 1981 Dodge 50 electric truck was a joint project between Dodge Trucks and Chloride, and used a 50 kW compound-wound DC electric motor, powered by lead-acid batteries with an automatic refill system. Top speed was 40 mph, with a claimed range of 45-55 miles between charges and what could best be described as snail-like acceleration. The company claimed that 75% of all urban delivery vehicles traveled less than that.

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1970s-1980s electric cars: the Jet and ETV

In late 1977, Chrysler announced a four-passenger electric city car; Ben-Gurion University purchased two of them for research about a year later. The conversion was actually done by Jet, which purchased cars new from Chrysler (along with Subaru and Ford), with no gasoline engine; they added in a nine-inch GE electric motor and controller, with a 120-volt battery pack, good for about 70 miles of driving. Just ten of the TC3-based "Electrica 007" cars were made in 1980; they had a four-speed manual transmission, with a gasoline heater. Buyers needed 220 volts for the charger, and ten hours for a complete recharge. (Photo albums: one and another)

The Chrysler ETV-1 concept, also using a GE powertrain, was built in 1979. This one had regenerative braking and a computer-controlled motor with front wheel drive and a 100 mile range (at a steady 45, with two passengers). Acceleration was slow, and power was supplied by slow-charging lead-acid batteries. The car was given to the American Museum of Science and Energy, according to Autoblog, and was sold by them in 2005 to a private seller who put it up for sale on eBay in 2014 - with just 3,422 miles on the clock, and a new Siemens motor (but not running).

Early 1990s: Neon Destiny

A former employee wrote, "The Destinys were part of the program definition phase for the Neon - a small 4 door electric-only, a diesel, and 2 gasoline engines (two stroke and 4 stroke engines), before the final styling was done-mules built from first generation Neons with various powertrains and suspension ideas to decide the final direction of the program. Small Car Platform PPED did the work on design." No photos are available but Chrysler did, at the time, allude to these plans.

Chrysler's 2008 and newer electric minivans

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New electric car concepts

Starting in 2008, Chrysler started to show new electric vehicles based partly on GEM technologies. These included the Lotus-bodied Dodge Circuit, an electric minivan and Jeep, and others. All shared a basic motor and battery configuration, using lithium ion cells, designed to be engineered once and built up or reshaped to meet the needs of existing vehicles. Because engineering costs are a large proportion of the costs of a vehicle, especially vehicles with short sales runs, using a common electric technology and architecture with existing vehicles can have a dramatic impact on the pricing of the vehicles, when compared to the approach taking by GM with the Volt, of optimizing a single new vehicle. The tradeoff is selling price versus range and performance or consumption.

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On April 22, 2009, Chrysler showed four Chrysler Town & Country minivan concepts built with input from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), all running without range extenders (pure electric). Chrysler said it would apply to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DoE) Transportation Electrification stimulus program to support a demonstration fleet of 250 zero-emission electric minivans for mail delivery. Duke, ConEd and DTE have each signed a letter of intent to equip post offices in selected regions with a charging infrastructure.

They concluded that a stable fuel/energy price, which for the tested EV architectures, yields significant fuel savings over the current LLVs, though the conversion costs are high.

The power industry has endorsed electric vehicles for many years; since the charging cycle (charging at night) is complementary to peak power usage, greater use of electric vehicles would make power usage more uniform and increase utilization of expensive power plants. With greater off-peak power use, utilities could justify the creation of additional plants, and reduce the need for relatively expensive and inefficient peaking plants.

In 2011, Chrysler sold its GEM mini electric car division to Polaris, the ATV and snowmobile makers, while stating that it intended to build its own full size electric cars and SUVs.

PHEV: Chrysler Pacifica

In 2016, the PHEV Chrysler Pacifica was launched - the full story.

Sergio Marchionne also talked in detail about FCA's work with Google on autonomous cars.

See other alternative-fuel vehicles | New electric car concepts | Stellpower on the electric minivans

by David Zatz. Fixed links, 2021.
 

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