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

Chrysler’s 2008 and newer electric minivans

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.

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.

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.

Chrysler’s electric cars and minivans, 1970s - 1990s

In 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.

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.

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.”

After the TEVan was in production, Chrysler built a 1992 concept minivan, called EPIC, or Electric Power Inter-urban Commuter. Powered by nickel-iron batteries with a range of around 120 miles, the EPIC used the complete TEVan powertrain assembly, in a 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 production version of the ePIC was introduced in July 1997, and leased to government and utility fleets. It was available as a Dodge or Plymouth, and used a 324 volt advanced lead-acid battery pack (nearly twice the voltage of the TEVan). Chrysler did want to use better batteries, but the techology was not yet available. EPICs were all made in Windsor, Ontario.

What of prior efforts? Dr. Jonathan D. Safren wrotel “In late 1977 Chrysler announced a 4-passenger electric city car and published details and photos. I saw a shipment of these cars on the lot of a Cincinnati Chrysler-Plymouth dealer. These electric cars were never put on the market. About a year later, Ben-Gurion University purchased two of these cars for research purposes, proving that they were still available.” Bob Sheaves wrote: “Jet did the conversion for Chrysler. See www.austinev.org/evalbum/010.html for a picture of 1980 TC3 conversion, and 055.html for another.” Jet also bought vehicles from Subaru and Ford.

A former employee wrote, “The Jet conversions were bought as incomplete vehicles from Chrysler and then converted. 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.”

See other alternative-fuel vehicles | New electric car concepts

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