3 Electric Cars For 2010, Already Here Now

So break out your wallets and get ready for the waiting list.  In a flash, Chrysler’s electric car team called ENVI is working on 3 electric vehicles to be released as early as 2010.  Which to me is surprising, since partially electric vehicles have been in production for years now.  Why is this taking so long?  That’s another post I guess, but here’s what Chrysler unveiled;

ENVI’s biggest hopeful is the  Dodge EV which is completely electric with rear wheel drive, but the downside being that it’s a two passenger sportscar.  A full charge will take you between 150 and 200 miles away from home before it needs to be plugged in for another 8 hours to do it again.   Considering that most passenger vehicles average twice that, that will be a very hard sell.  Having to recharge for a full 8 hours doesn’t sound much like an advancement since the movement alone should generate some sort of renewable energy that could be transferred back into the battery.  I’m not a sceintist, but doesn’t movement=energy?   Ok, Chrysler, what else you got?

How about a minivan that seats 7 called the Chrysler EV.  It uses the same motor that the Dodge EV does, but it also includes a small internal combustion engine that acts as a generator to recharge the batteries and will get you up to 400 miles on 8 to 10 gallons of gas.  So while it does take advantage of the generator aspect I was speaking of, it still needs to utilize gas and why wait until 2010?  That technology already exists and it’s called hybrid-something-er-other.  This is Chrysler showing up at the ball in a pretty red dress, but the ball was yesterday.

And the lastly is a Jeep Wrangler EV.  Oh great.  It’s not bad enough that Jeep is already possibly the least desirable of vehicles right behind Yugo, but it’s also showing up late to the ball after the post-prom backseat romp.  Plus it’s wearing the same red dress that the Chrysler EV minivan was wearing. For shame.

So essentially we’re waiting for 2 vehicles from Chrysler that are already available from other companies in some form or fashion and one vehicle that will get you just far enough from home to be scared about how you’re getting back.  Where’s the advancement in technology?  Where are we at here?  Why is it taking so long?  Where is all of this government funding for renewable energy being buried? Does anyone have the answers?
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