Today's deployment is part of an ongoing two-year study of the technology’s real-world performance in a minivan application.
Ricardo Bowlin -
CleanMPG - Apr 18, 2012
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will be supplied to Duke Energy as part of demonstration project by Chrysler Group LLC.
Real-world city and rural miles to be accumulated on demonstration vehicles over next two years
Chrysler in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) delivered eight demonstration-fleet Chrysler Town & Country plug-in hybrid minivans to Duke Energy – its largest such deployment to date.
The Duke Energy partnership is one of several that will see a total of 25 plug-in hybrid minivans subjected to a range of driving cycles.
Today's deployment is part of an ongoing two-year study of the technology’s real-world performance in a minivan application.
Abdullah Bazzi, senior manager of the Chrysler Group’s Advanced Hybrid Vehicle Project:
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Chrysler is very much looking forward to the two years of real-world data that will be obtained enabling Chrysler engineers to assess the viability for future applications.”
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Duke Energy welcomed today’s delivery at its headquarters in Charlotte, NC.
In 2009, Duke Energy made a commitment to transition their company cars and trucks to all-electric or PHEVs, with a goal of 100 percent of all new vehicles purchased after 2020 having PHEV capability.
Each plug-in hybrid minivan is equipped with an E85-compatible 3.6L Pentastar engine mated to a front-wheel-drive, two-mode hybrid transmission.
It also is powered by a liquid-cooled 12.1 KWhr lithium-ion battery that affords a total output of 290 horsepower and a range of 700-miles. Charge times are two-to-four hours at 220 volts with a “Level 2” charge cord unit, and eight-to-fifteen hours at 110 volts with a “Level 1” charge unit.
The vehicle’s hybrid system does not require charging.
A fleet of plug-in hybrid Ram pickups also is being evaluated as part of a wider project.
Chrysler dominates the minivan market, selling 13.4 million units globally since inventing the segment in 1983.
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