Chrysler Introduces Postal Service Electric Vans

Chrysler is trying to show it's serious about it's ENVI Electric Vehicles division by releasing a minivan using their technology to a fleet customer. The announcement is designed to coincide with Earth Month (pictures were released on Earth Day). I was waiting to see if the company would have a press release on the program following the pictures, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Chrysler showed three electrified vehicles as part of it's ENVI electric vehicles program. I speculated at the time that the only model with a real chance at production was the Lotus Europa-based Dodge EV (Now Circuit). The others seemed just an attempt to show everyone that it was working on a family-friendly vehicles.

The Circuit EV still will be the one going into production first. It looks like the others, particularly the Town and Country minivan, might be going into production later as Chrysler intends to bring a "portfolio" of electric vehicles to market.

The vehicles that Chrysler showed as part of the ENVI program were all range-extended electric vehicles similar to the GM's Voltec (formerly E-Flex) system being developed for the Chevrolet Volt. The vans being sold to the U.S Postal Service are not range-extended however. The routes the company uses are suitable for the 40-miles in electric only range that the system was designed for.

Therefore the U.S Postal Service vans are built to be electric-only, but are using the exact same system sans range-extender that would go on sale publicly. Chrysler's ENVI division head Lou Rhodes said Chrysler plans to market the battery-only vehicles to fleet customers, and that it only plans to make the range-extended version available to retail customers.

I think this is a cool program, it should help Chrysler fine tune it's technology and get some real world usage out of it. I sure hope the company really puts a production version of the van into production. A electrified minivan like the Town and Country could serve families really well. I think it could breathe new life into the segment.

If they can pull off a 40-mile range with that kind of an non-aerodynamic shape as well, more power to them! GM was struggling to fit everything in and get the kind of range it promised on the Volt. Chrysler says 250 of these vehicles will be going into the U.S.P.S fleet. Maybe if all goes well the program will go much more widespread? For Chrysler's sake, let's hope it does.