The electric Chrysler Town & Country is the automaker's first product from its ENVI electric vehicle division that is intended for production as a fleet vehicle.
It is a joint product with the postal service, although the two have not yet signed an agreement to produce electric versions of a cargo van in both right- and left-hand-drive to be used by postal administration as well as for daily mail delivery.
Chrysler will build about 24 more vehicles for the USPS to use and Chrysler to evaluate, while applying for a government grant to expand the demonstration fleet to 250 vehicles, or 50 allocated to each of the country's five postal regions, said Lou Rhodes, vice president of advanced vehicle engineering and president of ENVI.
In an interview from Washington, Rhodes said Chrysler will submit an application for a grant under the U.S. Department of Energy's Transportation Electrification stimulus program by the mid-May deadline. Grant approval should follow in June, Rhodes said, without specifying how much the automaker is seeking.
Chrysler expects to be able to announce more customers in the next few months, Rhodes said, but the postal service would get the first fleet vehicles.
An all-electric vehicle is ideal for this use, Rhodes said, as the 40-mile range is sufficient for the average postal route which is about 20 miles.
To make sure postal stations are equipped to charge their electric vehicles for daily use, Chrysler has signed letters of intent with Duke Energy, ConEd and DTE Energy to install charging stations -- which consist of a 220-volt electric socket to plug in the vans -- at various postal vehicle depots. "We continue to look for energy-efficient replacement vehicles for our aging fleet as we explore ways to reduce our transportation-related carbon emissions," said Sam Pulcrano, the USPS vice president for sustainability.
Rhodes said an announcement will be made in within the next couple of months on which vehicle Chrysler will build first for retail customers.
ENVI has already produced and is testing five concepts. The only pure electric among them is the Dodge Circuit sports car with a Lotus Europa body and Dodge styling cues.
All use batteries from A123 Systems, Chrysler's recently announced battery supplier.
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The restructuring plan that Chrysler submitted to the government as part of its request for an additional $6 billion in loans lists the Dodge Circuit as the first to market, but Rhodes said testing continues and a final decision has not been made.
"All are being developed so we have the flexibility to move the cadence of any of them," Rhodes said. "We're still getting customer feedback."
Chrysler's goal is to have 100,000 electric vehicles, both retail and commercial, on the road by 2015, Rhodes said, with the mix skewed higher to commercial vehicles initially.
Converting vehicles to run on electricity will be done at a center in the U.S. Finished vehicle bodies will be brought in and the electric-drive system installed.
But once sufficient volumes are realized, electric vehicles will be assembled in the same plants as their gasoline-powered counterparts.
"Our ENVI electric minivan concepts illustrate Chrysler's innovation with electric vehicle technology and show what the future could hold," said Frank Klegon, executive vice president in charge of product development at Chrysler.
