The American car industry isn't sitting still with Chinese and Malaysian electric cars on the horizon.
Chrysler LLC selected A123Systems to build lithium ion battery cells, packs and modules for its electric cars which are expected to begin hitting showrooms in late 2010.
The electric vehicle components will be used in Chrysler's ENVI vehicles, which have been in development for a little less than two years, Lou Rhodes, president of the company's ENVI division said. The five vehicles included the Dodge Circuit EV, Jeep Wrangler EV, Jeep Patriot EV, Chrysler Town & Country EV and the Chrysler 200C EV concept
Chrysler has been tight-lipped about who is helping them build their electric engine vehicles, one of which they say will hit the market next year. The company has not said which one, but has unveiled a minivan, a sports car and two Jeeps with electric engines in the past year.
Rhodes would not say who.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090406-705444.html? In October, Chrysler killed production of its only hybrid vehicles, the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen SUVs, which had only been on showroom floors for less than a month.
The company's ENVI vehicles will use internal combustion engines only for recharging batteries, not for propelling the vehicles--an engineering design that is more fuel efficient.
Chrysler's U.S. competitor General Motors (NYSE: GM) has chose South Korea's LG Chem Ltd (051910.KS) to manufacture lithiu-ion batteries for its electric vehicle--the Chevy Volt.
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