New York 2009: Chrysler shows off its battery packs

April 20, 2010 - PRLog -- I've heard of carrying extra batteries for a laptop but this is a bit ridiculous. Actually, that's the president of Chrysler electric vehicle ENVI division Lou Rhodes with his laptop sitting on top of the battery pack case for the Dodge Circuit. When I spoke with Rhodes and Doug Quigley a couple of weeks ago they promised that Chrysler would make several announcements regarding its electric vehicle program before Earth Day (April 22). The first of those came a few weeks ago with the revelation that A123 Systems would be the lead supplier for the first production program coming in 2010.

At the New York Auto Show, Rhodes reaffirmed that more announcements were coming within the next two weeks but declined to elaborate further. Unfortunately, the Chrysler display gave no hints because four different battery packs were on display including the Chrysler Town and Country and 200C, as well the Jeep Wrangler. The latter two have a T-shaped configuration similar to the Chevy Volt pack while the minivan pack is a flat rectangular layout that fits nicely under the floor of the people carrier.

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