It will be interesting to see how a predominantly electrical system will perform in the dusty, vibration-prone, off-road environments that a number of 4x4s, esp jeeps, are exposed to. Due to low-range 4x4 setting on current Jeeps, it may be impossible to provide an all-electric range for the required torque of that particular use.

Jer:

Low-range is an interesting question. There's nothing that prevents having a simple 2-speed gearbox, I should think.

according to this it is a lotus: http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/09/23/officially-official-chryslers-late-2010-electric-vehicle-line/

Just as anon said, the sports car looks like a Tesla knockoff. Similar specs to boot.

Chrysler had the EPIC EV minivan in the 90s that had NiMH and quick charge. They used it at LAX to run passengers around the airport and it worked well.

Electric minivans make sense if they are light enough. They should do a hybrid one with that 2l turbo they used to put in there. That might keep the costs down and be a first. The battery cost really adds up in a hurry.

I second Mark. WTF? These guys should go out of business and get it overwith. Nobody's going to be able to afford any of these stupid vehicles, if they're ever made.

The problem with electric vehicles is their limited range. As someone said, an electric car is a device for carrying a large quantity of batteries a short distance, and if you want to extend the range you have to add more batteries. The implication seems to be (a) that electric vehicles should be small and light, to minimize energy consumption per mile and (b) they should be designed for urban commuting, where a range in excess of 80 to 150 km is rarely needed. Since most driving is in urban areas, such vehicles would fulfill most people's needs most of the time. For those who need to travel out of town, there is the option of a rental or a second car.

Developing urban commuter cares is the approach that both Mitsubishi and Suburu are taking, which suggests that today, as in the past, the Japanese auto makers are smarter than the American competition.

Lou,

Minivan purchasers are far less cost sensitive than those purchasing their first vehicle and/or sub-compacts. Minivans easily hit $30K.

With the [lack of] aerodynamics on the Tesla I could see how it needs more energy to get its range but 150 miles on 26kWhr is quite astonishing unless this vehicle has the weight of the Tesla and a vastly improved Cd.

Note to Chrysler:

Buy Aptera. You're already too broke to buy Tesla.

I still don't discount Chrysler since they're now private, smaller, and can move quickly.

Something is up with their sports car EV. I bet they're partnering with Tesla on a common model, which could make sense. This is standard practice in the auto industry (Vibe/Matrix, Ranger/B3000, etc), and gives Tesla a possible exit strategy for their investors if they sell to Chrysler. You can be sure that the investors mandate that Tesla sell out and provide a liquid return on their investment.

Tesla doesn't have a durable competitive advantage, so I bet they're looking to partner with someone big. Chrysler + Tesla provides some interesting synergies.

as everyone has pointed out, this car looks like a lotus. that's because it is a lotus, do a little research and you'll find out chrysler is sourcing the lotus and dropping their ev tech into it.
it looks like a tesla since tesla did the same thing two years ago.

This just validates that Tesla has a good idea. But the haters should hold their comments - CLLC and GE can likely execute that idea much better than Tesla. Materials development, vehicle software, engineering integration, purchasing, and manufacturing are all significant advantages for Chrysler. Too bad it took Toayota and Tesla to show them what to do.

I am glad finally the majors automobile companies are waking up and getting on the electric car bandwagon and off this oil addiction?? GM with the Volt, and Crysler with this electric drive initiative. No doubt this situation was spurred on by the probable success of the Tesla Roadster. But how do we know this is for real. Remember the California EV mandate. All the majors built viable BEVs and actually got them out to the consumers in the 90s but promptly recalled and destroyed them after heavy lobbying from these same auto and oil companies. They successfully delayed the development of BEVs by at least 2 decades and kept the oil profit flowing and enabled the rises of the Islamic Petrol States which led to the 9-11 and the current War on terror. Talk about unintended consequences.
Even now, all these green car initiatives may be a smoke screen. Case in point is all these companies and government entities are pushing this nebulous hydrogen economy which is inefficient, technically impractical, very expansive and will never be adapted by the consumer public, while BEVs has a proven track record not once but twice in the last century. Remember most cars were electric before ICE took over and the recent short period before the EV mandate was scrapped when we saw the GM EV1 and the Toyota RAV4 which were very practical electric cars. If only BEVs were allowed to evolve and improve like the cell phones and laptop computers, remember what clunkers the 1st generation cell phones and laptops were like, who knows how far the technology would have gotten us to. It would be certain battery electric cars would outperform the current ICE autos.
The other point is that if we are in peak oil, that means there are 50% of all the oil remaining which still can be exploited by the power that be and that represents tens of trillions of dollars over many years. Remember the initial 50% of the oil reserves are cheap oil but the last 50% will be very expansive oil due to decreased supply and increase demand. Doubtful the world governments and the petrol-auto industrial complex will give that up so the public can ride in cheap, practical, non-polluting, low maintenance, clean, and renewable energy Electric Cars. I hope all these electric vehicle initiatives are real and maybe finally we are able to wean off this dreaded oil addiction.