It seems like bold talk, considering no mainstream manufacturer has yet put an all-electric car into production (notwithstanding small-volume programs in the 1990s such as Toyota's RAV4 and GM's EV1).
GM's ballyhooed Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid is slated for production beginning in the fourth quarter of 2010, but that timing is suspect since the financially troubled company has suspended construction on the plant that is to build the Volt's tiny gas engine.
Electric vehicle programs -- all carmakers have such efforts underway -- are expensive because they rely on technology that is only now emerging.
Chrysler's shoestring strategy relies heavily on suppliers' cost-sharing on these projects, with the expectation that both parties can profit if the vehicles succeed. This is particularly true of the battery suppliers, says Quigley. "The deal-breaker is and always has been the [battery] pack."
The good news is, he says, suppliers have brought batteries to Chrysler's door that seem to meet the company's needs.
He holds up a silvery, Pop Tart-sized object, a prismatic lithium-ion battery, that puts out roughly 20 amp-hours at 3.3 volts -- powerful enough to create a ferocious shower of sparks when he strikes the leads on a piece of metal. "Two years ago, everybody was building cylindrical batteries, because that's what they knew," he says. "A lot has changed in two years, and a lot more will change in another two."
Chrysler execs insist they want to work with a domestic battery supplier (a politic requirement when the company is looking to the government for loans and tax credits). Last week, Massachusetts-based battery maker A123 Systems announced it would build a manufacturing facility in southeastern Michigan.
Whichever battery supplier Chrysler works with, the relationship will depend on trust. That's problematic because of the wobbling state of Chrysler's finances. "We both have to ante up some capital," Quigley says. "It's a very tenuous thing. The wrong vibe can sink it."
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Will it work?
ENVI's approach has other vulnerabilities. To save on development costs and speed electric vehicles to market, Chrysler will initially be adapting existing products such the Chrysler minivan and Jeep Patriot. Unfortunately, these vehicles haven't won over the public, so it's an open question how electric versions will do better.
