Chrysler to offer a hybrid version of every vehicle

[TerryMason]

Speaking to reporters in a talk sponsored by the Levin Institute, Chrysler’s Vice Chairman said that the every model will be offered as a hybrid. In a previous interview with The Detroit News, Press said that Chrysler “absolutely” expects to provide a hybrid or diesel variants of all their models.
Press said that every vehicle that Chrysler makes would be powered by a hybrid system. While Press did not offer a schedule for when this will take place, he did say that Chrysler will work hard to meet the government’s mandate to increase fuel economy by 40 percent by 2020. According to PopularMechanics Press’s statement was the first by an auto executive that talks of hybrid technology being implemented across-the board for all vehicles in a company lineup.

Chrysler last year announced a new engineering division called ENVI that will focus on designing and building electric and hybrid vehicles. Next year Chrysler will add the Aspen and Dodge Durango hybrids which are said to have a 40 percent increase in fuel-efficiency in the city and a 20 percent increase on the highway.
Press also said that the U.S. auto market is likely to remain weak into the first quarter of 2009 but Chrysler’s turnaround plan is progressing as planned.

 

[TerryMason]

I know that people have been wanting a diesel Jeep for some time now - looks like it's on the horizon.

 

[southtj]

I know that people have been wanting a diesel Jeep for some time now - looks like it's on the horizon.

Or a hybrid Jeep...

 

[currupt4130]

^ Not impressed.

 

[Itchee96]

Not with the price of diesel now. Hybrid, yes.

 

[currupt4130]

Please god, someone explain to me why hybrids are soooo much better for the environment. Please. They aren't. In the long run they're worse. Right now they're better because they afford us as commuters more miles to the gallon. No one has any damn foresight.

 

[Itchee96]

As long as the Jeep still has enough power to do what it is built for.

 

[currupt4130]

No. Right now I'm not worried about performance. You can always make a vehicle do what you want by modifying it in some way or another. What you can't do is recoup the damage done when all the batteries used in a hybrid have to be disposed of. Then where are we gonna be when there are land closures due to pollution and contamination? Not where I want to be... We need cleaner better forms of energy to power vehicles, and hybrids are only a band-aid on the energy crisis. They're gonna screw us more in the long run than they're gonna help us now.

 

[TerryMason]

Please god, someone explain to me why hybrids are soooo much better for the environment. Please.

What makes you think they are worse? Not looking at the fuel savings, I believe that most hybrids are producing 80% less emissions than their traditional counterparts

I think some ideas like the regenerative brake are pretty good, but I'm wondering what an axle swap would be like with that attached.

 

[TerryMason]

What you can't do is recoup the damage done when all the batteries used in a hybrid have to be disposed of.

Now that I'll agree with. I do think that the battery technology will start getting better as demand increases though. I don't think hybrids give a net gain to pollution, but the batteries are a problem.

 

[cewtwo]

I was surprised when the hydrogen cell battery was being used. Major contamination after its life is done.

In a world, where things are going green, people think these batteries are a boon. They really are not. We can only hope that battery technology advances...

(Sorry I work in commercial janitorial. There are great concerns nowadays with what humans have done to the environment that we live in and rely on... Off of soapbox now)

 

[B192734]

Didn't they offer a Deisel Liberty at one point, but stopped marketing them in the U.S. when people didn't buy them?

 

[currupt4130]

Now that I'll agree with. I do think that the battery technology will start getting better as demand increases though. I don't think hybrids give a net gain to pollution, but the batteries are a problem.

If the battery technology doesn't catch up to the vehicle technology, we're in for a world of hurt if we keep building these cars.

 

[LauraBoston]

We're already getting trained for it.

 

[redrooster]

Are we assuming here that you cannot recycle a battery? I don't know a thing about recycling batteries, but would think that the plastic, lead plates and electrolyte could all be recycled and reused.
Also, I read up on a company once before that had a product that made batteries inert or something like that. I will have to look back and see what/who it was. I think the issue of battery disposition is overcomeable. I would really like to see a viable all electric vehicle in the near future.

 

[Ken72]

I'm not totally sure but I don't think that hybids are using regular car batteries. I think they are using a Dry Cell, for example NiMH (nickel-metal hydride battery). Its kinda like the battery in you cell phone.

 

[larrymo49]

Most Hybrids now use the smallest internal combustion engine possible to increase fuel economy along with the battery packs.

Can you imagine being out in the backcountry in your Hybrid Jeep...

I would think you would need a blown 427 just to compensate for the increased weight of the batteries needed to push the already stout (read heavy) Jeep over the rough stuff.

Unless you just puttered around town mostly on your batteries...this would seem to defeat the purpose of most Jeeps used for off road purposes...then where's the great gas savings?

Sometimes a great notion requires some forethought (as someone mentioned earlier).

Larry

 

[dandoc]

Hummer vs. hybrid report raises controversy | KATU.com - Portland, Oregon | News <-- Food for thought. I wonder where the Wranglers rank on Spinella's list?

 

[southtj]

Hummer vs. hybrid report raises controversy | KATU.com - Portland, Oregon | News <-- Food for thought. I wonder where the Wranglers rank on Spinella's list?

The Wrangler used to be at the top of the list for the Greenest vehicle.

One of the more unusual stories to emerge from the motor industry in 2006 was that the all-American 4x4 Jeep Wrangler is the world’s greenest car.
This information came about after a ‘dust-to-dust’, cost per lifetime mile, analysis compiled over three years by the Oregon based CNW Marketing Research organisation. A remarkable piece of research when you consider the Wrangler is a 4x4.

 

[redrooster]

I don't see how this marketing research company could possibly know what it costs to manufacture every type of vehicle they studied. It's not like auto mfg's are just going to hand over proprietary data like that. I'm getting a headache even thinking about all the numbers they would have to capture to put together any kind of legitimate cradle to grave cost.