Chrysler LLC charged up the electric car race Tuesday, muscling in on General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Volt by unveiling three electric-powered models and promising to put one of them on sale in the U.S. sometime in 2010.
The company showed reporters three prototypes: a Dodge sports car, a four-door Jeep Wrangler and a Chrysler minivan. Chrysler's product development chief, Frank Klegon, said the automaker hasn't decided which one it will roll out first.
The Dodge sports car is completely electric and based on Lotus Europa underpinnings, but the Wrangler and the Town & Country minivan will be extended-range vehicles similar to the Volt, which GM has said will go on sale in November 2010.
Like the Volt, all three Chrysler vehicles are recharged by plugging them into a standard wall outlet. The sports car is supposed to have a range of up to 200 miles, while the minivan and Jeep will be able to go 40 miles on battery power alone, with a small engine kicking in after that to recharge the batteries and extend the range to about 400 miles.
The automaker wouldn't reveal pricing, but GM's Volt is expected to cost $30,000 to $40,000 initially, far more expensive than most conventional cars. Chrysler officials said they hope to drive down the cost as more vehicles are sold.
With gasoline near $4 per gallon, all automakers have scrambling to roll out more efficient small cars and eventually electric vehicles. But even their new fuel-efficient gas-powered vehicles are about two years away, leaving struggling automakers to scrap for buyers in a shrinking U.S. market that has shifted dramatically from trucks to cars. "
Chrysler's sales have taken the hardest hit, and the automaker appeared to be behind other manufacturers that have touted plans to launch electric vehicles in the next few years. But Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda said Tuesday that Chrysler is further ahead on developing electric vehicles than many had thought, though it kept the cars secret until recently.
"We believe in the saying, 'Actions speak louder than words,'" LaSorda said.
Chrysler Chief Executive Bob Nardelli denied that Chrysler showed off its electric prototypes now because Congress is considering a $25 billion loan program to help automakers and their suppliers modernize plants to make more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Vice Chairman Jim Press said the timing of the announcement also had nothing to do with the publicity GM gained last week by revealing the production version of the Volt.
"This shows that our commitment is not to public relations, but to actually advancing technology and putting it in the hands of customers in an affordable manner," Press said. "These are vehicles that are being engineered to move from the laboratory into the street and the showroom. This isn't just for publicity. This is part of our development process."
Nardelli told reporters the government loans would help speed the technology to market. But if they aren't approved, Chrysler will have to spend limited resources on developing new technology and would have to make cuts elsewhere, possibly in employment and development of conventional products.
"Unfortunately we have had to furlough many families as a result of the economy turmoil and certainly the downward spiraling in the industry," he said. "I'd like to make sure that we don't have to go further to be able to support advanced technology work."
The three vehicles displayed Tuesday at Chrysler's Auburn Hills headquarters complex were second-generation prototypes, built largely on existing models in order to speed them to market, Klegon said.
Chrysler also unveiled the Peapod, a new small "neighborhood electric vehicle" that can go up to 30 miles on a charge, and said it would sell an electric vehicle in Europe sometime after 2010.
Klegon said Chrysler is still working with several partners on the battery technology for its vehicles. The company has an agreement with General Electric Corp. and the U.S. Department of Energy, and also is working with battery maker A123 Systems Inc.
Press said the electric minivan shows great promise because most minivan trips are close to home, so it could operate almost solely on electricity."People that buy it, families, need help with fuel costs," he said. "A lot of van use is in city cycle, going back and forth to school or the grocery store."
The Chrysler executives said the day is coming when the whole Chrysler fleet has electric powertrains.
"The goal is to achieve fundamental technology, get economies of scale, improve our ability to make the future generations more robust, less cost, smaller, more powerful, better performance," Press said. "Ultimately it will lead to a transformation of our entire fleet that will be in some manner electric drive."
Toyota Motor Corp. also is pushing to get a plug-in electric vehicle to market in 2010, while Ford Motor Co., which is testing 20 on roads in California, says it is five years away from producing them in significant numbers.
参考译文:
克莱斯勒有限责任公司展示了三种电动车模型，并宣布在2010年美国本土开始出售其中一款车型。至此，在与通用公司的雪佛兰volt电动汽车的竞争中占据主动。
克莱斯勒公司展示了三种车模：道奇跑车、四门jeep Wrangler和克莱斯勒微型车。克莱斯勒的产品研发总监Frank Klegon表示：目前生产厂还没有决定首先生产哪款车。
道奇跑车是基于莲花Europa基础上的纯电动汽车，而Wrangler和Town&Country将是与通用预计2010年11量产出售的volt一样的增程型电动车。
同volt一样，克莱斯勒的三款车也使用标准壁插头对其进行充电。道奇跑车可以行驶200英里，而微型车和jeep在纯电池动力下可以行驶40英里，之后有一个小发动机会为其电池充电，将里程延至400英里。
克莱斯勒汽车厂暂时不会透露其价格，但GM的Volt预计价格在30，000美元到40，000美元之间，远比普通车贵得多。克莱斯勒的老总们表示他们希望尽可能地降低成本来促进销售。
随着汽油价格达到每加仑4美元，所有的汽车生产商都在努力推动更节能的微型车和真正的电动车。但是他们的新型节能汽油动力车大约需要2年才能问世，使得在日益萎缩的美国市场中，苦苦挣扎的汽车制造商努力争取那些大量从购买卡车转向购买小汽车的购车者。
克莱斯勒的销售已经受到影响，而且看起来好像落后于其他已经制定在今后几年发展电动车计划的其他生产商。但是周二克莱斯勒的副总裁Tom LaSorda说，“克莱斯勒在发展电动车方面已经走在前面，绝对不只是想想，只是这个秘密到最近才公开而已。
LaSorda说，“我们相信‘事实胜于用雄辩’”。
克莱斯勒的首席执行官Bob Nardelli 否认克莱斯勒是在卖弄它的电动车模型因为国会正在考虑一个250亿美元的贷款项目用来帮助汽车生产商和零部件供应商的现代化工厂去生产更节能的汽车。
副主席Jim Press说消息公布时间与通用上周公布产品Volt所获得的宣传效果也没有关系。
Press还说，“这表明我们的承诺不是一种公关策略，而是真的为了发展技术和让顾客以可以承担的方式购买这些车，有些车正在从实验室转向道路试验和展览厅。这不只是为了宣传，而是我们克莱斯勒发展进程中的一部分”。
Nardelli 告诉记者政府贷款有助于加速技术投入到市场。但是即使这批贷款不能通过，克莱斯勒也将不得不消减例如用以普通车产品的工资开支和研发经费等其他方面的开支来使用有限的资源开发新技术。
他还说，“不幸的是因为经济混乱和工业陷入螺旋型下降的趋势使得我们不得不暂时解雇一些员工，但我想我们不用采取更进一步的措施就可以支持开发先进技术的工作。”
这三款车的展示是周二在克莱斯勒Auburm Hills 总部的厂区进行的，展示的为第二代模型。Klegon表示为了早日投放市场，这些模型大部分是在已有模型的基础上设计的。
克莱斯勒还公布了一款名为Peapod的新型小区电动车，它充电一次可以行驶30英里。据称它将在2010年后在欧洲开始销售。
Klegon表示克莱斯勒仍旧在与其他几个合作伙伴一起开发研究用于其汽车上的电池技术，公司已于美国电气公司、美国能源部和电池生产商A123系统公司达成协议。
Press说小型电动旅行车显示了更好的前景，因为绝大多数小型旅行车的行驶范围离家较近，所以使得只用电来供能变得可行。而许多van的使用者住在环城地带，他们来来回回去上学或者去便利店，使得他们需要花费汽油来弥补电力的不足。
克莱斯勒的老总们说整个克莱斯勒的产品都是依靠电动电力传动系统的日子即将到来。
Press说，“我们的目标是实现基本技术、达到经济要求、完善我们的技术使得以后的产品更可靠、成本低、微型化、动力强、性能好，最终它将引导我们的整个产品一定程度上向电力驱动转变”。
丰田汽车公司也将在2010年向市场推出一款插电型电动汽车，而与此同时正在加利福尼亚进行公路测试的福特汽车公司则声称大批量生产电动汽车还需要五年时间。
