As part of the project it has sent three plug-in hybrid Chrysler Town & Country minivans (pictured) to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District – meaning there are now 25 of these plug-in hybrid minivans on US roads.
Each of the Chrysler Town & Country minivans comes with an E85-compatible 3.6litre Pentastar engine; a liquid-cooled 12.1kWh lithium-ion battery; and boasts a total system output of 290hp and a total range of 700miles. They have an electric driving range of 22miles and charge depleting fuel economy of 53mpg.
The project will collect data with the focus moving from engineering design and development to real world testing and evaluation. They will be put through their paces in extreme temperatures and a variety of drive cycles. Further deployments are taking place in Michigan, North Carolina and Arizona. Meanwhile, two of the plug-in hybrid minivans will be retained by engineers with one to be used in a short duration test at Argonne National Laboratory.
The project comes after the US Department of Energy poured $10million into research. In addition, a fleet of Chrysler Ram pick-up vans with plug-in hybrid systems will also be tested in a wider project.
