Chrysler Group LLC, working in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is delivering 10  Ram 1500 plug-in hybrid electric vehicle from ipickup trucks from its demonstration fleet to DTE Energy of Detroit.Abdullah Bazzi, senior manager of the Chrysler Group's advanced hybrid vehicle project, said the vehicles are part of a national demonstration fleet of 140 vehicles that will be used during the next three years to evaluate customer usage, drive cycles, charging, thermal management, fuel economy, emissions and impact on the region's electric grid. In addition to DTE Energy of Detroit, more than 100 vehicles have been delivered to 16 different cities in the past six months.
"Cities have been carefully selected to help the Chrysler Group LLC collect a wide range of data," explained Abdullah Bazzi, senior manager of Chrysler's advanced hybrid vehicle project. "Working with a local energy partner like DTE that is in our backyard offers a great combination of suburban and rural driving, as well as ever-changing Michigan weather, is ideal as a test cycle for these vehicles. The constant charging will allow us to measure the impact on battery life and charging efficiency," he said.
"The trucks will provide us with a glimpse of what kind of fuel savings cans be afforded with PHEV technologies so we can, at some point, make our truck fleet more environmentally friendly," said Trevor Lauer, DTE Energy vice president Marketing and Renewables. "We'll be using the trucks at our service centers and in the field at our renewable energy facilities," Lauer said.
As of right now, however, Chrysler has  no plans for a production version of the PHEV Ram 1500 trucks at this time. By Joseph Szczesny