Although this is not per se the revival of the now defunct ENVI program, it is a big step in the right direction. In fact, the Fiat 500EV will be US' first home-built mainstream electric vehicle and will become available starting 2012.
“The alliance with Fiat presented new opportunities to merge Chrysler Group engineering knowledge with new platforms and the Fiat 500EV is an outstanding example of our efforts,” said Scott Kunselman, Senior Vice President Engineering at Chrysler said.
“The Fiat 500 is a small, lightweight platform perfect for integrating electric-vehicle technology.”
According to the carmaker, the 500EV, based on the platform presented earlier this year at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), will be mostly built at the Auburn Hills, Michigan facility - high power electric powertrain module, advance lithium ion battery, and an EV control unit to manage power flows.
The car presented at NAIAS uses Chrysler’s modular electric technology, developed over the last three years, but further details are not yet known.
According to Chrysler, both details and pricing information will be released closer to the launch date. Pricing, they say, will be similar to the ones asked for similar electric vehicles in the market; that is, probably a lot...
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