With Fiat now at the helm, Chrysler has officially disbanded its Envi electric vehicle program. Established in 2007 under Cerberus Capital Management, Chrysler’s Envi team was tasked with bringing viable electric and hybrid vehicles to market by 2010.
Chrysler’s Envi program had been propped by more than $70 million in government funding, but the advanced vehicle research department will now be absorbed by Chrysler’s normal vehicle operations. “Envi is absorbed into the normal vehicle development program,” Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa told Reuters.
Under the terms of the Envi program, Chrysler was to have at least one all-electric vehicle to market by 2010 – which would have likely been the Lotus-based Dodge Circuit – and 500,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2013. However, Fiat has picked a different path for Chrysler, with electric vehicles playing a very minor roll.
Despite Cerberus’ optimistic outlook, Fiat CEO doesn’t see Chrysler’s EV sales topping 60,000 vehicles – or about 1 to 2 percent of total sale – by 2014. “Until the (battery) storage gets resolved, I think electric vehicles are going to struggle,” Marchionne said. Lou Rhodes, former head of Chrysler’s Envi program, will now lead electric vehicle development at Chrysler and Fiat.
Chrysler remains the only of the six major automakers without a hybrid offering.
