By Mark Kleis
Friday, Dec 16th, 2011 @ 3:44 am
 
Although Chrysler officially killed the Dodge Ram Hybrid, the Ram brand continues testing with a special plug-in hybrid variant of that truck today.

As part of a partnership with the Department of Energy that saw $48 million given to Chrysler, Ram is allocating a new batch of 10 PHEV trucks to DTE Energy in order to undergo real-world testing.

In this particular case, the testing is aimed largely at the city driving cycle, charging performance and true real-world driving performance in Detroit's topography and climate.

"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."

Where once both diesel and hybrid-powered Dodge Ram 1500 pickups were expected to arrive by 2010, changes within Chrysler have since indefinitely canceled both trucks. Furthermore, what once was known as the Dodge Ram 1500 is now simply known as the Ram 1500, a truck that does still play host to a test bed of plug-in hybrids.

(More after video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxBgHDvPWpg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.chryslerllc.com%2Fblog.do%3Fid%3D1555%26p%3Dentry&feature=player_embedded

Marking the seventh U.S. City to receive a Ram 1500 PHEV, the plug-in trucks will roam the streets of Auburn Hills for the next three years as a part of Chrysler 's testing process. Other cities that have already begun testing the 1500 PHEV include Yuma, Arizona, San Francisco, Sacramento, Charlotte, N.C., Boston and Albany, N.Y.

Two of the trucks will be used by Auburn Hills' department of public services, while the city's building services director and director of economic development will be landing the keys to the other two trucks.

The PHEV 1500"²s drivetrain includes a liquid-cooled 12.9kWhr lithium ion battery pack and a 6.6 kilowatt on-board charger, giving the truck an all-electric driving range of about 20 miles. After battery power is depleted, the Ram reverts to function like a typical two-mode hybrid. Interestingly, Ram says the truck can power an entire house for up to two hours in a squeeze.

Ram doesn't have any production plans for the PHEV 1500, but says the truck will play a major role in the company's future green products. Chrysler admits that its current lineup isn't the greenest on the block, but says "that definitely will be changing in the near future."

Chrysler says it is also developing a similar fleet of 25 Town & Country minivans with plug-in hybrid technology for demonstration and evaluation that will be allocated to select cities next year.
  

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