Ram 1500 PHEV Receives Jolt from Canadian Government
http://www.ramzone.com/2010/07/26/ram-1 ... overnment/
I wonder if it uses electric only in a heavy load situation? I suppose if the motorThis past March, the U.S. Dept. of Energy provided a grant for up to $48 million in order for a test fleet of 140 Ram 1500 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) to be produced in the United States.
These Ram 1500 PHEVs will be powered by a 5.7L V8, providing 390 horsepower, 407lb-ft of torque mated to a two-mode hybrid transmission and a 12KwHr lithium ion battery system.
This week, the developer of this battery system, Electrovaya, recently received a contribution of $5 million (CDN) by the Sustainable Development Technology Canada as part of the Canadian Government. This funding will support their further research and development needs in high energy density Lithium Ion SuperPolymer® battery systems that will be in this fleet.
The vehicle is expected to be able to drive up to 20 miles on pure electric power, resulting in zero emissions. Once the vehicles are completed, these extremely efficient Ram 1500 PHEVs will be utilized for a three-year test program throughout the United States showing how quickly this technology can be brought to market.
has enough torque it would work okay but the battery would drain much quicker.
I applaud the idea of having HEMI power on tap (or as the backup) while using a
hybrid setup for short and/or low load trips. Save on gas and, in theory, carbon.
However, I take issue with saying "zero emissions". Depending on where you get
the power for your house, the electricity used to charge the truck may or may not
be creating carbon emissions. It's simply moving the emissions output from your
vehicle to the power plant. Now, if we were able to get more green power plants,
all the better, but we don't need to get into that discussion.
