Chrysler May Jump Into Electric Cars With Volt-Like Vehicles

Forget global warming and high gas prices. Desperation is the driving force in the electric car market.

Chrysler, the limping American auto maker that was absorbed by Cerebrus Capital Management, will demonstrate a serial hybrid to dealers Tuesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. The car will drive on an electric motor, reports the Journal, while an integrated gas-powered generator will recharge its battery.

This kind of car, also called a range-extended electric vehicle, has advantages over fully electric cars, say advocates. First, the battery pack is smaller. Because batteries are one of the most expensive parts of electric cars, this should bring down the price. General Motors plans to sell its Volt for around $40,000. Yes, that’s more than a Chevy Malibu, but less than a Tesla Roadster.

Second, these cars can go farther before conking out than a full electric car. The Tesla Roadster has a 250 mile range. The Volt is expected to go 400 miles.

Critics, though, note that the rapid recharge cycles and overall system complexity make these a challenge. No one sells serial hybrids less. (The Toyota Prius and existing hybrids are parallel hybrids in which the gas and electric motors both drive the car. There are also power-split hybrids, which Toyota is experimenting with in which the gas motor drives one axle or takes up some specific task and the electric motor does other tasks or axles.)

Chrysler showed off the all-electric Zeo at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year and two serial hybrids. Giving a presentation to the dealers inches up the possibility of these cars becoming real a notch. The WSJ says Chrysler’s cars might come out in 2011.

In some ways, you can gauge a company’s interest in serial hybrids and fully electric cars by how well they are doing now or how big they are. In short, the bigger splash you need, the more you are drawn to electricity.

Toyota, king of the car heap these days, remains skeptical about fully electric cars. It continues to push hybrids. Toyota will have a plug-in hybrid next year, but the car will likely be a parallel hybrid with more batteries than a regular Prius.Toyota right now is testing a plug-in hybrid which has two of the battery packs found in a regular Prius. Next year, it will test a lithium battery.

GM and Chrysler are both losing money and have a keen interest in more complex serial hybrids. Nissan, which has trailed Toyota and Honda, is big on electrics.

A lot of startups, such as Tesla, meanwhile, favor all-electrics and serial hybrids.