[jerryjeeper]

Went to the Detroit Auto Show today and checked out the Wrangler EV. Pure concept car at this point with a silly tube front axle, 2wd only. ZERO off road capability... When I questioned the "Technical Expert" (That's how the dude introduced himself!!) he immediately shudderered when I asked about Four Wheel Drive. After several minutes of excusing the 2WD only show car, he did say that that they were exploring a concept with individual hi-torque drive motors for each wheel as a solution to the 4WD issue. The displays and show cars were really toned down this year due to the tight money in the Automotive Economy. It was still a great show and there were very few people there due to the hoopla over the Obama inaguration. Plenty of room to walk around and time to sit in and look over the vehicles.

[RockRodHooligan]

Originally Posted by jerryjeeper

Went to the Detroit Auto Show today and checked out the Wrangler EV. Pure concept car at this point with a silly tube front axle, 2wd only. ZERO off road capability... When I questioned the "Technical Expert" (That's how the dude introduced himself!!) he immediately shudderered when I asked about Four Wheel Drive. After several minutes of excusing the 2WD only show car, he did say that that they were exploring a concept with individual hi-torque drive motors for each wheel as a solution to the 4WD issue. The displays and show cars were really toned down this year due to the tight money in the Automotive Economy. It was still a great show and there were very few people there due to the hoopla over the Obama inaguration. Plenty of room to walk around and time to sit in and look over the vehicles.

The very hot model that was calling herself the "Technical Expert" didn't seem to be phased by me asking about it being 2wd, but she didn't mention the multi-motor set up, I could see some cool things being done with a set-up like that.

[karlo]

Nice concept.

Congats for Chrsyler for doing this electric Jeep.

[BilliardJK]

I would like one for the wife's DD. Anyone have any idea of price when (if) it goes to production. It would probably be pretty expensive like the Chevy Volt.

[RUNIT]

Originally Posted by hotrod_hooligan

I believe the rear end is a Ford 9" of some sort, which the 3rd member containing the gears and differential, is removed from the back side of the housing to service:
http://www.britishv8.org/Triumph/DanMasters/Image15.jpg
And JKs no longer use the D35, ALL of them come standard with the new D44 rear axle. I'm sure the Ford 9" wont make it to production for obvious reasons, but is probably more fore the R&D phase than anything, as the 3rd member can be pulled and regeared on a work bench. The other reason being they are probably still trying to figure out how strong of rear axle they are going to need, given the electric motor has something like 300 lbs/ft torque at 0 RPM. My guess is they may end up using a version of the D60 from the J8 military Jeep.

Thanks for the link. That makes sense now. But I still think they would use something other than the standard Dana axle. The EV vehicles would need to be more weight-conscious. Seems to me the 44 or 60 would be too heavy. I'm guessing they would come up with something light and weak to make the bean counters happy. I hope I'm wrong.

[J33pFr33k]

Originally Posted by aszalan

here is some more info on it

http://blogs.motortrend.com/6346915/green/driving-the-jeep-wrangler-ev-can-eco-friendly-and-trail-rated-co-exist/index.html

that is flipping awesome

[J33pFr33k]

Going to school for electronic engineering technology and hope to one day convert my yj into an electric vehicle based on the series ev concept. it would be the funnest project ever.

[archimeech]

Talk to these guys:

www.coolgreencar.net

They're converting old donor Porshces now, but will do it for any car. I think they'll even sell you the kit for doing it yourself. I too want to convert an older Jeep, but would love to buy the EV for the Wife.

[archimeech]

Any news of that Plug-in Hybrid that Jeep was promising in 2010? Has Fiat put the kybosh on it, or will it be a few more years?

I want a JK unlimited for the wife for her daily driver and would love to get a more efficient one for her. That way it will "offset" my carbon footprint as I'm running around in the mud in my TJ!

[XJ2Timer]

Originally Posted by archimeech

Any news of that Plug-in Hybrid that Jeep was promising in 2010? Has Fiat put the kybosh on it, or will it be a few more years?

I want a JK unlimited for the wife for her daily driver and would love to get a more efficient one for her. That way it will "offset" my carbon footprint as I'm running around in the mud in my TJ!

Chrysler ends ENVI, redeploys engineers | Allpar Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep News

[slow2run]

From the 5 year plan , Chrysler will market 2 or 3% of its production too EV hybrid vehicles, Fiat has killed Chrysler's in-house hybrid brand vehicles because they have something better ,it will produces more when the tect is here and if you will by them? but NO all electric vehicles , because the infrastructure is not here yet, we have brown and blackout now in our cities, and with 3 or 4 million all electric cars plug-in, well you can see the problems . Note: the Ram 1500 hybrid will hit the market Y10 .

[slow2run]

From the 5 year plan , Chrysler will market 2 or 3% of its production it EV hybrid vehicles, Fiat just killed Chrysler's in-house hybrid vehicles it will produces more when the tect is here and if you will by them? but NO all electric vehicles , because the infrastructure is not here yet, we have brown and blackout now, and with 3 or 4 million all electric car plug-in, well you can see the problems .

[XJ2Timer]

Originally Posted by slow2run

From the 5 year plan , Chrysler will market 2 or 3% of its production it EV hybrid vehicles, Fiat just killed Chrysler's in-house hybrid vehicles it will produces more when the tect is here and if you will by them? but NO all electric vehicles , because the infrastructure is not here yet, we have brown and blackout now, and with 3 or 4 million all electric car plug-in, well you can see the problems .

Story from the UK but related to what you are saying. Kind of hard to go electric if the power isn't there to use.

A separate piece of research last year suggested that, if all Britain's 27 million cars went electric, and were charged every day, the electricity supply would have to quadruple to cope with the new demand.

Undercurrent of doubt over electric motors - Climate Change, Environment - The Independent