Chrysler to supply on-base Army cars
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By Mike Ramsey
Bloomberg News Service
Chrysler LLC won a contract to supply the first six of 4,000 electric vehicles the U.S. Army plans to use on military bases.
The golf-cart-size vehicles will be on six-year leases from Chrysler's Global Electric Motorcars division, the Army announced Friday.
Chrysler's GEM has sold 38,000 plug-in rechargeable cars and light trucks since its founding in 1998.
"The speed limit is 25 or 30 miles per hour on the bases. It doesn't make sense to buy a car that goes 100 miles per hour, but never gets above 30," Army deputy assistant secretary Paul Bollinger Jr. said.
GEM makes battery-powered "neighborhood electric vehicles." With a top speed of 25 mph, they can't be driven on highways.
The Chrysler electrics will be added to the Army's base fleet of 28,000 cars and light trucks.
The Army plans to place additional orders with automakers for 800 vehicles to begin shipping in April, followed by deliveries of 1,600 a year in 2010 and 2011.
The purchase cost of the electrics is $10,200, compared with $13,500 for the gasoline models, the Army said.
The plug-in models cost $400 a year to operate versus $2,400 for conventional vehicles, Bollinger said.
The new electrics will have windshield wipers, heaters and metal doors, making them more carlike than earlier versions, he said.
The vehicles recharge in about six to eight hours through 110-volt outlets.
A full charge powers 30 miles of driving.
The contract is part of an Army effort to cut total fuel consumption by 2 percent by 2015, Bollinger said.
The electric vehicles will account for almost half of that reduction.
The side of each vehicle will be labeled with the slogan Army Green, Army Strong.
The deal ties Chrysler closer to the federal government, which has just lent the company $4 billion to stay in business. The third-largest U.S. automaker had said it might run out of money by the middle of this month without the loan.
GEM is a profitable division, unit spokeswoman Joan Michelson said.
Chrysler is closely held by Cerberus Capital Management LP and doesn't report its financial results.
Chrysler also plans to sell a highway-worthy electric car or sport utility vehicle in 2010. It will be one of four prototype vehicles, including a minivan, Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Patriot and a sportscar called the Dodge Circuit.
