Chrysler LLC and other automakers will be able to come to market quicker with electric cars if the U.S. government goes forward with billions of dollars in loans to the automotive industry, a top Chrysler executive said today.
“I think it will allow everybody to bring electric cars, plug-in hybrids, hybrid cars, even range-extended hybrids. All of those vehicles will be accelerated,” said Jim Press, Chrysler president and vice chairman, following a speech to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit.
Detroit automakers had been pushing Congress for $50 billion in industry loans but recently have leaned toward paring back the request to an original $25-billion amount.
Press said $25 billion would be a “good start” and that there needs to be “some way of taking a look at the return on that $25 billion, and if, in everyone’s perspective, we can do it again, we should. I think for a beginning, $25 billion is an appropriate place to start.”
Press has been out talking about Chrysler’s efforts to develop an electric-drive car that would compete against the much publicized Chevrolet Volt, which is slated to hit the market in 2010. An electric vehicle with an onboard generator, the Volt depends on lithium-ion battery technology that has not yet been proven for automotive use.
Some Chrysler dealers were recently shown three prototype electric vehicles.
Previously, the Free Press has reported that Chrysler’s ENVI division is developing electric vehicles and planning to launch a vehicle within three to five years.
