Chrysler Group LLC Providing Selected Cities with a Test Fleet of PHEV Ram 1500 Pickup Trucks

Chrysler Group LLC, working in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), delivered the first of a demonstration fleet of Ram 1500 plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) pickup trucks to municipal officials in Yuma, Ariz., on May 25.

The 10 PHEV Ram 1500 pickups delivered by Abdullah Bazzi, senior manager of the Chrysler Group’s advanced hybrid vehicle project, are part of a national demonstration fleet of 140 vehicles that will be used during the next three years to evaluate customer usage, drive cycles, charging, thermal management, fuel economy, emissions and impact on the region’s electric grid. In addition to Yuma, 11 other partners across the United States will receive vehicles for demonstration and testing purposes.

Strictly a demonstration program, there are no plans for a production version of the PHEV Ram 1500 truck at this time.

Cities and states were selected to evaluate temperature extremes, urban traffic cycles and diverse climates and geographies from North Dakota, Massachusetts, Hawaii and Arizona. Cities will include San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif., Austin, Texas and Kansas City, Mo.

The Chrysler Group is also developing a similar fleet of 25 Town & Country minivans with plug-in hybrid technology for demonstration and evaluation that will be allocated to select cities later this year.