U.S. Automakers Welcome Utility Partners To FreedomCAR and Fuel P...(g thesetechnologies and their own resear...)

-- Chrysler LLC created the ENVI division to lead development of electric- powered vehicles for the automaker. The company will participate in a $30 million program with the DOE to develop plug-in hybrid technology in collaboration with General Electric.

Chrysler will launch its first hybrid electric vehicles this fall with the HEMI Hybrid Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen SUVs. The HEMI hybrid, which combines an advanced two-mode hybrid system with the HEMI engine with fuel-saving Multiple Displacement System, will provide hybrid fuel efficiency combined with full-size SUV performance, capability and utility. The vehicle will deliver more than 25 percent overall fuel economy improvement and nearly 40 percent fuel economy improvement in city driving.

-- Ford Motor Company's blueprint for sustainability includes the introduction of a range of global environmental technologies that will provide customers more fuel-efficient vehicles that emit fewer greenhouse gases without compromising their expectations for safety, interior room or performance.

The cornerstone of Ford's near-term plan is a new generation of smaller-displacement turbo-charged gasoline engines with advanced fuel-saving direct injection technologies called EcoBoost. The new family of engines will provide customers with a fuel savings up to 20 percent, emit up to 15 percent less CO2, and provide superior performance versus a larger displacement engine.

Ford is currently producing 20 Escape plug-in hybrid electric vehicles as a test fleet with Southern California Edison and the Electric Power Research Institute. The first of the vehicles is already being road tested in southern California, with additional vehicles to be delivered this year. The partnership seeks to advance the commercialization of PHEVs through development of th
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