Looking to create some positive news on Earth Day as its own day of reckoning draws near, Chrysler tarted-up a couple of its all-electric minvans in a U.S. Postal Service livery and showed them off in Washington D.C.
The minivans, part of Chrysler's ENVI electric vehicle push, are being billed as a way for the government to haul the mail in a zero emissions fashion. Chrysler envisions a day where the USPS could use a fleet of ENVI-powered minivans supported by an infrastructure created with help from big energy companies including ConEd, Duke Energy, DTE Energy.
Should it survive its coming restructuring efforts -- a plan for which is due by the end of the month -- the company intends to ask for a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Transportation Electrification stimulus program in order to help it achieve its goal of getting a demonstration fleet of all-electric Postal Service minivans on the road.
The Postal Service is looking to replace its aging fleet with more fuel efficient and less polluting vehicles, and Chrysler is sensing an opportunity to gain an important federal contract should its EVNI efforts pan out.
"Chrysler and the Postal Service have an established relationship as there are more than 10,000 of our minivans in the Postal Service fleet," said Lou Rhodes, Vice President-Advance Vehicle Engineering and President of ENVI, Chrysler LLC in a statement outlining the proposed effort. "The Postal Service is a recognized environmental innovator and leader, and we are excited at the prospect of continuing our relationship by working to deliver alternative energy postal delivery vehicles in the future."
Chrysler says the key utility partners have each signed a letter of intent to help post offices in several areas of the U.S. create a charging infrastructure for the envisioned program. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) also has pledged to provide USPS integration tools for the effort.
Given Chrysler's current situation, its ENVI plans seem a long ways off at best. But earlier this month the company announced a deal with A123Systems to be one of its strategic partners and production battery supplier for the company's initial production electric vehicles. Should all go as planned, the company hopes to have a significant amount of all-electric plug-in vehicles on the road by 2013.