On September 23, 2008, Chrysler announced that it will have an electric car on the roads in the North American market by 2010. There are three potential models for the new car: a Dodge sports car, a Jeep Wrangler, and a Chrysler minivan. The company has not decided which model will hit the market first, though speculations are that the sports car will be the first to be unveiled.

The difference between these potential models, according to news reports, is that the sports car will be completely electric. The Jeep and minivan, however, will be able to travel further distances by combining fuel sources. They will plug directly into a wall outlet to get enough juice for about 40 miles of travel via the battery. After the 40 miles, a small gasoline engine will take over, which will recharge the batteries during travel.

Total, these new models should be able to travel about 400 miles on just 8 gallons of gas and will cost somewhere just over $30,000 to purchase, according to estimates.

In order to develop the special batteries needed for these new car models, Chrysler has been working with General Electric Corp., the U.S. Department of Energy, and A123 Systems Inc. According to the company, Chrysler is working hard to build electric powertrains into all upcoming models of cars and plans for all cars to have electric powertrains in the coming years.

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