What is it? The Patriot EV will be an electric vehicle that uses a gasoline engine as a backup power source. The Patriot EV will share underpinnings with the Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass, but its boxy, upright body will give it more interior space than those two. The Patriot EV uses a 200kw (268 hp) electric motor that gets juice from a lithium-ion battery pack beneath the vehicle. A small gasoline engine turns a generator to provide power when the main battery pack runs down. Chrysler claims that the Patriot EV can go 40 miles in all-electric mode and up to 400 miles with combined electric and gasoline operation without refueling. While driving, regenerative braking also feeds power to the lithium-ion battery pack, and the EV can be charged overnight on a home-based electrical connection.
What's new and notable? Once the all-electric driving range is exhausted, the Patriot EV operates something like a diesel locomotive, a setup sometimes called series hybrid. The electric motor continues to power the drive wheels, but gets power from an engine and generator rather than from the battery pack alone. The virtue of this design is flexibility: Any power source can be used to supply the extra range capability, such as a gasoline engine, diesel engine, or a hydrogen fuel cell.
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