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Chrysler to reveal next minivan at 2016 Detroit Auto Show

All eyes in the industry are presently fixed on this year's Detroit Auto Show, but over at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, they're already looking towards next year's show. That's when the Italian-American automaker says it'll unveil the next Chrysler minivan. The announcement, made on the FCA Corporate Twitter feed, promises that the next Pentastar minivan will debut in January 2016, which (along with the hashtag NAIAS) suggests the next-generation family hauler will debut at the Detroit show next year. Auburn Hills is expected to replace the current Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan with two all-new models: one keeping the minivan form, and the other shifting into more of a crossover. Just which nameplate gets the new form factor, and which will debut at Cobo next year, we don't know. Odds are good that it'll be the minivan not the CUV, though. Chrysler's minivan has been a winning business for the Detroit automaker, pioneering the segment, outselling the competition and marketing around the world under more brands and nameplates than just about anything else in the industry. The vehicle has been sold as the Dodge Caravan, Chrysler Town & Country, Chrysler Voyager, Plymouth Voyager, Lancia Voyager, Ram Cargo Van and Volkswagen Routan, to say nothing of long-wheelbase Grand versions of many of the aforementioned nameplates. News Source: FCA via Twitter Detroit Auto Show Chrysler Dodge Minivan/Van Detroit 2016 Detroit Auto Show chrysler town and country dodge grand caravan dodge caravan

Stellantis launching at least 25 EVs for America by 2030

Stellantis has announced a wide-ranging plan for the company through 2030 covering everything from product to financials. The product plans are what really caught our attention, particularly for the surprise reveal of the first electric Jeep, as well as new teasers of the electric Ram 1500. But the company also provided more broad details on what we'll be seeing in the future including both electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. All of the plans are in service of the Stellantis goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2038. On that way, it plans for all European vehicle sales and half of all American sales to be electric by 2030. It will launch 75 new electric vehicles by that year, and at least 25 of them will be coming to the U.S. The first of those electric cars will be the aforementioned Jeep in 2023, but many Stellantis models will follow close behind. The electric Ram ProMaster will launch in 2023 as well. In 2024, we'll see the electric Ram (and its plug-in hybrid counterpart), two more Jeeps (an off-road model and a family-oriented model) and the Dodge electric muscle car. We'll get a preview of the Dodge with a concept this year. Then in 2025, Chrysler will launch its electric car, likely based on the Airflow concept. Stellantis has previously announced Chrysler will be fully electric by 2028, and it further announced that Alfa Romeo and Maserati will be fully electric by 2030. Stellantis is also working on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, mainly for commercial use. For the U.S., it plans on offering a large, ProMaster-size hydrogen van in 2025. That year or a little later, it also has plans for a hydrogen heavy-duty pickup truck, presumably Ram 2500 and 3500. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares noted that among the benefits of hydrogen for large and commercial vehicles is being able to avoid compromising payload capacity, since hydrogen powertrains are lighter than giant batteries. Hydrogen filling times are quick relative to charging, too. The company will continue working on and offering advanced driver aids. This year it will offer hands-free cruise control like GM's Super Cruise and Ford's BlueCruise. In 2024, the company intends to introduce a system that is hands-free and won't require the driver to be watching it the entire time. The technology is being developed alongside BMW. These are, of course, broad plans, and they could change as time goes on. Expect more details as we get closer to individual product releases.

An early gas-electric hybrid was developed by...Exxon?

We're not sure which aspect of Exxon's 1970s-era efforts to develop advanced and electrified powertrains is the most ironic. There's Exxon, that of the Valdez oil spill infamy, being on the leading edge of hybrids and electric vehicles. There's a boat-like Chrysler Cordova getting 27 miles per gallon. And there's the central role a Volkswagen diesel engine plays in that hybrid development. It's all outlined in an article (linked above) by Inside Climate News, and it's an amusing read. Flush with cash and fearing what it thought was peak oil production in the 1970s, Exxon funded a host of new ventures divisions geared to find alternatives to gas-powered powertrains. In the early 1970s, Exxon lured chemist M. Stanley Whittingham to develop what would become a prototype of a lithium-ion rechargeable battery. Then, in the late 1970s, Exxon pioneered the concept of using an alternating-current (AC) motor as part of a gas-electric hybrid vehicle. The company retrofitted a Chrysler Cordova (yes, that's the model Ricardo Montalban used to hawk) with a powertrain that combined 10 Sears Die-Hard car batteries, an alternating current synthesizer (ACS), a 100-horsepower AC motor, and, yes, a four-cylinder 50-horsepower Volkswagen diesel engine. The result was a rather large two-door sedan that got an impressive 27 mpg. And while US automakers didn't see the potential in the early concept, in 1980 Exxon and Toyota began collaborating on a project that would involve retrofitting a Toyota Cressida with a hybrid engine. That car was completed in 1981, and may have been one of the seeds that eventually helped sprout the concept of the Toyota Prius. Soon after rebuilding the Cressida, Exxon would get out of the advanced-powertrain-development business, as oil prices began to fall in the early 1980s, spurring cost-cutting measures. Cry no tears for the Exxon, though, as what's now known as ExxonMobil is the largest US oil company. Related Video: News Source: Inside Climate NewsImage Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Green Read This Chrysler Toyota Electric Hybrid battery