40 Dodge Sprinter Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) will be placed in operation with customers in California, Kansas City and New York among other locations in the US as part of a test fleet program. Plug-in technology lends itself to commercial applications in which the vehicle returns to base after each shift to be plugged into the power grid but also works well in urban traffic situations for daily commuters.
Battery development is one of the keys to the success of hybrid transportation and PHEV’s yield valuable information through durability tests.
Based on Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle technology, The Dodge Sprinter PHEV has the ability to drive up to 20 miles on electric only power. It accomplishes this with a switch on the dashboard giving the operator the ability to manually switch between modes as needed or automatically by the vehicle control system. Two different combustion engines are being mated to the PHEV system, a five cylinder diesel and a V6 gasoline. The diesel version will yield the highest fuel economy benefit and is the first fleet test of a diesel plug-in hybrid system.
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