Six plug-in hybrid electric Ram 1500 pickups will be put to the test in Colorado and three adjacent states as part of partnership involving Chrysler Group LLC, the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Gov. John Hickenlooper drove one of the trucks, which have gasoline hemi engines and two electric motors powered by a lithium-ion battery, to the state Capitol on Friday.
The pickups’ technology that will be tested “can change the world,” Hickenlooper said, by helping to solve energy needs.
For three years, 140 of the vehicles will be evaluated in a national demonstration program. There are no plans to manufacture the plug-in pickups at this time.
The region features all types of terrain and environments to provide critical data about the technology, said Ken Anderson, chief executive at Tri-State, a Westminster- based wholesale power supplier to a 200,000-square-mile region.
Ann Schrader, The Denver Post
