FCA Is Working on a PHEV for EV-Only Traffic Zones
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) announced that the large automobile group was going to start making the shift into electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids back in 2018. Sure, the FCA started out with the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, and in 2020 the Jeep Compass 4xe and Jeep Renegade 4xe made their debut, followed by the Jeep Wrangler 4xe. Still, there isn’t much. If anything, no one expected FCA to go all Big Brother on us when it came to driving electric vehicles (EVs). The newest plug-in hybrid Jeep prototypes switch to EV-only mode in the city and other urban areas, in an effort to reduce pollution in cities. Of course, if the driver finds a way around this, they’ll get reported for using gas.
What? Didn’t the hole in the ozone clear up recently? Yeah, May 1, 2020, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported that the pierced ozone layer in the northern hemisphere has completely healed up. Do we really need to go this far to compete with global warming and ensure the ozone doesn’t get another hole? Alas, the new system, installed on new Jeep Renegade 4xe SUVs, is being tested with a new vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology that not only allows the vehicle to intelligently change drive modes when crossing city limits, but will notify the city if the driver overrides that change.
Up until now, many plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) had the option to change to EV-only mode to run the vehicle off the electric motor, powered by a medium-to-large battery pack, and the driver made the decision to change between the various driving options. Not everyone likes EV-only, most may prefer a combination for the best possible fuel efficiency and driving range, but it may no longer be an option in the city. Surprisingly, some automakers have been testing this with plug-in hybrid cars for some time now. Many PHEVs that come with different modes can be set to automatically make the switch when analyzing a navigation route for when driving on the highway (to use gas) and when driving in the city (use electricity).
Before we get out the pitchforks, there could be a reason for this. The FCA prototype is called “Turin Geofencing Lab”, developed between the FCA e-Mobility division and the Centro Ricerche Fiat. The name is derived from the city of Turin, Italy, a city with strict traffic zones that only allow electric vehicles to operate. But the prototype is a PHEV, so why would it be allowed onto an EV-only street? That’s the whole point of this automatic system. Because not everyone also wants to make the switch to EVs due to fears of being stranded without a charging station, drivers who are enjoying plug-in hybrids can drive on EV-only roads.
When approaching the restricted traffic zone in Italy, the Jeep Renegade 4xe switches driving modes of the SUV to fully-electric drive mode, turns off the gas engine, and displays a message to the driver to notify them of this change. If the driver chooses to ignore this, a warning message will prompt the driver to change back, in case they thought it was a glitch or something they did accidentally, human-error and all. However, if the driver chooses to ignore that warning and intentionally tries to use gas in an EV-traffic only area, a notification is automatically sent to the City of Turin’s system. Penalties already in place are fines up to more than $730 for vehicles contravening the ZTL or “Zona a Traffico Limitato” areas’ rules.
Way to be a narc, FCA. At least the plug-in hybrid changes back to hybrid mode once leaving restricted traffic zones, all thanks to a built-in geofencing system. It’s all in the spirt of equality though.
“Once this type of technology has been proven reliable in plug-in hybrid vehicles such as the Jeep Renegade 4xe…it will be possible to implement policies permitting these cars to enter restricted traffic zones, by giving them the same status as electric cars.” – FCA
Do you like the idea of plug-in hybrids making the automatic switch? Or will you just avoid cities like Turin? Join the discussion on Aventura Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram social media.