Now you don’t have to worry about running out of juice, on and off the road.
Electrification is inevitable, even for automakers you won’t normally associate with electric vehicles. Gone were the days when electric vehicles were seen as stale and unexciting machines – even a vehicle as robust and tough as the Jeep Wrangler now has an electrified model that was introduced last year.
But the Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid has a problem – it has received a disappointing all-electric range from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The off-roader can only run solely in batteries up to 21 miles (34 kilometers), compared to the expected 25 miles (40 km).
Gallery: Jeep 4xe Charging Stations
To solve this problem, Stellantis has announced that it will be putting up charging stations on the trailheads of three popular off-roading sites, namely in Moab, Utah; the Rubicon Trail in Pollock Pines, California; and Big Bear, California.
The charging stations will be located near Jeep Badge of Honor trails, which were created in cooperation with Electrify America and expected to open this spring. These stations will either be directly connected to the power grid or as the images suggest, will use solar power to generate electricity.
Jeep 4xe owners will need to login via a custom mobile app by Electrify America to unlock free charging. The app also allows owners to initiate and monitor the charging session.
Thinking about it, installing charging stations on trailheads is a good thing as hikers who will park their Jeep 4xes and will hike can benefit from the extra juice slowly fed into the battery of their plug-in hybrids. Of note, the trailhead chargers will deliver Level 2 (240-volt) charging, which can fully charge the Wrangler 4xe’s 17 kWh battery pack in around two hours.
Apart from the trailhead chargers, the Jeep 4xe charging network will expand this year, with locations to be announced in the future.
Source:
Stellantis
Source: Read Full Article