The company, which supplies electricity to 95% of the state, has already installed 11 public charging stations in Nevada. It joins Chrysler’s programme of 140 demonstration vehicles, being used all over the USA to examine usage, charging, grid impact and the economy and emissions of a plug-in hybrid pickup.

There are no plans for a production version of the vehicle, and a similar fleet of 25 Town and Country minivans using the same technology will be allocated to cities nationwide later this year.

‘Cities and states have been carefully selected to help the Chrysler Group LLC collect a wide range of data,’ explained Abdullah Bazzi, senior manager of Chrysler’s advanced hybrid vehicle project.

‘Cities like Las Vegas and areas throughout Nevada offer a combination of suburban and rural driving, elevation changes and a wide range of temperatures that are ideal as test cycles for these vehicles. The constant charging will allow us to measure the impact on battery life and charging efficiency.’