2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger Tungsten
Ram
DETROIT — Automaker Stellantis plans to provide an industry-first electric pickup truck called the Ram 1500 Ramcharger that is equipped with an electric generator and a gas engine.
If that seems like an oxymoron, here’s how it really works: The truck can operate as a zero-emissions EV until its battery dies and an electric onboard generator — powered by a 27-gallon, 3.6-liter V6 engine — kicks on to power the vehicle.
The final result is a truck with the advantages of an EV, akin to fast acceleration and a few zero-emissions driving, without the range anxiety synonymous with most current electric vehicles, in keeping with Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis.
“That is the final word answer for the battery-electric truck. Nobody else has got the rest prefer it,” Kuniskis told reporters during an event. “That is going to be a game changer for battery-electric trucks.”
The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger is predicted to go on sale in late 2024 alongside a previously revealed all-electric Ram 1500 truck and not using a gas-powered engine or range-extending electric generator.
Stellantis estimates the range of the Ramcharger to be as much as 690 miles, including as much as 145 miles powered by a 92 kilowatt-hour battery when fully charged without the extended-range power from the gas engine and 130 kilowatt electric generator.
That range compares with as much as an expected 500-mile range of the all-electric Ram 1500 REV pickup. It also tops the present Ram 1500, which has a 3.6-liter V-6 engine and an as much as 26-gallon tank with a complete range of as much as 546 miles, in keeping with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Stellantis didn’t announce pricing of the Ramcharger, which was revealed Tuesday as a part of a redesign of current gasoline-powered Ram 1500 pickups for the 2025 model 12 months.
‘Not a PHEV’
Kuniskis said the Ramcharger is supposed as a bridge between traditional trucks with internal combustion engines and all-electric ones, which currently face significant hurdles regarding charging infrastructure and range anxiety, especially when the vehicles are towing — a principal reason to buy a truck.
Such improvements could possibly be a differentiator for the brand, in keeping with Stephanie Brinley, associate director of AutoIntelligence for S&P Global Mobility.
“It really works to handle the incontrovertible fact that straight away the industry and the pickup truck segment specifically is just not ready to simply flip to EVs 100%,” she said. “It addresses a few of those performance and range anxiety concerns, and it’s strong.— However the difficult part goes to be getting consumers to essentially understand what it does.”
2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger Tungsten
Ram
Similar propulsion technology — known as extended-range electric vehicles, or EREVs — is on the market in overseas markets, specifically China. It is also similarly been offered in vehicles akin to the discontinued Chevrolet Volt sedan from General Motors.
Stellantis engineers said the principal difference between the technology of the Ramcharger and the Volt is that the truck is being exclusively propelled by electric motors, not the vehicle’s engine, once the battery dies. It is also expected to be the primary application of it in a production full-size pickup truck.
The Ramcharger features 663 horsepower and 615 foot-pounds of torque and may achieve 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds, Stellantis said. The truck shall be able to bidirectional charging, where the vehicle acts as a generator to power appliances and even a complete home, the corporate said.
Kuniskis, who also leads Stellantis’ Dodge brand, declined to comment on whether the technology of the Ramcharger shall be utilized in other vehicles. Other Stellantis brands include Chrysler, Jeep and Fiat within the U.S.
The Ramcharger operates in another way from current plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs, that supply a spread of all-electric driving, followed by an engine powering the vehicle after the battery is depleted.
Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis unveils the Charger Daytona SRT concept electric muscle automotive on Aug. 17, 2022 in Pontiac, Mich.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
“The Ramcharger is just not a PHEV,” Kuniskis said. “It is a battery-electric truck with its own onboard, high-speed charger.”
“There isn’t any connection between the engine and the wheels,” he said. “The gas generator is simply there to charge the battery.”
Ram’s truck strategy is different from its leading competitors GM and Ford Motor. The latter is offering traditional, hybrid and all-electric versions of its F-150 full-size truck, while GM has said it plans to transition from traditional trucks to electric ones without the usage of hybrids.
Stellantis currently offers PHEV versions of vehicles akin to the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and Jeep Wrangler and Grand Cherokee SUVs.
Bye-bye Hemi
The design of the Ramcharger is a combination between the all-electric Ram 1500 REV and the refreshed gas versions of the normal trucks, which shall be available early next 12 months.
The Ramcharger includes illuminated lines across its grille from the headlamps, recent badging that debuted on the all-electric truck and other design and facia elements between the 2.
For the normal Ram 1500 models, the largest change is the corporate is dropping its well-known Hemi V-8. Replacing the present 5.7-liter Hemi engine offered within the truck shall be a twin-turbocharged, inline-six-cylinder engine called the Hurricane.
Ram’s 2023 Super Bowl ad debuts the production version of the Ram 1500 REV electric pickup that is predicted to go on sale in late 2024.
Screenshot
“Some customers are going to be upset that you just’re not going to have a Hemi in there,” Kuniskis said. “Sure, the Hemi’s an absolute legend. Americans love the Hemi, but this thing flat out outperforms the Hemi.”
The three.0-liter Hurricane engine is rated at 420 horsepower and 469 foot-pounds of torque, while a high-output version of the engine is rated at 540 horsepower and 521 foot-pounds of torque. That compares with the present V-8 Hemi at 395 horsepower and 410 foot-pounds of torque.
Inline-, or straight-, six-cylinder engines have been utilized in U.S. vehicles by automakers akin to BMW and Jaguar, nonetheless, they’re removed from mainstream within the U.S.
Other changes to the trucks include a recent luxury model called Tungsten and a performance variant called RHO replacing Ram’s high-output TRX pickup that is provided with a Hemi 6.2-liter V-8 able to 702 horsepower and 650 foot-pounds of torque.