2025 Ram Ramcharger

[Hersbird]

https://www.motortrend.com/news/2025...t-look-review/

I put a reservation on the Ram Rev insider plus in the first day or 2 so I'm pretty excited about this. Supposedly the reservation is good for the Rev or the Ramcharger.

I think it's a great idea, better than a pure BEV. So the 3.6 gas motor, which is very reliable and inexpensive, lighter than a 2.0 turbo 4, and already used in the Ram, runs to generate 175hp normally, up to 255hp, to charge a good sized battery. The batter powers 2 electric drive motors for over 600 hp. There is no mechanical connection from the ICE to the wheels. So this will tow like a 6.7 Cummins but run a NA gas v6. It won't have the range towing a Cummins truck does, or get as good economy, but compared to a pure BEV pickup towing it should go linger and when it does need "recharging" you can do it at any gas station in 3 minutes.

Day to day it has a 150 mile range pure EV, hopefully charged at home off peak.

It is probably the quickest Ram ever besides the 700hp TRX, to which it's pretty close.

It will be great camping to have that ability to power the camper, even running AC and high load appliances.

[JSH]

Yes, this is an interesting product. I was wondering which company would be the first to build a range extended truck as CARB's ZEV mandate allow up to 20% PHEVs with a range of at least 50 miles. Trucks and large SUVs make perfect candidates for this kind of tech with the size required for both a battery and engine and the need to tow.

Some are surprised by the choice of a NA V6 as for the engine. It makes sense to me from both a manufacturing side (use what you have at least at first) and from the fact that it has to be large enough to provide enough power to maintain highway speeds while towing.

The battery size is a bit more of a mystery to me. At first look it seems way larger than needed as is the 150 mile range it provides. A battery half the size could still provide the range needed to cover more than 90% of trips on battery alone. Maybe they need that much battery to get the level of power they wanted. Maybe they still want to cover 90% of trips with a 10 year old battery in the dead of a Minnesota winter.

[Hersbird]

I've seen a big spread on range. From around 100 to even over 200. What the release said was it could do 145 miles EV before the 3.6 kicked on, but that doesn't mean it still wouldn't have a bunch left in the battery at that point. Maybe it's keeping over 30% in reserves to both make it last longer, make it recharge faster, and have some for say towing a mountian pass. It sounds like you can also set it to start right away and keep the battery topped off for say a camp ground or construction site.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

I've seen a big spread on range. From around 100 to even over 200. What the release said was it could do 145 miles EV before the 3.6 kicked on, but that doesn't mean it still wouldn't have a bunch left in the battery at that point. Maybe it's keeping over 30% in reserves to both make it last longer, make it recharge faster, and have some for say towing a mountian pass. It sounds like you can also set it to start right away and keep the battery topped off for say a camp ground or construction site.

The eTransit is rated at 126 miles range with a 68 kWh battery (usable) so the Ram should do better with a 92 kWh battery even with worse aero and likely big oversized tires.

I doubt CARB will allow a PHEV to start the trip in gas mode and still get the $5,000 ZEV credit. I suspect you will need to go at least 50 miles on the battery and then switch to hybrid mode.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by JSH

The eTransit is rated at 126 miles range with a 68 kWh battery (usable) so the Ram should do better with a 92 kWh battery even with worse aero and likely big oversized tires.

I doubt CARB will allow a PHEV to start the trip in gas mode and still get the $5,000 ZEV credit. I suspect you will need to go at least 50 miles on the battery and then switch to hybrid mode.

There is a 3 mode button by where the 4wd and transmission shifter is on the regular Ram. Electric +, E-save, and Eco. I believe it will default to the electric + which starts on battery only, but the E-save is supposed to save the battery power until the end. The Jeep Wrangler 4XE has something similar so you can gas to the trail, then off road in silent EV mode. It qualifies for the $7500 tax credit.

[Hersbird]

Here is the most detailed report I have seen
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...301979447.html

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

There is a 3 mode button by where the 4wd and transmission shifter is on the regular Ram. Electric +, E-save, and Eco. I believe it will default to the electric + which starts on battery only, but the E-save is supposed to save the battery power until the end. The Jeep Wrangler 4XE has something similar so you can gas to the trail, then off road in silent EV mode. It qualifies for the $7500 tax credit.

The $7500 federal tax credit is different from the credits earned by manufacturers to comply with CARB regulations. CARB requires an ever increasing percentage of vehicles sold by each automaker to be ZEV vehicles. ZEVs are EVs, fuel celsl, and PHEVs with 50 miles of EV range. PHEVs can only make up 20% of an automakers ZEVs. If an automaker does not sell enough ZEVs they are fined $5,000 per vehicle that they missed the target. If they make more than they need they can back extra credits towards future years or sell those extra ZEV credits to other automaker.

The Wrangler doesn't have enough range to quality as a ZEV so Jeep is free to do what they want.

In the USA the BMW i3 REx had to start in EV mode and deplete the battery to 7% before the REx would turn on . That was unique to the USA and due to CARB requirements. The European version allows the drive to turn on the engine at 75% battery SOC to hold EV range for later use.

[redpoint5]

This sounds amazing. I had no idea this was being developed. It's what I've been saying for 15 years now, that the proper place to implement hybrid technology is the heavy vehicles, not the Honda Insight.

That said, the real savings is going to come from being able to plug in and complete trips in EV mode only, because the truck only gets 20 MPG once the engine kicks on. That's not a terrible MPG rating, but it's only about average for that class of truck.

Originally Posted by JSH

The battery size is a bit more of a mystery to me. At first look it seems way larger than needed as is the 150 mile range it provides. A battery half the size could still provide the range needed to cover more than 90% of trips on battery alone. Maybe they need that much battery to get the level of power they wanted. Maybe they still want to cover 90% of trips with a 10 year old battery in the dead of a Minnesota winter.

You'd need a large battery to output 500+ HP, or to regen with payload.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

You'd need a large battery to output 500+ HP, or to regen with payload.

True but you also don't need 600 hp to pull a load.

20 years ago a Cummins 5.9L ISB CR in a RAM 2500 made 300 hp and nobody thought it was underpowered to pull a trailer. Nobody expected a truck to go 0-60 in 4 seconds back then.

[redpoint5]

You need 600 HP to impress people into buying a weird new product.

It does appear silly seeing a 92 kWh battery on a PHEV considering that's the same capacity in a long range Tesla, but trucks are about half as efficient as cars. It's equivalent to the range of a 45 kWh car. Still, that's about 3x the range of the longest range PHEVs.

I would want to engineer it with a smaller battery, but with a Prius-like drivetrain to improve efficiency. Problem is, the vehicle then either has to become primarily FWD, or run a drive axle to the rear. At least this system has eliminated the drive axle.

Engine seems to be sized a bit big, too. I'd be tempted to put a 4-cyl 2.7L engine in there, but maybe balance was a factor too. I'm sure they know better than me what to put in there.

EDIT: Other standout features;

Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-home (V2H) bidirectional charging capability is offered as standard, meaning one could power an entire house from the pickup’s battery pack or help another EV to get back on the road if it has a low state of charge (SoC) level. There’s also an onboard power panel in the bed that can provide up to 7.2 kW.