Stellantis' STLA solution for alleviating the most common fear with electric cars involves something that you might not think.
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Revealed today for the 2025 model year, Ram Trucks' new Ram 1500 Ramcharger is a battery electric truck with a peculiar secret weapon that might make it very appealing to a new set of buyers.
While the Ramcharger's wheels are powered by two electric motors that provide 663 horsepower, the truck alleviates the issue of range anxiety with the use of a 3.6 liter V6 gas engine.
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With that in mind, the Ramcharger sounds like a detraction from pure, battery powered EVs like the Ford F-150 lightning; but this tough truck is something entirely different.
The V6 in the Ramcharger is not mechanically connected to that car in any way, shape or form. The Ram trucks, along with using their electric motors, have a V6 that activates whenever it is needed, running quietly in the background to power a 130kW on-board generator that charges its on-board 92kW battery.
Setups like these are known as "series hybrids," and were formerly used in cars like the Chevrolet Volt, the Fisker Karma and are currently used in diesel-electric locomotives that transport goods and people across the country.
“There’s no connection between this generator assembly and the wheels, like one might find in even a plug in hybrid — all of the propulsion is electrical,” Ram Trucks chief enginer Doug Killian said in a statement. “And that’s really important to that story of this being an electric vehicle.”
With this setup, Stellantis says that this truck is good for 0-60 in 4.4 seconds, as well as up to 690 miles of total range. Additionally, they state that the Ramcharger will have a towing capacity of up to 14,000 pounds and a payload capacity of 2,625 pounds.
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Though the main source of electricity comes from the Ramcharger's on-board generator, the truck can also utilize 400-volt DC fast charging to add up to 50 miles of range in about 10 minutes. Like the F-150 Lightning, the truck has the ability to be used as its own mobile power station, to power other EVs, or send power to your home, campsite, worksite, with up to 7.2 kW of power available.
The Ramcharger still has all the premium appointments that Ram owners have gotten used to. In its new top-of-the-line Tungsten trim, buyers can enjoy platinum patina metal accents, heated and ventilated massaging leather seats, along with other tech like a 14.5 inch touch screen and a Klipsch sound system.
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Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis said in a statement that the purpose of the Ramcharger was to introduce its customer base to electrification, while helping to alleviate fears about range anxiety.
“There’s so many advantages to a battery electric vehicle, but there are certain things that are slowing people down,” Kuniskis said. “And I can say, the things that are slowing you down like charge time and range anxiety and infrastructure, you don’t have to worry about it with this.”
Pricing for the Ramcharger will be announced closer to its official launch date sometime in late 2024.
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