The 2025 Ramcharger Debuts as The First Ever Truck With THIS Groundbreaking Technology!
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- Опубликовано: 6 ноя 2023
- ( www.alltfl.com/ ) Check out our new spot to find ALL our content, from news to videos and our podcasts! 2025 Ram Ramcharger Electric Truck Uses a Gas Engine You Know Well to Extend Its Range to 690 Miles!
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Like a diesel electric locomotive. The tractive force of the electric motors should work well for towing and high torque applications. Carrying your own gas powered generator removes the prioritization of charger locations in trip planning and extends range. I love the idea!
Heavy as a locomotive too.
Right. Im surprised this wasn’t implemented in a modern vehicle years ago.
I see a lot of 8 lug wheels….? Heavy
@@jwhmerica504the funny thing is the Chevy Volt was released in 2008. Unfortunately nobody took the idea to a pickup truck chassis until now (that I know of)
Exactly. Give me a 2500 diesel version and I am in
This is the hybrid I’ve been waiting to see. A half-ton truck doesn’t suit my needs, but yes: exactly this. I look forward to more hybrids of this nature.
RAM has now brought us the road-going locomotive. Awesome.
Agreed, rather them used the small diesel to generate the electric. But this is the best answer to the ev game
While nothing's set in stone in terms of the Ram REV I think it's cool.@@williamsteelejr1534
Wrong. A locomotive does not use a battery at all. They use a diesel generator to make electricity. The locomotive ONLY uses this setup because the amount of torque needed to get a train moving to speed would need 50-100 gears. No one is going to build a transmission like that, it would be huge.
Unlike this truck a train can output 100% capacity at ALL TIMES when called on. The truck can NOT do the same. Once the battery is depleted it drops to being a car instead of truck capacity wise. The gas engine can NOT supply enough electricity to fully power the motors, a train can.
The Nissan e-power cars uses the same technology
@@Negev-Israel Awesomr
I'm surprised it's taken this long for us to get a proper phev truck. The Ramcharger seems like a really good offering for both people who want an EV but have range anxiety, and for people who want a more efficient ICE truck. I can really see this eating up a lot of sales from the Silverado EV, Rivian, F150 Lightning and even Powerboost.
Yup, 100%. If this had come out last year, even with half the battery size, they’d be one of the best selling pickup trucks. Corner the electric market, but also those who don’t want a single vehicle that only has 250 reasonable miles of highway range.
I would be very curious about how this thing actually performs. Even doing 30 MPG in range extended mode, you would still need a ~17-18 gallon fuel tank to make that distance, like Andrei mentioned.
At which point, will this in essence be a V6 Ram carrying a Tesla Model S battery pack (with it's included weight)? So I'm betting the price for this thing will be well out of reach of the ordinary joe, even given current sky-high truck prices.
Finally doing a hybrid vehicle the correct way. The diesel or gasoline engine only needs to be a very efficient one. Does it need to be high horsepower or anything else just needs to be able to keep the generator going generator going. If they're doing it right it will only come on when the battery needs to be recharged. Best part they tune it to be most efficient at that perfect setting no need for a bunch of throttle changing because even if the truck is pulling a heavy load only the electric motors will be working harder the gasoline engine just puts along at a nice steady pace
@@bigoso1969 not entirely true... In range-extended mode, The engine will still need to vary its power output for what the truck needs. The battery would be depleted, and would not be able to provide any extra juice.
My Volt's engine revs up and down all the time depending on what I need to do. Diesel electric locomotives do the same. Maintaining WOT - the most efficient setting because it reduces pumping losses - isn't always feasible.
Besides, repeated engine start/stop on the highway could become very annoying.
@@juliuscheng5788 Why would it not run at WOT all the time (during the times it's running at all)? Any electricity generated above current operational requirements would simply go into charging the battery.
What would be the point of ever running the gas engine in something other than its most fuel-efficient mode?
The Ramcharger is the first vehicle that makes me want to pre-order. I'd like more information about the trim levels before placing the order.
And preorder is the same preorder as the ram rev so good luck
Car and Driver has information on the Trim Levels for the Ramcharger. They compare the Tungsten trim to the Mercedes S80e.
It is basically a Chevy Volt truck. That is not meant as a slight. I loved my Chevy Volt.
But think about it, it's just a regular EV truck hauling a gas generator. I'm not sure this is groundbreaking. And since it is just a generator, why not much farther range than 690? Does it use that much gas to recharge the battery?
@@aussie2uGAin some previous PHEV’s using the gas engine to charge the battery has been less efficient which probably explains the 2.1 miles/kWh number they threw out. Likely the miles in battery only mode would have better efficiency than it would go down when the range extender kicked in.
I'm surprised we haven't seen more of these kinds of vehicles. Turning the engine into a generator and just sticking it into an EV was smart. This may be the most practical and realistic EV truck.
The BMW i3 has been doing range extender stuff with a motorbike engine for a while
Just like the Chevy Volt released in ‘08. Honestly I’m surprised that there wasn’t more manufactures making EVs with generators onboard. Except for the fact that these types of vehicles didn’t sell well, and that may be due to far less marketing. Still this type of vehicle is really fun in every day driving, all the benefits of electric motors (low end torque) and all the benefits of gasoline. (range)
Nissan has a similar solution called e-Power, but it has a really small battery so the engine has to be on for most of the use. Fuel consumption is therefore no better than the average hybrid and the price of cars with this powertrain is no different from similarly sized electric cars.
The environmental terrorists don’t approve.
@@williamwheaton8117 The Chevy Volt didn’t fail due to lack of marketing. It was aggressively misrepresented by GM marketing. GM had most people convinced it was an EV that only went 50 miles. I know this, because I owned two of them. Plus it was foolishly small and underpowered, making it compete with econoboxes. That drivetrain in a Silverado or Tahoe would’ve been a gold mine.
The moment I heard about this ram charger truck, I put in a pre-order. This is what I want. Electric for all of my commuting, which is less than 50 miles. But no worry about ranging anxiety. In addition, it’s a real truck and I can continue to pull my trailers. Absolutely awesome.
I have a strong feeling range extended EVs are going to outsell battery only trucks. They just make more sense in range, especially towing, and in convince. If you are living in rural communities or in the West outside of major cities then finding a working charge station is going to be very hard. Having the option to just fill up at a gas station to charge your truck is going to be huge. Not to mention the power the AC inverters can supply. Imagine if your truck could also work as an emergency generator for your home or job site. And that is without having the V6 running all the time.
The F-150 powerboost already exists to cover the scenario you mention. If Ford would just increase the battery size to allow 30 miles all electric and provide plug-in capability, they would have a powertrain that could address 90% of the market. They should also consider a version that uses one electric motor for front axle power with the rear axle powered through a normal driveline receiving power from the ICE or electric motor via the transmission. Of course both the front and rear axle power can be decoupled to reduce parasitic power loss from friction. The computer can control how to manage and distribute the power options based on real time data and input from the driver.
My understanding is you will still have to plug this thing in.
You can't just put gas in and drive off. If demand outpaces 130kw the battery will still run down. Towing is going to continue to be brutal with electric trucks
This is directing things should be going. Now make it 1000hp, a 3500 chassis, and a turbo diesel 4 cylinder power plant. A true truck of the future. Enough battery to plug in and your day to day errands without needing fuel, but also a serious work and tow rig.
You absolutely do not want a turbo 4 cylinder trying to make 130 kW continuously. Not to mention nowhere within the corporate portfolio does that engine exist.
@@otm646 You absolutely do, why do you think every single portable high capacity generator is diesel powered? Because it runs more efficiently and for longer than a gas engine ever could. The torque and rpm demands of power generation are uniquely suited to diesel engines. Dodge could easily license this from a company that already produces hundreds of thousands of them. Say, Cummins 🤔
That would be a truck I would buy. Edison motors is a Canadian company that is developing 18 Wheeler truck that is fully electric but also has a mid size caterpillar engine driving a generator. It has a lot of advantages
I think a bt4 Cummins would be the perfect power plant for a 2500 hybrid. Ram better hurry Edison motors will take the market share
Would love a 2500 PHEV to tow my horses. Regen has the advantage of saving your brakes and making for a much smoother experience for the critters in the trailer.
This makes so much more sense for a buyer like me. I do a lot of long distance towing of my boat into rural areas. The confidence to know I can, at minimum, just put some fuel in it to get to the next fast charger is very nice.
There is no reason to pay to use a fast charger when the truck's engine will charge the battery at a rate equal to or better than the rate of battery discharge. Only charging you will probably ever use will be at home where the cost per Kwh is much less expensive than DC fast chargers.
@@brianbastean3751 even better🤷♂️
@brianbastean3751 Always worth doing the math. It may in some areas be worth plugging in away from home if you have the time anyways. It's not like it's hard math my man.
Another idea would be something with a modular charger. So a stand alone EV, then have a slide-in frunk generator. Could also have drop in bed option. 90% of the time you’d be EV alone anyways. Then you could buy the EV alone version and if you wanted to also have it do long range you could drop in a bed charger.
I know it sounds complex, but I like the option of an EV with a separate generator you could move from vehicle to vehicle. Some redundancy if you have multiple vehicles as well.
@@chublezBased on my calculations, I never found it cheaper to charge away from home with my Lightning, but I guess anything is possible.
If you ask me - this is the type of vehicle pretty much all manufacturers should be pushing while making the transition to EV's. Electric vehicles w/ good-sized batteries, a 10-galish gas tank w/ an engine that acts like a range extender. Essentially the same formula as a Volt.
I’m supersized they went with a 3.6l v6.
Seems like a smaller package 4 cyl 2.0 would have enough HP to charge.
Mitsu Outlander PHEV same concept. Since 2018 in US, 2012-13 in Europe I think. Not groundbreaking, but kudos to Ram for upsizing and making it happen.
@@Upliftyourbrothersexisting, known v6 vs newly developed and likely more expensive 4.
The Volt had direct linkage from the engine to the wheels in some conditions
You don't need the generator if you never drive more than 300 miles away from your house. For 80% of Americans (according to the 2020 Census, 80% of Americans live in urban areas, 200 mile radius from the nearest major city), that's further than we would normally drive.
Although I think it will be heavy and expensive, it's finally an electric vehicle that actually makes sense as a real world truck
I bet the dealers are going to be tired of seeing this truck come back for repairs within 6 months to a year after it leaves the lot.
It's a fossil hybrid
It makes far more sense than a full ev in a truck application I'm actually very interested in this one
They previously talked about a base 350 mile battery only with the range extended having 500, now 690 miles, so that makes me think the BEV will have a larger battery and the range extended one will give up some battery space for a fuel tank.
It will be a great choice for people who tow long distances regularly. 190 miles of battery range should handle all regular driving and the range extender means you could do 1000 miles in a day with one gas stop, and have plenty of power for anything you need to plug in at the rodeo grounds, or tailgate party.
I am pro ice trucks. I love my Silverado with its powerful 6.2 engine. But this is the first all electric drive truck I would be willing to buy. I love the idea of the gas generator. I feel this is the option that people like me are looking for.
Wouldn’t a diesel generator be better?
@@michelmasse6225probably but historically gas is cheaper
Once you drive it in pure electric mode, you won’t wanna go back.
@@michelmasse6225they might do one like that for the Heavy Duty trucks. This stuff is nothing new it’s been used in Diesel-Electric trains for Decades
@@craig8638Until you tow, then that engine is awfully nice.
This technology is basically the Chevrolet Volt on steroids! I owned a Chevrolet Volt and it was an amazing car. You have the ability to use the engine as a generator when your electricity runs out but also have all electric power for short drives. You could also put electricity back into the battery using the engine for anticipated traffic jams or city commutes so you could run all electric when idle or stop and go situations. So to have this in a truck with a bigger battery and engine generator with a lot more range is HUGE!!!
Own a Rivian R1T for about a year. It is amazing and worth it. Carries like an elephant, tows like Reindeer. Moves like a horse. If you are concerned about anything, don't be. ETrucks are the way to go. Whichever one you get, you'll love it. I'd be happy with and f150 or whatever comes next. My range is 330 and long trips are fine. Do it, so much better than any gas truck I've owned.
🍿 🍿 🍿
Great truck, but far to much $.
I think the Rivian is neat and has some cool tech but after watching the test videos on here where it does truck things like towing in mountains and doing the Ike I won't be giving up my 1 ton RAM Cummins anytime soon. Living in the mountain west towing up and down mountains in extreme tempatures combined with long distances and limited opportunities to charge in rural areas the Rivian makes no sense. As a weekend Lowes or Home Depot hauler in town and as an all around fun toy sure its cool but by no means replaces a actual truck used for heavy duty work.
The 1st Gen Rivians are very nice, if expensive, grocery getters. I was an investor until they began to look like Nikola. Time will tell.
@@JasonBoydston the EV trucks pretty much mirror the capabilities of half tons. Those vehicles are used for combined work and household duties, but they aren't usually towing or hauling all the time.
I had a Chevy Volt- this is how it worked. Whole time I owned that car I always said, “I can’t believe there aren’t more cars made like this, it’s the best solution we currently have for EV range concerns”
It was a great car, and I’m guessing this is going to be an amazing truck
-not sure why they needed a V6 for the generator though? maybe it’s the most cost effective engine for ram to use off the shelf
VOLT was discontinued because they lost money on every one they made. Two power trains in a vehicle is expensive.
@@mom2threebabes I bet you’re right- never thought about it that way. I would imagine if the concept was more widely adopted and spread across a greater number of models then it would be profitable. it was just a tiny gas engine, and the electric components were nowhere near as powerful as the entry level tesla. …but when they make them just for one car… it’s gonna lose money. great point.
i wish it would have gained more popularity and attention!
I like this Idea. I would like to see it in a midsized truck like the Dakota. Pretty sure the 2025 Ramcharger will price me out of the market for this vehicle.
My previous complaints about plug-in hybrids is they skimp on the electric motors and battery which do NOT give you an EV driving experience (instant speed and torque) but this seems to be a pure EV drivetrain, I'm not sure why other manufacturers haven't done this. If I needed to tow and wanted an EV driving experience this would definitely be it but for us non-towing folks that don't regularly travel over 300 miles I'd still prefer a truck with a frunk and run the risk of having to use a public charger once or twice a year.
Other manufacturers have done this. This is how the Mitsubishi Outlander and the Nissan E-Power series work.
BMW i3 REX
It's not common because it's more efficient for the engine to drive the wheels directly instead of using a generator and electric motors.
The big 3 need to do this with the HD diesel trucks, road going locomotives.
Now you're on to something. If they can get better reliability out of the dpf emissions systems and add the battery packs then the range would be crazy like 800 miles or something 😂😅
We had the Chevy Volt, which had a similar engineering setup. Where the engine was purely a generator. We absolutely loved it. Imagine if they included a 300mile battery. Ram is coming for Ford and Chevy, good for them these trucks look great 👍
Love the idea of the PHEV with a bit larger battery and removing the transmission. I think your efficiency numbers are a bit optimistic as it still will have a large grill & radiator blocking the wind. My guess is about 1.8 miles/kwh. I hope the price is right and they truly mass produce these.
This has already been tried, more famously on the Mitsubishi Outlander and the Nissan E-Power series. Generally it is just like a parallel hybrid, but less efficient.
It's not a hybrid, the engine isn't connected to the drive shaft
@@btbcc12859 It is a hybrid, it's just a series hybrid instead of a parallel.
The volt too and i3
active grill shutters
As a travel trailer owner, this truck is on an engineering level beyond what I thought was possible. *Please don’t be $100K!!!!*
It’s interesting Ram is doing this. Another company that is doing this is Edison Motors with their semi truck! That is a super cool application of this technology as well!
The Ram Charger was a cool 2 door SUV. It would be cool if they brought it back as a plug-in hybrid!
Love the ram charger idea
Large scale tractors & trains have used the generator and electric motor model for over a decade.
It is the torque in the electric with better efficiency than gas power train
This is what I've been hoping for in a truck. I want to get to work on electrons and tow when needed. Someone please do this in a midsized truck.
I'd trade in my rebel for a midsize truck with this design logic lol
Yes! And sufficient heat in cold weather! Would be nice to see this with GMs i4t which has active thermal management. Allows the freedom to run it at peak efficiency rpm which can be done independently from thermal demand and weather situation
130kw generator. That's a lot... That must be a large and heavy generator coupled to the V6. Wonder what it looks like. Even with a dead battery, assuming 80 percent efficient, still have about 140hp to work with. In 15 years from now we might see these driving around with end of life batteries still attached but not in use.
I filled out my preorder for the Ramcharger at 3am when I first found out about it. This is the perfect hybrid, I can't wait!!! P.S. I saw online at Car and Driver that the gas tank will be 27 gallons, I saw that they said they didn't know gas capacity.
Its not a hybrid. Gas engine dosn't power it through a driveline
Placed my reservation this morning. This is an absolute best case product for me and while I love my Powerboost this is a HUGE step forward.
@@thenutsonyourchin You've seen the Wrangler 4xe right? Similar but much less electric only range. People I know that have them really like them though, really depends on how many miles you need to drive per day.
Hope they produce enough, I'd love to preorder one and not wait 4 years for it
That's the real issue. They will either be overpriced and hard to get, or reasonably priced and impossible to get.
Thats not even the worst part, it’s dealer markup. I had a ford f150 reservation, priced out a mid range one by the time the dealer added their own fees it was well over 100k so I passed. It’s been that way for lots of EVs, dealers are adding on crazy fees and I’m sure ram will be no different.
@@ZPdrumershould get rid of the dealer model. No one likes it, except the dealers. That’s why a lot of states have laws that require it, otherwise they would be out of business.
That's what I liked about buying our Tesla - no dealer markup. I waited for the price drop and then bought online, no dealer involved.
This is the bridge consumers have been waiting for. This adds all the good thing of electric to the familiarity of a ICE platform. Ford needs to do this using the lightning platform, it’s a no brainer. The one thing everyone is overlooking is the fact that the battery size is large enough to cover 98% of most peoples every day driving. You could go months without ever re-fuelling.
This drivetrain should be in the heavy duty trucks as well! So much utility, efficiency and power. I really like how they did not make the same mistakes as the 4xe products and have a useless trans, transfer case and drive shafts.
It is now, look up edison motors, they are building heavy vocational semi's with this, pure electric drive and a generator under the hood.
A 4cyl Diese and electric drivetrain would work well in 1 ton
One of the slides they showed says: "The charge port features Level 1 and Level 2 charging on the top half and DC fast charging on the bottom half of the charger." Unfortunately that sounds like the description of a CCS1 charge port, which will already be obsolete when this truck comes out. These trucks need to have the NACS port from day one.
I agree with this, NACs will be standard by the time this truck comes out and I'm sure they know that. Hopefully they have it on launch.
Is Stallantis on board with NACS yet? It would be sad if this truck couldn't use Tesla superchargers.
Tesla is converting their network to have magic dock so legacy CCS vehicles can charge.
This is the type of battery- gas hybrid that all truck brands should be pushing for. This type of hybrid system with a diesel engine would be ideal for 3/4- 1 ton long haul towing
They hit the nail on the head with the Ramcharger by really listening to what consumers want. They figured out a way to get around the somewhat sketchy charging options like the electrify America stations while still providing a more than decent amount of HP and Torque. I’m jumping on this
The Ramcharger sounds very ideal for an electrified pickup. I genuinely hope it lives up to the hype and works flawlessly for the sake of RAM and especially the consumers!
Diesel trains have been charging batteries which run electric axel drive motors for decades. Surprised it tool so long for an automotive application for this old-tech solution. Should work great!
Someone tried todo this on the 80s with a van with a diesel engine and got killed in an *accident* I guess the oil tycoons are fine with this now.
You too really vibe together and I love it. Please keep making very informative videos like this🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
This just made me want the Ram Eclectic Truck again!!!!! Best thing EVEr
Finally a company that is making a hybrid EV truck that people who actually use trucks for work can use.
I wonder if the v6 will have any belt driven accessories? I don’t think it will. That would be cool to see a motor with no alternator, a/c compressor, power steering pump etc
considering everything will need to run while the truck is in pure EV mode all that is probably electric... But that does make me wonder about heat. Hybrid engine coolant / resistive? Heat pump?
I believe the Volt had a belt for only the coolant (or oil) pump for the engine. All other accessories were electric including the electrical coolant loops. I'd be surprised if this truck has a heat pump. While incredibly important for efficiency, it would add cost and increase weight slightly.
@@wm5255They already have a heat pump for their small EVs in Europe, I would be very surprised if they didn't scale the system for the RAM.
Finally someone put a big enough battery in a Gas/EV vehicle! First week Cybertruck reservation holder. I really considered the lighting pro model at launch but did not pull the trigger on a pre-order. Placed a pre-order this morning on the Ram-charger. The price on the Cybertruck will be my final decision. Hopefully the Ram won't priced to the moon! A big negative I can already see is that Ram is not using the Tesla charging plug! From what I have learned over 3 years on Tesla ownership is that I'll probably ever need to put gas in the ram due to home charging.
But you won't needed superchargers as the truck has a built in supercharger!
@@philgriffiths4713like I get you talking with your feelings loudly but like, it’s not a supercharger literally 😂Chile
Have you have tried any other charging network other than Tesla? If you are going to use a charging network for any use, everything else is a joke. More than likely the only time I personally would use the gas motor is for towing over 100 miles or the couple times a year we travel over 200 miles a day. @@philgriffiths4713
Yes! Even though it's "only" a 92kWh battery, that doesn't mean that I don't want to charge it as quickly as possible. If I'm on a road trip, it would be nice if I could stop for gas, fill up the gas tank, then plug it into a legit high-speed charging station, eat a meal, and get back on the road with a fully-charged (or nearly so) battery AND gas tank.
For that matter, what if I don't have a way to charge at home (say, living in an apartment). Being able to go out to lunch or dinner somewhere and do a full charge while dining would be a big deal to people like that. With the e-range of the Ramcharger, doing that once or twice a week might be all an apartment-dweller would need in order to never use any gasoline.
Same with the new Prius PHEV. Even though it's only a 44-mile range, why would they NOT give the user the ability to charge it as quickly as possible?!
@@stuartv666If the apartment dweller is never using the gas tank or gasoline, then all they need is a long range EV, not a gas/electric vehicle.
It's the same for most people that aren't towing trailers or other heavy loads. Most people only need an EV and a long range EV would work for most people.
Definitely interested if the price is reasonable. Most of my driving is below 100 miles, but I also pull a trailer half the time. This would turn my EV and truck into a single vehicle!
same here, got a small EV and a Truck. The truck doesn't see much use. but sometimes you need a truck for truck things. But most of the time you need a EV.
same!
Do you pull your trailer more than 100 miles? If not, you only need a BEV.
@@andyfeimsternfei8408 hey Andy, yes I occasionally get jobs in a city 50 miles away and have to drive a little while there.
I'm in Minnesota, so a 320 mile F150 starts to look like 240 in winter, and 120 with a trailer. Those are random estimates based on driving small EVs over 200K miles in the last few years.
There is some fast charging along the way but I'd rather do 99% of my charging at home. And the extended range XLT costs more than I would configure a nicer Silverado LT 2500 with 6 leather seats to carry my whole family (4 kids) and pull a heavy trailer.
I think for us the next change will be going from Traverse to something like EV9, and gas pick up for truck things.
We currently use a LEAF with 150 mile range for 90% of daily driving, so I'm not one of those people who "needs" 500 miles of range pulling a 25K trailer on my weekly road trip to the middle of nowhere in Montana. But I do need my EV truck situation to be simple.
I think this is the best use of both technologies. I wonder what the real world use would look like.
I have been telling people this is the way to go. I can take a long trip and not have to worry about stopping and charging. I love this idea. All vehicles should have this setup.
I haven't watched your channel in awhile, but you're still relevant and extremely important. Can't wait to see your real world testing!
I'm surprised that no company has gone this route for the HD line of trucks. This would be the best option until an actual full electric HD long range system comes around.
This is basically the Chevy Volt setup that worked an still works well for people who want full electric with the option of quick extended range
Hope this truck fulfills it's specs as it will be very attractive for many truck enthusiasts that need quicker range extension
OK guys, in a video released by DPCars, it is stated that the fuel tank capacity will be 27 gallons. And the all electric range will be 145 miles. Assuming that their information is accurate. The 690 mile range with 145 miles being electric and the 545 remaining miles being supplemented by the onboard generator consuming 27 gallons of gasoline brings your overall fuel economy to just over 20 miles a gallon. I don’t claim to be a mathematician, and maybe I am wrong in my calculations, but if I’m correct, that fuel economy is already achieved in the current Ram platform. It just seems that we are making systems a lot more complicated for little to no gain and a lot more added expense.
I also understand that not everybody will drive the truck to its ultimate range expectation every time and that you will be able to charge up more frequently in a daily driving scenario, but it just truly seems to be a hard sell to spend an additional $20-$40k for an EV truck over a traditionally gas powered truck.
This needs to be pinned
I doubt the fuel tank is that large. Probably 18-23 gallons.
Because if you daily drive less than 145 miles, you'll be all electric and save a ton of money in fuel savings. That range covers nearly all drivers. The engine is for road trips.
@@leafnutz2341 I’m inclined to agree with you. I don’t want to believe that it would be over the standard 23gal capacity that is a majority of the current RAM’s. But I have no first hand knowledge and can only go with what is claimed in the videos I watched. And to be fair, DPCars is the only video I have seen that lays claim to being the accurate fuel tank size.
@@TheCapn23 correct sir, like I stated, in a daily driving scenario you would be fine within the 145 mile range. But one can buy a lot of gasoline for +$20k.
I can’t wait to park this truck in front of my ultramodern slab side house and take it out to my vineyard on the weekend.
The ram charger actually has me excited that a main stream manufacturer is doing the was that makes sence!! The technology seems right on par with what Edison Motors is doing with their Hybrid semi truck (whoch i would highly suggest you guys check out). Now obviously we don't know the ram specifics but assuming it is the same principle. It's fully electric truck until the batteries get depleted then the generator fires up to recharge them then shuts back off. It's like having your own built in fast charger under the hood
As others have said, Chevy Volt (2010) Fisker Karma (2012) and BMW i3 (2013) all had this type of powertrain. It'll be interesting to see how it works in a pickup with Stellantis at the helm
This is where Chevrolet and GM dropped the ball. Chevy had the Volt years ago, well before the EV craze, but they didn't expand on the tech and put it in a vehicle that people desired. The Volt was a sedan that was full electric power to the wheels with a gas motor range extender.
I like that they got both fully electric and an electric focussed Hybrid. The hybrid will, as he said, be a great entry for the range anxiety concerned people. Im pretty sure they will learn that once they figure out how much cheaper charging is and how easy it is to start with a full battery every day, that theyll rarely use the combustion engine. 690 miles of range should finally be enough for the average truck user :)
I wouldnt be able to live with a fully electric vehicle but the Ramcharger is perfect
I remember reading 40 years ago about a person building a hybrid truck like this in Mother Earth News
As a chevy volt owner, I'm very interested in this truck.
Very smart design. This is especially true by using a V6 engine that has been in the stable for a long time so parts are readily available. The 3.6 isn't a bad engine and where it will help here is it will never be under the same load as when it is the drive engine. Should last for years just chugging along. I would like to see a diesel but the problem there is you add DEF, weight, and higher fuel cost. No matter this is a smart way to go and you get to keep a more traditional looking truck instead of the futuristic look that a lot of EV's tend to learn into to some degree. Doesn't upset core buyers yet helps bring those interested into the fold.
The crazy thing is you could potentially have a 100,000 mile truck with an engine that has very little run time. This engine should easily outlast the vehicle.
I like it. I'm often covering some distance with a payload in a rural area where there's no charger here, there or in between. This is an EV that would work for me, most of the time I can just use batteries, and the gas will be there for me when I need it. Tell me it's not $100k
I’m actually liking this electric/gas truck from Ram. It’s quite innovative when you think about what other truck companies are doing. And those new V6/I6 offerings 👀……..I can’t wait. For me, Ram and Toyota are the trucks to go for. Love Ford too but, my step dad who’s been a Ford Tech for 24 years constantly told me horror stories 😳..
This makes some sense. We’ll have to see once it gets here.
I don’t care at all about the REV… but the Ram charger is interesting Good Job Ram 👍🏻
As bummed out as I am that there’s no longer V-8 option, this is really cool
The Nissan Xtrail (same as your Rouge in the US) has an Edrive system similar to the range extender Ram 1500. The difference being it has a very small KW battery which acts more like a power smother than a regular PHEV. No plug in and no EV only range however the engine never physically drives the wheels.
Probably go to the pump every 2 weeks with this power train setup! Awesome!
If you can charge at home or work you could extend that to months between fill ups. Once I got my plugin hybrid to 2050 miles on a tank of gas by maximizing the charging. The next longest between fill up was 1850 miles. I stopped tracking after that one.
This is the same technology Chevy had with the Volt, they really missed a great opportunity to use that technology with the Silverado. Looking forward to the full test of the Ram.
I've always said that the Volt system should have been dropped into the Equinox. The batteries could have been easily hidden into it, and adding the Spark EV's rear motor would have given an AWD capabilty.
Despite the marketing, there is a drive mode on the volt in which the gas engine is mechanically coupled to the wheels. So that's a bit different
I really like this in concept. I'm curious to see tests of it in practice. How they will manage power levels, especially while towing. Obviously there's no way you could keep Towing with near dead batteries and a gas generator producing only 130kW.
Very rarely in a towing situation are you going to need over 174 horsepower continuously to keep the truck moving. That's plenty of motor outside of the most extreme hill climbs.
Yes, we heard that we were building all three trucks at Shap the word on the street. They’re still having problems with the V6 and electric battery pack talking to each other. That’s the rumor.
Just what I expected from Ram, they're doing it right!
This is the first truck, EV or ICE, that has me interested in switching from my SUV. I’ll be watching the news on this one. I’m very curious to learn towing range.
Once you switch from an suv you’ll be so happy and wonder how you got this far in life without a truck
Starting price will be at least 80,000, and I only just started watching the video. How did I know 😂
Truly groundbreaking information!!! I thought about the other brands of electric pick up trucks but no more. I am SOLD… finding out how to put my reservation in on this pick up truck within the next hour.👍👍
As a GMC fanboy this actually made me raise my eyebrows. Very interesting (and seemingly practical) idea here! Keen for more details to be released.
Hilarious that this solution makes so much sense and myself with so many others have talked about what a great idea this would be and it's taken this long for someone to make it. If I can afford one, you can bet I'll be buying one.
Sounds interesting. Wonder what happens when something breaks. Ram/Jeep dealers are terrible. Always had issues getting repairs done correctly on my JL rubicon when I had it.
@thenutsonyourchin I have had a few as well, but they were not the best. It depends on your dealer likely.
I figured somebody would attempt this concept, but never expected Stellantis to be the one. This is the smart way to accomplish a real transition away from ICE engine emissions. Owners of this vehicle will learn to use it in such a way as to limit the fuel use and then Stellantis can refine the tech to improve it. People living in Hurricane ally could sure use it.
Am Loving this Ram 1500 Charger.i'l have mine in Tungsten edition.thank you
4 second 0 to 60 is pretty fast
I bet there will be a performance model at some point
Yes. My Tesla MYLR does 0-60 in 4.2 I’m older so I didn’t want or need the faster Tesla’s. I got a slower one.
So pumped for this. And a similar concept has been used in Diesel-Electric Locomotives for over 60 years now lol
Would love to see this technology in all vehicles. A small engine acting as a generator for sedans, compact trucks. Would bring gas use way down and hopefully they can do it without super high prices. As I type this just heard you say it will be used on the Wagoneer. That company's transmissions have always been a weak spot. This eliminates that.
Both the EV range and fuel tank size numbers are in a car and driver article. 145 miles EV range and a 27 gal gas tank - that suggests ~20 mpg on gas only.
Great information guys👌
¿Why not using an smaller engine like the 2.0 4c better fuel economy and lighter on weight. Since only whil be used to feed the generator?🤔
Can't wait to see it but I imagine the price range around 100k😅
The engine needs to be able to output the steady state power needed for towing. It's not actually recharging the battery to full range while your driving. Only plugging in will do that.
I think this is a great idea! It follows the same model as a locomotive!
I am immediately excited for this new truck! If Ram can execute this new platform, I think they figured out the EV truck problems. Good job Ram! 👏👍
This might just be my next truck. It makes so much sense!
I wish they would have a baseline ICE truck that they compared these EV, range extended EVs, hybrid EVs to. Need to compare the price of the ICE truck and how many miles before the EV pays for itself. For example we bought a 2021 Toyota Tundra 2wd brand new for $38,300. We compared the price to the cheapest Ford Lightning with the extended range battery at $72,500. For the i$34,200 dfference in price we could buy 9,771 gallons of gas at $3.50 a gallon. With a 15 mpg that gets you 146 571 miles in the Tundra to equal the price of the Lightning.
Interesting, this approach might make more sense than the typical PHEV designs just for the sake of simplicity. Make it in a Dakota size or smaller, even.
This could be interesting, as the midsize truck is supposed to be on track and go to the Belvedere plant. The 4xe powertrain in the GC would work.
Other series hybrids like the Mitsu Outlander or that Nissan one are pretty inefficient compared to their parallel hybrid counterparts. They seem not to sell well, so maybe RAM can pull it off but I have my doubts about this one.
Make it the turbo four from the wrangler as the range extender and put it in a Dakota sized truck and I'm game
AMAZING GREAT JOB RAM!!! I can't wait for the RAMCHARGER
Looking forward to more information from you guys about this.
Finally an electric truck that makes sense unfortunately I wont be able to afford one, I cant justify a truck payment that's more than my mortgage.
So save up and pay cash? My wife and I make "car payments" into a brokerage account. When the time comes we transfer the money to our bank, get a cashier's check for the bottom line and drive off payment free.
Might need to buy non-ethanol gas for around town (so you don’t leave ethanol in the tank for six months until finally you go on a trip)
I do that now for my Wrangler 4xe. Only put 100% gasoline in the tank since it will stay in the tank for months at a time.
Never had an issue with my Volt. GM pressurized the tank with the intent for long-term "storage".
@@juliuscheng5788 stellanis does the same thing on the Wrangler 4xe... uses a pressurized tank.
My wife has a pacifica plug in hybrid that goes well over a month on a tank... sometimes she can go a week without using the gas motor at all, but it will start itself up when driving for a few minutes for a "fuel maintenance mode". I would assume these would do the same thing. I'm not sure I would keep excess fuel in the tank anyway unless I was driving alot.
Hasn't been an issue in my Q5e and I fill up maybe every other month. This seems like it takes it to the next level.
As a person with a Chevrolet Volt in my fleet my biggest concern with this truck would be one of the issues the Volt has. When the battery gets low and the "range extender" comes online their can be a period of time where horsepower is reduced while the generator creates a buffer in the battery pack. This is no issue with a passenger car but would be a huge hinderance when pulling a camper over a mountain pass. I'll be eagerly waiting for reviews. I'm really interested in it but I'll reserve judgement until I see how Ram handles the above issue and what the all electric range is for lets say a normal day for me being a 45 mile total commute.
Volt also has a double clutch coupling that can connect the gas engine to the wheels during high loads which this seems to lack
I agree thats a concern but hopefully they have the software figure it out to know when its towing so it knows to charge early to keep up. Or maybe when in "tow mode" it just keeps the battery at 80% as long as it can then the BEV only mode is the "reserve tank" that lets you know you need to get to a gas station.
my prediction is that in 95% of the operations if you know what you're doing you'll be fine but the RUclips torture tests will be able to figure out how to find the operating situations that were out of scope (i.e. starting with battery at 10% and towing up a mountain). Hopefully the software can identify "hey you don't have enough battery to safely tow this. Please wait 15 min before departing while the battery charges" or something.
The range extender will provide enough power even on the 16% power buffer but you can choose a mode that will buffer it to over 30% so you will never have a loss of "power".
I also read it has a 92kwh battery of which only 70 is usable. I suspect the other 22 kwh is the reserve so the engine power isn't being drawn to charge the battery as with the Volt.
All very cool stuff and good work all round chaos
Plug in hybrids always look good on paper, but when you get your pencil out and start looking at efficiency you quickly realize your better off going full electric or fully gas depending on the price of gas/electricity. The extra weight of both and engine and battery really adds a lot of weight. I think Ram knows this and that's why they left out key numbers...... 1)EV range only 2) gas tank size. I have a 2014 Ram 1500 with the 30g tank that can easily get 600+ range out of a V8. Claiming 690 with a 92kw battery and gas tank...I don't know. My sense here is if you don't get electricity below $0.14/kw you'll end up spending more per mile than gas alone.
where does the .14/kw come from? Seems like it is just pulled out of thin air which is ironic considering you are telling people to sharpen their pencil like you were getting ready to show your work. Also keep in mind this vehicle has the capacity to tow 14k when you need it which is 1250lbs more than the current 1500. Plus the Gas engine operating perfectly in the peak efficiency range and using the electric motors for propulsion is going to give me more efficiency on the highway than a gas engine always hunting for gears, especially here in the kentucky hills. But if im driving this to the office m-f and only using the towing and max range on some weekends I get the luxury of the best of both worlds.
Getting this truck is the zero compromise option, not the min/maxing for lowest dollars spent per mile. If you want that, get a used EV econobox. Never have to go to a gas station for commuting sounds really nice and not having to pay the price in time for charging when towing is a game changer.
It’s a 27 gallon fuel tank 20 mpg combined so slightly less efficient in hybrid mode. And it’s around 150 miles on ev only. Looks like with gas at $3 you would need electricity to be cheaper than roughly .28/kw to be saving money on ev.
@@wm5255 Let's say gas is $4/g at 15mpg you're looking at $0.26/mile. They estimated this Ram would do 2.1m/kw based off the F150 lightening. I figure it's safe to assume it'll do ~10% worse because of the extra weight of engine, fuel tank, generator.....so assume 1.9m/kw. At 1.9m/kw you need electricity at $0.136/kw or less to beat $0.26/mile. For me that's only doable if it comes from my solar. MA gets $0.33/kw!!
@@scottbalak7123the lightning also has double the battery bank size so I'd venture that it's actually going to be definitely under the lightning and even closer to the Powerboost than the Lightning.
@@bballr4567 Good point. ER (138) is about 500lb more than SR (98). RAM is at 71kwh. Assuming same ratios the RAM battery would weigh ~340lb less than SR's battery. 3.6 aluminum pentastar is ~326lb. All in all I'm guessing Ram and SR are pretty close in weight.
So I’m still gonna have to do oil changes, tuneups and gasket changes? 😮
No thanks.
Pentastar engine already has 10k service intervals and is crazy reliable.
Yeah... I like this concept and I'm glad it's an option. But all EV is still my preference. I don't have to tow frequently and don't have a long commute. An ICE system is just more cost to me.
I love the idea of this. Nissan have a thing called E Power fitted to some of their models in some markets. They are essentially the same thing as this. The problem with E Power is that they use a tiny battery that requires the engine to run most of the time and they don’t have a charge port for the tiny battery. You basically have to drive it a bit like a regular ICE car. They do give a very high gas mileage, though.
Another amazing possibility with this design is that *you can warm up the engine before running it hard*. Really hope Ram puts some effort into designing this engine to last. Thinking about driving up over Berthoud Pass to Winter Park when it's -10 outside, I don't want the engine spinning up and giving me max juice when I just depleted the battery driving from Denver!
This is what Ford needs to do with the F150 & Ranger.
TFL should do collaboration episode with Matt's Of Road. Trying to recover a full size electric truck that's stuck in mud or sand would be highly entertaining!
I Own a 2022 big horn sport with the 5.7 hemi and I love it... I like what I see for what's coming for ram that hurricane engine is a beast...
The electric side of this would work well as a dailey driver, with no gas use. Then on vacation, pulling the camper, you still get good range with a high MPG. Yes, the engin is not hooked to the wheeles. However, if you are driving with the V-6 making Electricity. Then it is proper to measure that gas consumption as MPG.
Yup, that's how I use my Q5e. Except the gas engine turns on during my long trips. Great so far. This takes it to the next level.