2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger: Charge It Up

by Tim Healey

Published: November 7th, 2023

The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger brings back an old name, but this truck has some new tricks.

Although its biggest trick will sound familiar to students of one particular recent attempt to think of electrification in a new way.

The Ramcharger uses two electric-drive modules (EDMs), one at each axle, to get power to the ground. The front electric-drive module -- yes we know this sounds like a fancy way of saying "electric motor" -- makes 250 kilowatts and the rear 238. A 92-kilowatt-hour battery and a 130-kilowatt generator combine to bring the juice. Ram is touting a total system horsepower of 663 with 615 lb-ft of torque and a range of 690 miles.

The towing capacity is 14,000 pounds, with a payload of up to 2,625 pounds.

The Ramcharger rides on Stellantis' STLA Frame body-on-frame platform for large electric vehicles and it offers vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-home charging.

It also offers up something that caught our eye -- the generator is fueled by a 3.6-liter V6. Yes, an internal combustion engine.

It works like this -- the V6 produces mechanical power, the generator turns that into electric power, and that electric power either charges a depleted battery or goes right to the EDMs if the driver wants to save battery charge.

Or the EDMs can use generator power AND battery power for, uh, max power (apologies to Homer Simpson).

Sound familiar? Yes, the Ramcharger is basically an extended-range electric. There is apparently no mechanical connection between the V6 and the wheels.

The Pentastar V6 is changed so that the onboard generator can mount directly to it. A power inverter module connects to a junction box.

The battery pack mounts under the truck, allowing it to have a flat floor.

Ram says customers can gain 50 miles of range in 10 minutes via 400-volt DC fast charging at up to 145 kW.

The frame is widened in the middle to accommodate the battery pack, and Ramchargers will be visually distinct from gas 1500s, including different LED lighting front and rear. Still, there will be features available on the Ramcharger that come from the gas trucks. For example: An adjustable air suspension. Another example is Hands-free Highway Assist.

The charge port will offer Level 1 and 2 AC charging on the top and DC fast charging on the bottom.

Inside, the duds will include available features like Klipsch Reference Premiere audio, the latest version of UConnect infotainment, digital keys, and a 10.25-inch screen for passengers.

There will be an e-save drive mode and buttons that control the amount of regen, and the UConnect system will offer EV Pages that can show the driver a whole host of EV-related data.

Like with the ICE Ram, the Ramcharger will be available with the ultra-lux Tungsten trim.

Pricing and an on-sale date aren't currently known, but we bank on an early 2025 or late 2024 arrival.

[Images: Ram]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.

#Ram #2025Ram1500Ramcharger #Newcars #Ramcharger #Ram1500 #Ram1500Ramcharger #NewsBlog #ElectricVehicles #Trucks

Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 69 comments

Vatchy on Nov 08, 2023

I'm still waiting for the first electric tail-dragger truck with it's headlights pointing at the sky.

Like Reply
ToolGuy on Nov 11, 2023

In which a long-time Mopar enthusiast suffers a meltdown... 😉

1 Reply

Recent Comments

ChristianWimmer One of my clients is a company that is actually producing eFuels in Leipzig. Yes, they require a lot of energy to produce but this would not be an issue if Germany had nuclear energy or used the excess energy from wind and solar to produce these fuels. In such a scenario the energy losses wouldn’t really matter.Also, I am told that nations like Spain or the North African nations like Morocco or Tunisia could be ideal places to produce eFuels/Hydrogen due to their abundance of solar power. Again, the energy loses here would not matter since the energy used to produce these fuels is essentially “free”. If this path were pursued, Morocco and Tunisia could become wealthy nations and exporters of eFuels and Hydrogen. Countries with an abundance of solar or wind or hydro energy could be producing eFuels for their domestic consumption and export.Another argument which to me is irrelevant these days ist the poor thermal efficiency of ICE engines (25-35% gasoline, 40-45% diesel). One long trips with cruise control set to 130 km/h and even the occasional venture into the 180-200 km/h zone, my fully loaded (with my gear) A250 (2.0 4-cylinder 224-hp Turbo) can achieve an impressive gas mileage of 6 L / 100 km. That’s phenomenal - I am looking at six 1 liter bottles of water right now and that’s all my car needs to travel 100 km… amazing.So, I am a supporter of eFuels. I love internal combustion engines and if we want to use them in a climate neural way, then eFuels are a must. Also, to me every ICE car is way more sustainable and longer-lasting an an EV. Mazda, Toyota etc. are making the right move IMO.
Blueice Once you infuse governmental unit regulation & [marketing] and taxpayerfunding, one knows quite well, dat the product or service isdestine to fail; which includes battery vehicles. Just axe yourself how revolutionary have your home batterydevices become ??? I am still waiting. after three decades, for a battery shaver whichonly requires charging two or three times per year.I am glad that I do not have a plug in Frau.
Tassos Such a heavy breadvan on stilts, with so much HP, AND with ONLY 100 KWH Battery, I doubt if you will ever see 250 miles, let alone 300, under the best of conditions. In the winter, count on 150 miles range.And NO, it looks TERRIBLE. The only SUV that looks great is the RANGE ROVER.
Tassos They sure are doing the right thing in the SHORT and MEDIUM term.As for the long term, in the long run, YOU'LL ALL BE DEAD, so WHO CARES.
Tassos I wrote recommending a 20 year old CAMRY, beat up too. So the teen will not be too upset if it gets a few more dings.Somehow I cannot find my post, though.