New 2025 Ram and Ramcharger PHEV Hybrid revealed

[SDH]

I struggle with all the EV-purists that seem oblivious to the obvious. A setup like the Ramcharger will be a full-time EV for every day that its driven below 100 miles or so, as long as the owner can recharge it on L2 daily (or every couple of days depending on daily distance). Ask yourself how many of the past 30 days did you drive more than 100 miles. For me it randomly happens to be 3.

Now, you take that same capable truck and want to do a get-away with your boat or trailer and that's where the onboard generator really pays-off. Let's say the same rule-of-thumb applies and you get a >50% drop in range. So now you can tow long distances of around 250 miles if you want to wring it dry. BUT why would you do that? Drive say 200 miles and fill-up the gas tank in 5 minutes and be on your way again... Drive any road in any direction without having to tie your trip planner to the nearest L3 charger (praying it works when you get there).

Then get to your destination, let's say you really go for it off-grid in the middle of nowhere. No big deal. Just arrive with say a half tank of gas at least and you have virtually "unlimited" power for your camp setup and toys.

Exactly this ... I'm calling it here, Ford, GM and others are going to copy this big time. This system fills that void where EV trucks fail.

How many on this forum have already put their $100 down?

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[izgoy]

Watching that video and knowing I have a thousand mile trip next weekend its the first time I wish I had something besides my R1. I still like my truck more its more sports oriented but for travel this thing would be great.

Did you go on that long trip in the Rivian after which you were supposed to tell us how convenient it was? Remember we had that discussion when I said my longest trip in a Non-Tesla EV was 6,500 miles and that it was a pain?

 

[izgoy]

Exactly this ... I'm calling it here, Ford, GM and others are going to copy this big time. This system fills that void where EV trucks fail.

How many on this forum have already put their $100 down?

I have.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Sorry if this has been said already, I haven't read through all 10 pages.

When you look at the numbers, I don't see why anyone would want a Ramcharger. 540 miles on 27 gallons of gas is 20MPG. Add the 96KW/150 mile range of the battery and you'd be lucky to come out at 23MPG. Grant you might be able to daily drive off the grid daily, but with the added price, complexity, and maintenance costs I don't see it making good sense.

If I towed more or traveled a long distance, the Ramcharger would fit my needs better than the R1T. The 150-mile range is more than enough for my day-to-day usage; I rarely take more than 20% of my battery from my R1 and rarely more significant than 30%. The fuel economy isn't excellent, but that's not what makes the ICE option suitable. It's not about being more efficient than a BEV. It's about not dealing with fast chargers on long trips or while towing.

I don't get the people who aren't seeing the utility here. The worst part of having a BEV is the charging infrastructure. It isn't a deal breaker because I charge at home almost exclusively. This Ram would mean I never had to deal with a fast charger as long as I owned it because I'm either charging at home or using a gas station. Honestly, with my wife getting the i4 M50, this truck is a real possibility for me as it should still drive like a BEV but cover us for trips. I plan on looking into this.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Did you go on that long trip in the Rivian after which you were supposed to tell us how convenient it was? Remember we had that discussion when I said my longest trip in a Non-Tesla EV was 6,500 miles and that it was a pain?

I would think the phrasing of "I have a thousand mile trip coming up next weekend" would be a clue. I doubt it's going to be a major hassle, but it IS longer than it would be in an ICE no doubt about it. No doubt charging stops are going to add time to my trip. I'm not worried about it, but an ICE would be easier. I never argued that, it just isn't the issue you make it out to be.

 

[izgoy]

I would think the phrasing of "I have a thousand mile trip coming up next weekend" would be a clue. I doubt it's going to be a major hassle, but it IS longer than it would be in an ICE no doubt about it. No doubt charging stops are going to add time to my trip. I'm not worried about it, but an ICE would be easier. I never argued that, it just isn't the issue you make it out to be.

Please tell us how it went. I'm sure you won't have an issue getting from one DC charger to the next along your route, I would like to hear an honest opinion about how convenient it was to travel in a Rivian, and if there were certain things along your trip you couldn't do because there was no convenient or any charging facilities to make a scenic detour that you would have made otherwise.

I myself have traveled plenty in both non-Tesla and Tesla EVs on long road trips to form an opinion, but I really would like to hear how it feels in a Rivian, provided there are RAN chargers at certain places that other non-Tesla EVs can't use.

 

[Davethadog]

Maybe this would help some folks get it:

I have a polestar 2 and a ram 1500 for towing. I had a Rivian that was supposed to do both but it sucked too much at actually being a truck. I don’t love burning gas when I don’t have to but I’m not willing to compromise on what a truck is able to accomplish. This solves all of those problems and will still allow me to buy my granola at Whole Foods without having to burn gas getting there.

I don’t care if this is 100k. Add up my two vehicles now and I’m beyond that anyways. Practically speaking an EV truck isn’t much cheaper and based on my experience with the Rivian, I’m not sure the maintenance experience is going to be much worse.

 

[Thedude]

Maybe this would help some folks get it:

I have a polestar 2 and a ram 1500 for towing. I had a Rivian that was supposed to do both but it sucked too much at actually being a truck. I don’t love burning gas when I don’t have to but I’m not willing to compromise on what a truck is able to accomplish. This solves all of those problems and will still allow me to buy my granola at Whole Foods without having to burn gas getting there.

I don’t care if this is 100k. Add up my two vehicles now and I’m beyond that anyways. Practically speaking an EV truck isn’t much cheaper and based on my experience with the Rivian, I’m not sure the maintenance experience is going to be much worse.

My experience as well. Rivian was great and EV powertrain towing is great but the range reduction made it unusable for me enough times. An EV drivetrain backed by an onboard generator and not requiring hour long charging stops is a winner for my needs.

 

[izgoy]

Anyone interested in seeing how this technology works, read up on Li Auto L9 and watch reviews on this vehicle. Li Auto the ones who pioneered an EV with a generator onboard that has a long-enough EV only range to last a couple days.

The Ramcharger will have at least 30% more EV range than the L9, provided that the lowest 20% of battery are reserved in that the generator turns on once the SOC gets down to 20% to allow for enough electrical energy in the battery not to run out of energy while in motion.

 

[jjswan33]

I was ready to throw my $100 towards one of these until I realized it's not a pre-order per se but a $100 to join the list that they keep and don't apply towards my vehicle if I choose to purchase. Yes they say refundable but terms of how/when you can get a refund are not at all clear.

 

[izgoy]

I was ready to throw my $100 towards one of these until I realized it's not a pre-order per se but a $100 to join the list that they keep and don't apply towards my vehicle if I choose to purchase. Yes they say refundable but terms of how/when you can get a refund are not at all clear.

With this $100 membership fee, you get a priority reservation when reservation opens up. Otherwise, you can get a full refund and not have priority in reserving. My opinion is that there will be a long wait list for this vehicle because this is the first vehicle that the true ICE heads would be willing to purchase, as they no longer have the argument that they have to charge for an hour along a roadtrip or they can't tow long distances.

I've been looking for a true BEV with a range extender similar to Li Auto L9 (or now discontinued Li One) for several years now. In my opinion, this is the best type of drivetrain for the next decade or two, with most people doing 99% of their driving on electric only without sacrificing performance or freedom to go anywhere along road trips. Hopefully, the Ramcharger 1500 will open up the floodgates for this type of vehicles very soon. Frankly, I would prefer a large EV SUV with a range extender to the Ramcharger.

 

[Ecupip]

If I towed more or traveled a long distance, the Ramcharger would fit my needs better than the R1T. The 150-mile range is more than enough for my day-to-day usage; I rarely take more than 20% of my battery from my R1 and rarely more significant than 30%. The fuel economy isn't excellent, but that's not what makes the ICE option suitable. It's not about being more efficient than a BEV. It's about not dealing with fast chargers on long trips or while towing.

I don't get the people who aren't seeing the utility here. The worst part of having a BEV is the charging infrastructure. It isn't a deal breaker because I charge at home almost exclusively. This Ram would mean I never had to deal with a fast charger as long as I owned it because I'm either charging at home or using a gas station. Honestly, with my wife getting the i4 M50, this truck is a real possibility for me as it should still drive like a BEV but cover us for trips. I plan on looking into this.

I see the utility, just not the practicality. The majority of people who buy these at first will never see the payback with those figures.

Trip charging is about to get a lot better next year when most of the super chargers open up.

Me personally, I’m not looking tor a complex Swiss Army knife bev. I have an ice car for things bev’s don’t do well and a bev for thibgs

 

[Dark-Fx]

The Ramcharger will have at least 30% more EV range than the L9, provided that the lowest 20% of battery are reserved in that the generator turns on once the SOC gets down to 20% to allow for enough electrical energy in the battery not to run out of energy while in motion.

I am curious how they will handle the vehicle being out of gas. The Volt supposedly would enter a limited performance mode even though it didn't require gas for motivation. We typically would refill it once it was complaining about low fuel so never experienced it. Usually would end up burning gas because the computer expected it was going stale.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Trip charging is about to get a lot better next year when most of the super chargers open up.

I'm fairly certain most of the superchargers I have seen are not very trailer compatible. That is the market this vehicle is after.

 

[LoneStar]

How many on this forum have already put their $100 down?

i already had (without knowing it) since prior reservations for RAM-BEV allow a choice of the full-EV or this Hybrid. I’m selecting the RamCharger hybrid.

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