RAM BEV is dead

[ENVErider]

They are just ensuring the death of Dodge in general. While currently we're able to purchase gas vehicles cheaper than their EV equivalents, when we put the trends in vehicle and battery costs on a graph and look at the ridiculously improved batteries on the horizon, it's clear that even without a nudge from government incentives, EVs will dominate new purchases in less than 10 years. Ford and GM are having a hard time making EVs profitable, but they continue to pour more R&D into these lines because they, too know which way the wind is blowing and want to be around to reap the benefits of the EV transition. After watching too many battery videos and seeing where CATL is investing money, I think most cheaper cars will be using sodium, and most high-end speedy types will use solid state. If our future sees a halving of costs and a 50-100% density increase, it's game over for ICE.

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[Jonger1150]

This truck has nearly a 100KWh battery and a full sized engine. This thing is going to be expensive.

How many people are going to drop $100k+ for a Ram?

Dodge should have put a 1000hp+ variant in the Charger.... it's too mid. The Charger EV needed to be substantially faster than the gas version and it's not. A big swing and miss there.

 

[BigSkies]

This truck has nearly a 100KWh battery and a full sized engine. This thing is going to be expensive.

How many people are going to drop $100k+ for a Ram?

Dodge should have put a 1000hp+ variant in the Charger.... it's too mid. The Charger EV needed to be substantially faster than the gas version and it's not. A big swing and miss there.

Stellantis has tons of options in their portfolio for successful EV’s and they keep picking the worst ones.

-An EV Wrangler could be the most capable stock off-road vehicle ever.
-There’s room in the Jeep brand for a high volume mid-size SUV.
-An EV Pacifica would nearly have that segment of the market to itself, as the ID.Buzz doesn’t have a particularly compelling value proposition.
-I think a performance car would do well, although it’s time to move past the retro-1960’s muscle car designs.
-The Fiat and Alfa brands have lots of room for compelling EV’s.

 

[Jonger1150]

They are just ensuring the death of Dodge in general. While currently we're able to purchase gas vehicles cheaper than their EV equivalents, when we put the trends in vehicle and battery costs on a graph and look at the ridiculously improved batteries on the horizon, it's clear that even without a nudge from government incentives, EVs will dominate new purchases in less than 10 years. Ford and GM are having a hard time making EVs profitable, but they continue to pour more R&D into these lines because they, too know which way the wind is blowing and want to be around to reap the benefits of the EV transition. After watching too many battery videos and seeing where CATL is investing money, I think most cheaper cars will be using sodium, and most high-end speedy types will use solid state. If our future sees a halving of costs and a 50-100% density increase, it's game over for ICE.

GM is doing pretty good with EVs. Ford is another story. They put a ton of money into R&D and end up competing with themselves with the gas F150.

They need an 800V version that can charge quickly.

 

[Time2Roll]

For serious off road 500+ HP is a bit of a waste. Especially with the EV torque. I believe I would far prefer a single motor driving all four wheels with geared limited slip differentials. This for a CJ5 size Jeep. And disconnect the wheels so it can be towed 4-down behind my future MH.

Otherwise a Scout might go on a trailer.

 

[ENVErider]

GM is doing pretty good with EVs. Ford is another story. They put a ton of money into R&D and end up competing with themselves with the gas F150.

They need an 800V version that can charge quickly.

I agree with you that this year GM is doing well, but it took em long enough; the equinox and it's cousins are crushing it. Reports on Ford are that's they are having QC issues and too many recall on EV and ICE alike. They will eventually turn it around, I think the lightning is the best ev work truck out today. Rivian needs to nail the R2, that VW partnership can't float them forever and I don't want to think about a future where I can't purchase my next Rivian.

 

[BigSkies]

GM is doing pretty good with EVs. Ford is another story. They put a ton of money into R&D and end up competing with themselves with the gas F150.

They need an 800V version that can charge quickly.

GM and Ford took different strategic directions. Ford rushed to get EV's to market without a dedicated EV platform. It got them to market several years earlier with vehicles that were high quality for the time. Ford always planned to build a dedicated EV platform after they learned lessons from their first launch.

GM spent a couple extra years building a dedicated EV platform before they launched, which gives them better products today.

Ford's dedicated EV platform is coming in 2027. They've announced some of the high-level stuff, but we don't have much product details yet. It will probably have improvements over GM's platform, and we'll be talking about GM being behind by 2029. The tech is just evolving that fast.

The weird thing about Stellantis is they already have a dedicated EV platform for the European cars. Then they keep fumbling every single thing about electrification in the US, even though they've already done the hard R&D work.

 

[atebit]

The range extender is better suited to a truck’s use and purpose, makes sense to me.

Not if you want an electric truck.

Also: last I looked, Harvester actually has less towing/hauling capacity than the BEV.

 

[Thedude]

Not if you want an electric truck.

Also: last I looked, Harvester actually has less towing/hauling capacity than the BEV.

You still have the best part of the electric truck which is the excellent drivetrain. You just lose the annoyance from having to stop and charge for extended periods anytime you want to tow or haul heavy loads longer distances.

 

[Time2Roll]

Not if you want an electric truck.

Also: last I looked, Harvester actually has less towing/hauling capacity than the BEV.

Yes the gas portion of the drivetrain is designed to work in conjunction with the electric side. Not large enough to pull the full load as the BEV. Otherwise could be out of luck when the battery is depleted.

 

[Davethadog]

Yes the gas portion of the drivetrain is designed to work in conjunction with the electric side. Not large enough to pull the full load as the BEV. Otherwise could be out of luck when the battery is depleted.

This is a function of vehicle weight, not power.

 

[Brian A]

Yes the gas portion of the drivetrain is designed to work in conjunction with the electric side. Not large enough to pull the full load as the BEV. Otherwise could be out of luck when the battery is depleted.

Not true. The Ram truck and the Scout both use a full electric drivetrain. The ICE is just for charging the battery. They work like a train.
I love my Rivian R1T but I don't like towing long distances with it due to the range reduction and long charging times with limited options for charging compared to ICE vehicles. On the last long trip we took with our 6000 lb boat I gave my son my Rivian and took his Tundra so I didn't have to deal with charging every 150 miles.

 

[White Shadow]

The market just isn't there, at least not yet. We're already seeing the V8 return to Ram and Stellantis will sell every one of them.

Jeep? Same deal. Reports are that the Hemi is coming back to the Grand Cherokee in 2026 and if so, they'll sell a ton of them too.

 

[atebit]

Yes the gas portion of the drivetrain is designed to work in conjunction with the electric side. Not large enough to pull the full load as the BEV. Otherwise could be out of luck when the battery is depleted.

Or when you run out of gas in your ICE truck.

Spoiler Alert: This is an EV truck forum.

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

Was it ever alive or just vaporware?

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