Since the UAW strike disrupted most of the fall, Ram Trucks decided to drop its 2025 lineup of pickup trucks now instead of at the LA Auto Show. There are some key differences going into the 2025 model year — mainly that the Hemi V8 is gone — but we don’t cover that here. What we’re excited about is, in fact, the Ramcharger.
Ramcharger is the name that Ram is giving to its plug-in, range-extended version of the Ram 1500 REV all-electric truck. Ram is keen to point out that this isn’t a hybrid truck — the gas motor only provides electricity and not propulsion — but rather a truck with “unlimited battery electric range.”
After you are done rolling your eyes back to front, you’ll start to see this truck is actually very clever.
On board is 92 kWh battery pack that provides approximately 145 miles of all-electric range. Which doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s not a problem because there’s also a 130 kW onboard generator helping to keep juice flowing to that battery.
It’s important to think of that generator as a generator, even though it is a 3.6-liter V6 engine. The electricity generated by the engine can recharge the battery, maintain a state of charge in the battery, or send electricity to the electric motors to help drive the truck, but there is no direct mechanical path from the engine to the wheels.
Providing the gasoline to make that generator run is a 27 gallon fuel tank. The truck takes regular unleaded gasoline.
Combined, the truck has an approximate range of 690 miles.
If you want to plug in and charge before that, there is a DCFC connector that accepts up to 145 kW of electricity. Fifty miles of additional driving range can be added in 10 minutes. You can also recharge the electric battery at home from a level 2 EVSE at up to 11 kW.
A 250 kW front motor and a 238 kW rear motor make 663 horsepower and 615 lb-ft of torque. Ram is saying that the Ramcharger can go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds.
More importantly, Ram is claiming that the Ramcharger will have a maximum tow rating of up to 14,000 pounds and a maximum payload of up to 2,625 pounds. Of course, overall range will be reduced when towing or hauling.
But that’s where the onboard generator comes into play. For a longer journey that driver just has to refuel the gas tank to continue towing if they don’t want to wait for a DCFC. We’ll have to independently test it, but this could be the ideal solution for someone who wants an electric truck but also tows or hauls on the regular and can’t be slowed down by recharging times or broken chargers.
Ramchargers will have three primary battery modes — Electric+, E-Save, and Eco — for controlling how the generator and battery work to provide power. Electric+ is the primary drive mode, and will prioritize electricity usage and operate the truck like a true EV until the gas generator is required.
Ramcharger gets the new top-tier Tungsten trim interior that we first saw on the Ram REV, and is the newest hotness in the Ram lineup.
There’s a 14.5-inch touch screen running Uconnect 5 and has special displays for the EV functions of the truck. There’s a 10.25-inch passenger screen available, which is a first for a Ram pickup and was also seen in the REV Tungsten.
In addition to the updated interior, Ram will offer drivers the ability to use their phone as a key (and provide a back up credit card key) if they don’t want to carry the fob with them.
You can expect a full of array of safety and driver’s assist features available on Ramcharger. Right now the company has a hands-on, eyes-on-the-road level 2 ADAS system, but it should be upgradable to hands-off sometime in the future.
As of a closed-door backgrounder attended by EV Pulse last week, we’re not sure all the trim levels that’ll be offered in Ramcharger. It’s unlikely the off-road spec, like the Rebel or new RHO, will have it, but there are still some decisions being made about other options. Yes, we know the official photos we have in this story show trims all the way down to Tradesman. We hope all of these make the cut.
The STLA Frame architecture is flexing now that it supports the full BEV of the Ram REV and the gasoline-generator-supported Ramchager. It’s not underpinning the new gas trucks — its clearly not designed to — but the flexibility of the new platform should allow Stellantis to build some interesting and competitive products now and in the future.
Many of these changes are also making their way to the gasoline-only-powered Rams for 2025, and the Hemi V8 is officially dead. But a new RHO should eventually fit in nicely between the Rebel and the outgoing TRX and provide an interesting option in the segment.
But the Ramcharger might be the most interesting offering from the 2025 lineup. It seemingly addresses the major concerns of BEV truck owners while maintaining an eye toward the future.
It’s also a great name from the back catalog, though it should be noted that the wireless phone charger in current Rams is called the Ramcharger so we’re not sure if you’re going to have a Ramcharger in your Ramcharger while charging your Ram or not.
The 2025 Ram Ramcharger and REV will be available near the end of the year in 2024, while the gasoline-only trucks go on sale in Q1 of next year.
