Those crazy b*stards at Ram actually did it

[BlkGS]

The 2025 Ram Ramcharger is an electric truck that gets its EV juice from a gas-powered generator | TechCrunch

Stellantis brand Ram unveiled the 2025 Ramcharger, a battery electric truck that gets power from a gas-powered generator.

techcrunch.com

It's an EV, with 145 miles of range, and a 3.6L v6 connected to a generator. Plug it in and it's an EV, need to go on a road.trip? 690 miles of gas fed range. It tows, it goes (0-60 in 4.4 seconds), it does it all.

THIS is the vehicle of the future. It's gonna sell like ice water in hell if it's not absurdly expensive, which it sound alike it might not be, because it's a powertrain option from Tradesman up.

It's probably going to come out too far away to be a buy for me, but this is exactly what the truck segment needs as an electric.

 

[zpaul]

The 2025 Ram Ramcharger is an electric truck that gets its EV juice from a gas-powered generator | TechCrunch

Stellantis brand Ram unveiled the 2025 Ramcharger, a battery electric truck that gets power from a gas-powered generator.

techcrunch.com

It's an EV, with 145 miles of range, and a 3.6L v6 connected to a generator. Plug it in and it's an EV, need to go on a road.trip? 690 miles of gas fed range. It tows, it goes (0-60 in 4.4 seconds), it does it all.

THIS is the vehicle of the future. It's gonna sell like ice water in hell if it's not absurdly expensive, which it sound alike it might not be, because it's a powertrain option from Tradesman up.

It's probably going to come out too far away to be a buy for me, but this is exactly what the truck segment needs as an electric.

That makes way more sense to me than just pure electric.
Now the big question is what do they want for it?!?!
If it is $100k+ I will pass since you can get nicely loaded truck under $70k now. $30k+ will buy me a lot of fuel and a decent amount of savings not financing that $30k

 

[BlkGS]

That makes way more sense to me than just pure electric.
Now the big question is what do they want for it?!?!
If it is $100k+ I will pass since you can get nicely loaded truck under $70k now. $30k+ will buy me a lot of fuel and a decent amount of savings not financing that $30k

I don't disagree, but in places with 5-6$ a gallon gas, it's gonna absolutely destroy the competition. Plus it will likely qualify for the EV rebates, and any state benefits.

I think they'll probably have pretty reasonable pricing. The 3.6L is an existing engine that won't need any new capacity for it, they'll be removing a lot of driveline, and I think Ram will push it as a way to boost their CAFE and reduce carbon credits purchases.

I could see it being within a few grand of the hemi.

 

[Jim_in_Delaware]

This is probably the most exciting news that I’ve seen for pickups in a long time. Folks are guessing that the Tradesman trim will have a starting price of $60-65K. If Stellantis can really get this truck to the public anywhere near that price it will be a huge hit! It might even be a great replacement for my 2020 Ram in 4 - 5 years.

Jim

 

[zpaul]

I don't disagree, but in places with 5-6$ a gallon gas, it's gonna absolutely destroy the competition. Plus it will likely qualify for the EV rebates, and any state benefits.

I think they'll probably have pretty reasonable pricing. The 3.6L is an existing engine that won't need any new capacity for it, they'll be removing a lot of driveline, and I think Ram will push it as a way to boost their CAFE and reduce carbon credits purchases.

I could see it being within a few grand of the hemi.

Don't disagree on incentives. Say $10k.
Savings from Superchargers are not much especially how thirsty that 92KW battery is with 150 mile range vs Tesla sedan at 300 miles. Potential of replacing that battery can run another $20k+ unless they will figure out how to refurbish or fix them.
Plus insurance is at least another 50% vs regular truck. Insurance companies tend to write off EVs even after small accidents. Not sure if it's just cost more to replace stuff or they are afraid of liability if EV goes on fire after repair.

So if you take all these into account the savings are not that impactful on overall ownership.

Don't get me wrong I love technology and like the progress these guys are making, problem is it is still out of reach for majority of people.

I see it based on Tesla sales. During pandemic with tons of free cash around people were paying $70k for used Model Y.
Now with Maryland incentives Model Y LR is $38,550!!!! And there is no 14 months wait.
My neighbor bought his Model 3 LR for $56K no incentives. Now it is $35,550 and it will be delivered in Nov-Dec. Ton of Teslas available from the lot.
Note, that in Dec 31st $7500 fed credit will go down to $3,750!

 

[Beachbummer]

Grand Wagoneer can be had for 120k well optioned.

How much will this thing cost, and how reliable will it be?

The idea is awesome, the feature set amazing, but the price!!!

Bets on cheapest available in first 12 months? At least $90k. And, not for me at that price, but awesome that more options become available.

 

[Jim_in_Delaware]

My understanding was that the 2024 federal tax credit will still be $7500 (depending on where the vehicle and battery are made.) Even more importantly, the 2024 credit can be taken up front, instead of a tax credit at the end of the year.

Jim

 

[BlkGS]

Grand Wagoneer can be had for 120k well optioned.

How much will this thing cost, and how reliable will it be?

The idea is awesome, the feature set amazing, but the price!!!

Grand Wagoneer is an Escalade fighter. While.its on the Ram platform, it's not intended as a comparable product to a Ram 1500.

Tradesman at 65k I think is too much. 55k, that's a lot more palatable. That's a 48k truck today with the V8. Probably 53k by the time this comes.out, so maybe 60k for this?

 

[BlkGS]

My understanding was that the 2024 federal tax credit will still be $7500 (depending on where the vehicle and battery are made.) Even more importantly, the 2024 credit can be taken up front, instead of a tax credit at the end of the year.

Jim

This is correct. Tesla is going to lose half the rebate on most models because their source battery components from China.

 

[suke]

That 3.6L motor is trash, though. We have it in our jeep and they have a host of problems. We've been hit by every single "common" problem so far. Oil cooler, which is a PITA to reach and expensive to pay someone to fix. The oil pressure switch, which you have to take A LOT off the bottom of the engine to get, also stupid expensive to fix or a shit load of your own time if you have never done it before. Then of course their cooling systems are flat out garbage. ECT sensor will go out literally at any point in time. It's always fun to gamble when that'll go. Will it be 10k miles orrrrrr 50k miles. No one knows, BUT if you have it long enough it'll happen. Then of course you likely have to replace the thermostat housing at the same time. The last 2 are pretty easy fixes and the OEM parts about $180 from the dealer if it happens out of warranty. Fortunately we haven't been bit by the valves taking out the motor....yet. I am super militant about maintenance. Used to be if you owned jeeps, which I've owned A LOT of older jeeps, as long as you kept up with maintenance you were good. Never once saw a check engine light on either of my XJs and sold one with 150k on it and another with nearly 300k on it. Both of those were off-roaded pretty hard. Our wrangler has never had it's 4wd used. LOL!

Can't imagine working on that motor will be easy with how they'll try and hide it and a lot of the battery taking up the underside of the vehicle. Would really suck to have to pull the motor to change the oil pressure switch. OOF!

 

[Jim_in_Delaware]

Grabbed this on-line:



Jim

 

[lazergeek]

That 3.6L motor is trash, though. We have it in our jeep and they have a host of problems. We've been hit by every single "common" problem so far. Oil cooler, which is a PITA to reach and expensive to pay someone to fix. The oil pressure switch, which you have to take A LOT off the bottom of the engine to get, also stupid expensive to fix or a shit load of your own time if you have never done it before. Then of course their cooling systems are flat out garbage. ECT sensor will go out literally at any point in time. It's always fun to gamble when that'll go. Will it be 10k miles orrrrrr 50k miles. No one knows, BUT if you have it long enough it'll happen. Then of course you likely have to replace the thermostat housing at the same time. The last 2 are pretty easy fixes and the OEM parts about $180 from the dealer if it happens out of warranty. Fortunately we haven't been bit by the valves taking out the motor....yet. I am super militant about maintenance. Used to be if you owned jeeps, which I've owned A LOT of older jeeps, as long as you kept up with maintenance you were good. Never once saw a check engine light on either of my XJs and sold one with 150k on it and another with nearly 300k on it. Both of those were off-roaded pretty hard. Our wrangler has never had it's 4wd used. LOL!

Can't imagine working on that motor will be easy with how they'll try and hide it and a lot of the battery taking up the underside of the vehicle. Would really suck to have to pull the motor to change the oil pressure switch. OOF!

I disagree. I think the 3.6 is a solid engine. I have it on my 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Makes plenty of power and gets decient milage. 130,000 miles with no issues. I just had to replace a couple of lifters that were getting noisy but that has been all. Now working on the engine is another story, it sucks ass having to pull the plenum just to repalce the spark plugs but you only have to do that every 100,000 miles.

 

[suke]

I disagree. I think the 3.6 is a solid engine. I have it on my 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Makes plenty of power and gets decient milage. 130,000 miles with no issues. I just had to replace a couple of lifters that were getting noisy but that has been all. Now working on the engine is another story, it sucks ass having to pull the plenum just to repalce the spark plugs but you only have to do that every 100,000 miles.

LOL! I hate this fucking motor. I'll never own another one again. Ours is a 2016 Wrangler. To be fair aside from Jeeps nearly all of my vehicles were Hondas/Acuras which I've run well into 200k with doing nothing but routine maintenance. So, having to spend thousands on stupidly designed parts on something that has less than 60k really pisses me off. My F150 is also a one off and that thing is a POS as well. Nearing 100k and looking to dump this thing by next March. Sadly all half ton trucks now a days are crap. So I'll be going with another F150 with very low miles and very good factory extended warranty. Not their POS CPO powertrain warranty which doesn't cover dick. LOL!

 

[GTBRMC]

The 2025 Ram Ramcharger is an electric truck that gets its EV juice from a gas-powered generator | TechCrunch

Stellantis brand Ram unveiled the 2025 Ramcharger, a battery electric truck that gets power from a gas-powered generator.

techcrunch.com

It's an EV, with 145 miles of range, and a 3.6L v6 connected to a generator. Plug it in and it's an EV, need to go on a road.trip? 690 miles of gas fed range. It tows, it goes (0-60 in 4.4 seconds), it does it all.

THIS is the vehicle of the future. It's gonna sell like ice water in hell if it's not absurdly expensive, which it sound alike it might not be, because it's a powertrain option from Tradesman up.

It's probably going to come out too far away to be a buy for me, but this is exactly what the truck segment needs as an electric.

Diesel electric locomotives began taking over the US freight rail market 100 years ago. Clearly the concept is sound. Is it “green enough”…? Hard to say.

 

[BlkGS]

Diesel electric locomotives began taking over the US freight rail market 100 years ago. Clearly the concept is sound. Is it “green enough”…? Hard to say.

Oh I'm sure the extreme greenies will say that it's going to be bad because people wont plug it in (which to be fair, it will work just fine if you don't, so I could see a lot of people viewing it as a great way to get a fast truck). Normal people will probably love it though.

You touched on the only real miss of it... It would have been killer with the ecodiesel for the generator.

 

[adrianp89]

This is the way. Even just the 2025 mid cycle refresh looks great. If I didn’t just spend a mortgage on my other car I’d highly consider replacing my truck

and lol at the 3.6 being trash. You must have a lemon, that motor has been consistently one of the best motors in the industry for over 10years now.

 

[BlkGS]

Honestly, the refresh looks the same to me. I'm sure it's slightly different, but I can't tell.

It's weird to think that the ram isn't gonna have a V8. The truck that let you have a viper v10, now will be only 6 cylinders. Still, 540hp out of the HO ome is nothing to sneeze at... Frankly... That's a lot of power. It might even be faster than the Ram harder to be honest, not having the heavy.battery pack.

 

[gthorson]

100% think this will be great for non-towing use. The torque and HP specs are for sure the full battery condition. After your 50 miles towing is up you will be towing with a V-6.

 

[BlkGS]

100% think this will be great for non-towing use. The torque and HP specs are for sure the full battery condition. After your 50 miles towing is up you will be towing with a V-6.

Not quite, the v6 isn't connected to the powertrain at all, so the v6 is only used to charge the batteries. Whether it can charge fast enough to keep up with the power drain of towing a large and heavy load at 80mph up a steep hill, well, that remains to be seen. That said, if they wanted to, I guess they could sense that it's using more power than the generator is making, and limit speed to compensate.

 

[suke]

This is the way. Even just the 2025 mid cycle refresh looks great. If I didn’t just spend a mortgage on my other car I’d highly consider replacing my truck

and lol at the 3.6 being trash. You must have a lemon, that motor has been consistently one of the best motors in the industry for over 10years now.

LOL! You have to be joking. Who's rating that motor best for anything? LOLOL! Used in a lot of things, sure, but still a POS. Even diehard jeep people are like yeah it's shit, but it is what it is. I have a buddy that part of his shop works on jeeps. When I dropped ours off that part of the shop was PACKED full with 3.6L. They had a pile of those motors they had replaced. Rest of the shop they had maybe 1-2 cars in there for routine maintenance. He said "yeah, I'd get this fixed and get rid of it ASAP". It's paid off, so we just said we'll fix it and roll the dice. Back in less than 6 months later with the oil pressure switch. It has been another 6 months and the ECT sensor went out. That I didn't bother him with I just swapped those and the thermostat cause that's the next common problem. We haven't had the cracked head problem yet. But we're batting 100 for the common problems these things have. His GF has a wrangler and he tells her everyday to get rid of it. She works for Jeep and even says she realizes it's a POS. I bought this jeep brand new with 0 miles on it and it has been babied its whole life. They're just POS now a days, but just like nearly everything else made.