Ram Electric Truck DEAD – Long Live Ram RamCharger Now Ram REV

The Ram electric truck is dead and the brand has decided the name will live on with the Ramcharger now becoming the Ram REV. Confused yet?

Ram Electric Truck Dead?

In a Ram REV Insider+ newsletter, the Ram Brand made the announcement it was transitioning to a new strategy.

“In response to customer feedback, and rapidly slowing industry demand for full-size BEV
pickups, the brand is discontinuing development of the battery electric Ram 1500 (Formally
known as the Ram 1500 REV).

We are also changing the name of our other future Ram Truck, formerly called
the Ram 1500 Ramcharger, to Ram 1500 REV.”

What is going on?

In February 2022, the Ram REV was announced as the brand’s electric truck. It was part of the brand’s Ram Revolution with a special website designed to engage with the community for “real truck talk” around EVs.

They showed two concept vehicles and touted upwards of 500 miles of range with a long-range version and one with 440 miles of range as part of a EV Day in the summer of 2021.

The plan was to bring a battery-electric truck (BEVs) to market by 2024.

“According to information from Stellantis, Ram will deliver fully electrified solutions in the majority of its segments by 2025 and a full portfolio of electrified solutions for all of its segments no later than 2030,” we reported at the time.

Ramcharger extended range EV enters the scene

It was all BEVs for Ram, until they threw the truck world a curve ball in November, 2023 by unveiling an extended-range EV.

What’s that? This is a powertrain that combines the 3.6-liter V6 Pentastar engine with a battery pack.

The idea is the truck uses only power from the battery pack and the engine kicks on to charge the battery. None of the power created by the engine goes to the wheels directly.

This is very similar to how diesel-hybrid locomotives work.

You never have to charge the battery (you can though if you’d like with a plug) and you simply add gas when needed. It is like a gas truck in that once you run out of gas, you run out of gas and are stranded. Same rules apply.

This allows the truck to achieve up to 690 miles of range if you were to deplete the gas tank and battery completely – something you’d be hard pressed to do.

Who cares about an extended range EV?

The Ramcharger, sorry, the new Ram REV created a lot of excitement for truck fans.

Electric trucks tow better than a diesel, are smooth in operation and are much more fuel efficient when towing like our camping tow test proved.

And the V6 has no turbochargers, no cylinder deactivation, no mild-hybrid systems, nothing. It is a simple engine that has proven to be very reliable over the years.

Also, the V6 engine that doesn’t have the same big expense items say a Cummins diesel requires with expensive oil changes and maintenance items and it is almost like finding the Holy Grail of powertrains.

Plus, you can meet future emissions goals easily with a V6 engine in a full-size truck.

Why kill the BEV?

Ok, fine the new Ram REV sounds pretty great on paper, but don’t people still want a BEV option?

Not really. The sales data has shown EV sales aren’t bringing in the buyers for full-size trucks and the Federal tax credit going away is going to most likely cut further demand. Even if that tax credit comes back, it is going to be months, if not years, to rebuild consumer confidence the credit will be around for a while.

“As demand for full-size electric trucks slows in North America and Stellantis reassesses its product strategy, the company is discontinuing development of a full-size electric pickup truck,” Ram said in a statement. “As part of this, Ram is renaming its REEV-powered pickup to Ram 1500 REV (formerly Ramcharger). It will set a new benchmark for half-ton pickup trucks, delivering superior range, towing and payload.”

Slowing demand, soft sales and lack of interest all add up to a good business reason to kill it outright. Ram had already decided to flip flop the roll-out by pushing the extended-range EV ahead of the BEV truck last December.