Sandy's Initial Thoughts on the 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger

Following the announcement of Ram's upcoming plug-in hybrid, the Ram 1500 Ramcharger, Sandy gives his initial thoughts on the vehicle and compares it to similar vehicles.

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[briansullivan]

Towing, towing, towing. 690 miles is way overkill for a daily. However, even if you're a weekend warrior (like myself) and OCCASIONALLY tow 200-300 miles on a trip, the 690 is a game changer. Especially if you're towing in the winter (IE snowmobiling in WI), that range can be cut in half, and then you're talking about 345mi range, which is much more reasonable. Towing range is the only thing holding me back from an electric pickup. Although carrying around 550 extra pounds isn't ideal, especially considering the maintenance that comes along with it, this seems to be the only logical solution with current technology. I'm interested to see the pricing on it. Love your stuff, Sandy!

[atvseatexchange]

Sandy, it's not about driving 690 miles per day, it's about not basing all your trips around charging stations.

[card]

Wouldn't this truck mileage be better for someone towing and hauling. That 600 miles might become 300 with the right toy behind it. Or it could use that range to power a week long camping trip.

[JamesBabb]

Two big problems with EV trucks:
1) Range while towing.
2) Accessing charging stations with a trailer connected.

This solves them both, with the benefits of full electric for daily use.

[kevinmccubbin]

Range extender is a must, especially on vacation, hot shot duty, hauling, all kinds of vocational uses. Average use is one thing, but on average I don't need a truck at all, but when I do, I do.

[elierhernandez]

My vote definitely goes for the 1500 Ram. I don’t want to be tied to a range when I spend big dollars on a truck. I want to have the option to drive my truck anywhere. THANK YOU RAM!!!

[CME]

This is a smart move by Stellantis to bring in buyers, that would never consider an electric truck. This Ram will bring all the benefits of an electric powertrain, but have the peace of mind, to find a gas station and quickly fill up and drive.

[mmaxx]

Glad to see the comments are in line with reality. I’ve been waiting for a truck like this specifically for towing. I am a BEV fan however when it comes to trucks they just don’t work towing for anything but short distances. This design is basically a locomotive on wheels. The RV industry needs to adopt this design for motor homes especially.

[CausticLemons]

I recently did a road trip with family from Florida to North Carolina, and that ended up being almost 10 hours. With two drivers we never stopped for longer than 15 minutes for gas, food, and restrooms. Being able to take that trip without searching for the still limited EV chargers along the way is not small thing. Additionally, we only stayed one night in NC in a town that has no EV chargers, so depending on the vehicle we may not have been able to fully recharge without an extra stop.
I think this hybrid truck is a superb answer (and stepping stone) to many drivers in the US that still need that convenient long range from time to time.
Edit: And I really hope they add a silent driving mode so we can specifically choose the quiet EV driving!

[jetrep]

Clearly Sandy has never towed anything or read about the poor range of the Lightning when towing. It seems clear this Ram is the answer to those range issues.

[lyfebehyndbars]

I think this is gonna be a perfect solution for a lot of people!
Full electric for day to day driving, engine generator for heavy long haul scenarios.

[desertdan]

Sandy, as a guy who works out of trucks and tows a lot, this is where we need the range.

I have been hollering for years that we need a phev truck or range extended truck.

It isn't the empty range we care about. I can stop and get gas anywhere, but it is a pain while towing and costs me valuable time and miles.

I had a 1999 2500 HD Silverado that towed everything I needed but it was the 3 door version with a 6.5 foot box.

It was a great truck, but when I towed heavy, I had to refuel every 120 to 180 miles.

I run the middle of the country and we tow high speed on the interstates. Towns are far between and off of the interstates. If you miss a truck stop you have to swing off of the interstate and drive to a small town and pray you fit through the gas pumps or can get through the streets.

Time is money and stopping all of the time while towing costs you money and profit.

My newer truck is a Ram 2500 HD crew cab long box. I did not want the length but it got me a factory 50 gallon fuel tank and an empty range of 600 miles.

Towing heavy gets me 300 miles at interstate speeds.

You can cover a lot of miles quick at 70 mph.

I drive about 2 to 4 hours between stops and only stop for a very short time to top off or just keep driving for 4 hours.

I love the lightning but the tow rate is too low and the tow range is too short.

The recharge time is too long.

I tried a run with my buddies truck towing 9500 lbs.

A range extender on the smaller battery truck with more towing capacity would be just the ticket.

They should put the 4 cylinder turbo or like engine in as the generator

[bobjoatmon]

Back in the 90's I put a small Lister air cooled 4 cyl diesel engine with generator (bought it US Military surplus, in a Dodge Dakota along with 4 truck batteries and a couple of huge capacitors (also surplus). I had an aircraft starter / generator hooked up to the driveshaft replacing the transmission (simplifying here it took a lot of work and some custom machining to get all this to work together, a friend built the SCR electrical system because that was WAY beyond my skills ).
I drove that truck for a bit more than 100K around Houston and it was quite functional and pleasant to drive. It had plenty of power on the city streets and did the speed limit on the highways that crisscross the town (so it might be 20 miles from one side of town to the other for me).
That thing just sipped fuel, 52 MPG, and I hauled 500 to 600 pounds in the bed all the time.
I've always wondered why no manufacturer didn't do something similar. Nowadays trucks are huge, the smaller trucks did as well on many tasks and sure were easier to maneuver and park than today's monster trucks.

It developed a short in the generator windings and I couldn't get it repaired or replaced so that was the end of Frankentruck.

[TheUweRoss]

Some of us regularly do 450-600 mile runs in our trucks. Yes, we stop to pee, but not to eat. Sandwiches prepared in advance are consumed while driving. I currently do this in a RAM Ecodiesel. An F150 Lighning will not work for for me; it would waste too much time at charging stops. But the Ramcharger might. :)

[hfarms]

You mentioned a 4 cyl which makes sense, smaller, lighter, etc. The engine heat generated can heat the cab, living space or be a water heater. This setup will give endless power at a work site, camping, home power outage, emergency power station and more. Thinking outside the Volt.

[hobbyguy]

Hey Sandy, biggest hold back of electric trucks is range under load. Electric trucks need to be able to tow and haul, be it a half ton, a 1 ton or larger. Until battery technology makes multiple step changes forward this is what a functional working truck needs to look like. We need someone to get fully behind this concept and development. Edison Motors enters the chat!

[IronmanV]

That range is great for overlanding/offroading where you spend extended time out in the backcountry.

And especially for towing. That 690 miles becomes 300 miles or less depending on weather and the aerodynamics of your load.

[posteroonie]

As a camper I'm very excited about the Ram. It can put out 4.8kW of AC power through a socket in the bed. So I can load a truck camper, plug it in to the truck, and use it like a giant house battery to run air conditioning, hot water, induction cooking, a space heater, and low draw items like lights and a water pump. Wonderful! All the comforts of camping with a generator, without the noise, maintenance, and expense. The big range and fossil fuel power source means that I can go into the boonies in a way that isn't be possible with the Lightning.

[billh]

Seems to me that if you're going to go with a range extender, it needs to be a ground up engine build to minimize weight. A constant speed, non drive ICE doesn't need to be as strong as anything designed for variable rpm drive systems: Not to mention that intake and exhaust systems, among others, would benefit from specialization to a very narrow rpm range.

[zapfanzapfan]

Seems like the perfect combination, electric for every day and gasoline when you have to while towing long range away from charging networks.