The Ram 1500 Ramcharger will be a hybrid with a diesel engine

CNN
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Stellandis’ new Ramcharger pickup, expected to go on sale late next year, will be an “electric” truck, the company says. But actually, it will be a hybrid, with a petrol engine under the hood, the company announced on Tuesday.

It will be sold alongside the Ram REV, the company’s true all-electric truck, which is expected to go on sale around the same time.

Tim Kuniskis, president of Stellandis’ Ram truck brand, emphasized during a press conference that the Ram 1500 Ramcharger is not a plug-in hybrid. The main difference is that the Ramcharger’s 3.6-liter 6-cylinder engine is not connected to the truck’s wheels in any way. It is only connected to a generator that can charge the batteries and, in some situations, send power to the electric motors, which then drive the wheels.

However, such a system is called a “series hybrid” to distinguish it from the more common “parallel hybrid” where the gas engine drives the wheels directly, as in the Toyota Prius. The Chevrolet Volt, produced through 2019, is mostly a serial hybrid, as is the Fisker Karma and several diesel-electric engines.

With fully charged batteries, the Ramcharger can travel up to 145 miles without relying on petrol. That’s far more than most plug-in hybrids currently on the market. Before using gasoline, most can only go 30 or 40 miles on a full charge.

According to Stellandis, with a fully charged battery pack and a full tank of gas, the Ramcharger should be driven a total of 690 miles before needing to recharge or refill. In terms of total range, it’s similar to much smaller, lighter non-plug-in hybrid vehicles like the Hyundai Sonata and Toyota Camry.

Also, the Ram Truck can use DC fast chargers to quickly recharge its batteries. Most plug-in hybrids can’t use fast chargers, which can add 100 miles of driving range in just a few minutes.

Ram previously unveiled an electric-only truck called the Ram REV, which will go on sale late next year. The truck can travel up to 500 miles on a full charge but lacks the Ramcharger’s gasoline engine.

The company sells both the Ram REV and the RamCharger, so it may have another product to sell to people who want to buy an electric pickup truck but are still concerned about the range concern, Kuniskis said.

“Battery electric vehicles have many advantages. But some things slow people down. If I can say the things that slow you down are payment time, range anxiety and infrastructure, you don’t have to worry about this,” he said.

Ramin will enter the hybrid and electric truck market after competitors go on sale. Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Stellandis, said he wants to use the delay to Ram’s advantage because he can see what consumers think of other electric trucks. Both Ford and General Motors have EV trucks for sale Recently re-measuredOr Increase in latency, production. EVs, in general, are Sale at deep discounts In recent months, it has indicated that consumers may be put off by the relatively high prices of these early battery-powered trucks.

While Stellandis hasn’t announced pricing for the electric truck, Kuniskis indicated that the Ram Charger will cost less than the Ram REV because the range-extended truck has a smaller battery pack. Batteries are the most expensive part of electric vehicles.

The Ramcharger is powered by two electric motors, one driving the front wheels and the other rear, giving the truck all-wheel drive. Combined, the two motors can produce up to 663 horsepower and 615 pound-feet of torque, a measure of pulling power. That’s 172 pound-feet more than the gasoline-powered Ram pickup with 268 horsepower and a V8 engine.

Because the Ramcharger’s gas engine is not mechanically connected to the wheels, and there is no transmission or drive shafts running under the passenger cabin, the Ramcharger has the same flat interior floor as the Ram REV. This allows more space inside For convenience and extra storage. Most gas-powered trucks have a hump in the floor to accommodate those mechanical components.