Ram has used the CES show in Las Vegas to unveil what it thinks could be the next step in the jumbo-truck space, with the Revolution 1500 debuting a three-row seating arrangement with room for seven people.
Presenting as a far tougher alternative to three-row, seven-seat SUVs and people-movers, the Ram 1500 Revolution features a cabin that’s been lengthened by four inches, making room for two extra seats, the base of which fold out from the rear of the truck.
It’s a window into what to expect from the next-generation of US trucks – like the Ram 1500, the Toyota Tundra, the Ford F-150 and the Chevrolet Silverado – with seven-seat, family-friendly pickups seemingly on the horizon.
But that’s not all the Revolution offers. Officially a concept at this point – described by the company’s chief designer as “the totality of so many ideas” – the seven-seat 1500 is also a pure-electric truck.
Range and outputs are yet to be detailed, but we do know the Revolution features an 800-volt EV architecture that allows for 350kW DC fast charging. Plug into one of these lightning-quick chargers and you should see up to 161km of range added in just 10 minutes.
It rides on the STLA platform, which has seen the wheelbase grow by four inches to accommodate the ‘large battery’. It’s this extra space that the designers have put to work for the third row.
“We really wanted to make sure that cabin space was as optimized as it possibly could,” Ram’s chief designer, Ryan Nagode, told Automotive News.
“When you move some of that stuff forward, we knew we wanted to maintain a decent-size bed. Those inches that you were gaining were going right into the cabin, and the idea was just to flex this space.”
While the “jump seat” style third row doesn’t look as comfortable as the truck’s regular seats, they’re not plastic launch chairs either. Instead, the fold-down pews have been wrapped partly in a synthetic wetsuit-style material, and partly in a mesh derived from recycled plastic bottle that’s reminiscent of an office chair.
This or a seven-seat SUV? You tell us.
Keyword: Are you sure about that seven-seat SUV or people-mover? Ram 1500 Revolution is the ultimate three-row family hauler!