Update: ‘Ram Revolution’ section updated with info on the concept.
It is no news that Ram is transitioning to EVs slower than rivals, but it has an exciting product on the horizon – the Ram 1500 electric truck. Ram, “the only dedicated truck and van brand,” as CEO Mike Koval proudly markets it, plans to launch its first electric truck in 2024.
Analysts feel there is immense pressure on Ram to electrify vehicles as there is a growing audience base for electric SUVs and electric trucks. By 2025, there will be about ten electric pickup trucks available on the market. The most popular of these include the Tesla Cybertruck, the Ford F-150 Lightning, and the Chevrolet Silverado EV. The Tesla pickup is estimated to be sitting on one million reservations, the Ford pickup at nearly 200k reservations, and the Chevy pickup was selling out in minutes.
Design & Configuration
Compared to the ICE Ram 1500, the RAM 1500 EV will have a lower and sleeker body. Image Source: Stellantis
The Ram electric truck will feature a dual-cab configuration, which most automakers see as a safe, high-volume configuration for their first electric pickup trucks. The steeper windshield and lower roofline suggest that the Ram 1500 electric will have a more aerodynamic design than the ICE Ram 1500. At the front, it will have an illuminated brand logo and signature lights like a contour bottle. At the rear, we can see inverted L-shaped taillights and an illuminated brand inscription.
Rendered based on official teasers
Using details from the official information, TopElectricSUV has rendered the 1500 EV. Our Ram electric truck looks just as aggressive as its ICE counterpart, but not without unconventional details for futurism. For example, it features the more prominent, illuminated RAM branding at the front. The running lights on the upper and lower edges of the headlamps are in a technical design that adds to the unique road presence. Instead of a conventional upper grille, the 1500 EV has a dark-covered panel. It doesn’t need as much cooling, and covering the area can improve aerodynamics. The 1500 BEV should spend more time in the wind tunnel than any other Ram product, as the brand has promised class-leading attributes.
The Ram 1500 EV will look just as tough as the conventional pickup. One prominent design feature, as compared to the gas-powered truck, is the EV’s bowed A-Pillar and steeply raked windscreen.
Unlike most EVs, the zero-emission Ram truck isn’t going for elegance. It preserves the raw, rugged character customers expect from a 1500. The massive power bulge on the hood, the all-black lower front bumper, the chunky wheel arches and rocker panels in a black finish, and off-road tires ensure that this model looks as tough and work-ready as any Ram truck.
Platform & Towing
The Ram 1500 electric is due in 2024, and so it may arrive as the first model based on the STLA Frame platform, which Stellantis plans to commercialize in the middle of the same year. As is the norm, we expect the towing capacity to cross the 10,000 lbs figure. Like the F-150 Lightning, the Ram 1500 electric may come with a spare wheel below the bed. Another recipient of the STLA Frame is the Electric Jeep Wrangler.
Stellantis plans to introduce three unibody EV platforms and one body-on-frame EV platform by the middle of the decade. Image Source: Stellantis
Features
Specific details about the features of the Ram 1500 EV aren’t out yet, but Stellantis has given hints. The electric pickup should get firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) upgrades for improved performance and efficiency throughout its lifecycle. Mamatha Chamarthi, the company’s SVP for Software Business & Product, has suggested that software-enabled performance upgrades will be available after the delivery.
For our Ram pickup owners, customers can increase the capability of their truck to handle greater loads.
Mamatha Chamarthi, SVP – Software Business & Product, Stellantis (Stellantis Software Day 2021 on December 7, 2021)
Locally-sourced batteries
The Ram 1500 EV will be proudly American, utilizing locally manufactured batteries. Stellantis has inked a deal with LG Energy Solution to form a joint venture for lithium-ion battery production in North America. If all goes as planned, the newly formed JV company will open a new battery manufacturing facility with an annual production capacity of 40-gigawatt hours.
The STLA Frame platform would underpin the Ram 1500 electric and looks like it will offer a full-size spare. Image Source: Stellantis
Stellantis and LG Energy Energy Solution haven’t finalized the location of the new North American battery factory, but we are expecting it to be in the U.S only. The batteries manufactured at this production site will go into Stellantis’ next-gen BEVs, and PHEVs made in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
RAM 1500 Range Extender version in development
STLA Frame models, likely including the RAM 1500 electric, will optionally be available with a range extender system. The range-extender solution will help Stellantis pitch its more eco-friendly models to truck customers with range anxiety and requirements for customers who use the truck mostly in remote locations where charging poles are uncommon.
On March 1, 2022, outlining Stellantis’ long-term strategic plan, CEO Carlos Tavares talked about the 1500 EV. He suggested that another 1500 alternative powertrain vehicle is in the pipeline. That could be a 1500 EV with a range extender solution.
And not only we have a pure BEV version but we have a few other things in our pockets that will surprise the market, but it’s still too soon to talk about it, so give a little bit more time.
Carlos Tavares, CEO, Stellantis at the Stellantis Long-term strategic plan announcement on March 1, 2022
The range-extender EVs will offer a range at the same level as a pickup with a traditional powertrain and have no compromise on the key characteristics, be it payload or cargo volume. Patrice Lucas, Cross Line & Project Engineering, Stellantis, hinted the same at the Stellantis EV Day 2021 on July 8, 2021.
Electric trucks experience massive energy loss while towing heavy loads, reducing range significantly. With the EV charging infrastructure still developing, owners are at risk of getting stranded if they don’t plan their trips well. Hence, it makes sense for Ram to offer the internal combustion engine as an option in the work-truck variants, while the primary drivetrain would still be electric.
A hybrid system would ensure that towing duties are supported by the ICE powertrain without range anxiety. Even if drivers run out of charge, they can rely on the gas engine to get to nearby charging stations.
Ram 1500 Electric truck charging
Ram hasn’t revealed the features or specifications of the 1500 EV. It had confirmed in 2021 that the EV would feature fast charging at up to 150 kW, dynamic range mapping, charge station locator, EV dynamic trip energy prediction, smartphone controls, smart charging/vehicle preconditioning, and drive modes.
150 kW is today’s DC fast-charging rate, and the specification is available in the basic F-150 Lightning that goes on sale this spring. Tesla is already at 250 kW, while GM’s is further ahead, at 350 kW (supported in GMC Hummer EV Pickup Edition 1). Ram needs to do better at charging speeds if its electric pickup has to hold its appeal in 2024, and the brand has heard customer calls!
While talking about the 1500 EV on March 1, 2022, Tavares suggested that the engineering team had upgraded the electrical system. He said that the 1500 EV would have a better charging time than its competitors.
Our Ram 1500 EV is coming to the hot pickup market in 2024. According to our internal performance index our Ram 1500 will outperform all competitors on the attributes customers care most about: range, towing, payload, charge time. Really thrilling! It’s built on top of our new STLA Frame architecture, designed specifically for electric vehicles. Make no doubt, we’ll bring the best electric truck to the full-size segment!
Carlos Tavares, CEO, Stellantis (Stellantis long-term strategic plan on March 1, 2022)
RAM E-Technologies
- Power & Torque
- Fuel Economy
- On-board power
- Unique style/proportion
- All the driving characteristics of BEVs with real-world range and flexibility
RAM 1500 EV Range & Price
The Ram 1500 Electric will ride on the STLA Frame platform, which offers customers a range of up to 500 miles (800 km) from their pickup truck. Image Source: Stellantis/Ram
Ford set the benchmark for pricing high-volume electric full-size pickups in 2021, which General Motors bettered in 2022. The Ford F-150 Lightning costs USD 39,974 in its base configuration aimed at the commercial market, whereas the Chevrolet Silverado EV Work Truck is priced from USD 39,900. We feel that Ram would price the 1500 electric from around USD 40,000 for competitiveness. Ford and Chevrolet, in the meantime, will find ways to make their offerings affordable as battery costs fall and production volume improves. The competition will also include the GMC Sierra Denali electric pickup truck and a Toyota electric pickup truck.
It is our responsibility to serve our loyal following of RAM owners who believe in our products and who are proud to wear our badge today, but also bring in a greater number of new customers to our brand by continuing to be bold and challenging tradition.
Mike Koval, CEO, Ram (Stellantis EV Day 2021)
The Ram 1500 Electric would be about two years late entering the electric pickup segment compared to chief rivals F-150 Lightning and the Cybertruck. At the Stellantis EV Day 2021, UBS analyst Patrick Hummel asked Tavares if the company’s best-selling pickup could lose substantial market share due to the delay. In response, Tavares defended the plan saying it was right on the timing.
We are just going to accelerate, and every time we decide a new investment on all of those four BEV focus platforms, we make the decision based on our ability to beat the competition at the moment where we hit the ground with the new products. So, of course, we predict or try to predict, what is going to be the pace of progress of our competitors, and of course, we decide our own investments and our own specs based on where we see our competitors going in a very clear competitive mindset which is to beat them when we hit the ground with the new products on those new platforms. So that’s how we think about things, and we feel that we are exactly on the right timing with the right power, and by the way, thanks to the scale of Stellantis, we are now doing this race with the other carmakers, and we are just fine about it.
Carlos Tavares, CEO, Stellantis
In a virtual fireside chat at the Morgan Stanley 8th Annual Auto 2.0 Conference on January 5, 2022, Tavares yet again defended the brand’s electrification timeline. Ram will be late to the party as far as electric vehicles go, but it’s not all bad news for the company. It has a leg up because it can upgrade its EVs based on what competitors do.
While we are breaking records every year on the Ram brand, we are preparing the EV pickup trucks, as you said, for 2024, and we are doing it by adjusting the specs and adjusting the performances in function of what we see coming up from our competitors. And yes, it’s a fact that we are coming slightly after them, but it’s also a fact that we have the opportunity to adjust the competitiveness and the appeal of our own trucks to what they are doing.
Carlos Tavares, CEO, Stellantis (Morgan Stanley 8th Annual Auto 2.0 Conference on January 5, 2022)
Tavares concluded with a hint that he had received a preview of Ram’s first electric pickup. “What I have seen so far is extremely exciting,” he said. Next year, the brand will introduce the Promaster EV as its first pure-electric vehicle.
Ram 1500 EV reservations
During the Q&A session Stellantis held after presenting its long-term strategic plan on March 1, 2022, an analyst asked whether Ram could take 1500 EV orders 12-18 months before starting delivery as Ford and GM are doing with their electric trucks. Tavares replied that the 1500 EV will be available to order before its launch, probably significantly before the start of production, but would decide when it is appropriate to open order books.
Tavares revealed that Stellantis includes the Tesla Cybertruck in the list of Ram 1500 EV rivals when it says that the latter “will outperform all competitors.” The 1500 EV has to be highly competitive because it won’t be the first electric model in its segment, the CEO admitted.
Ram Revolution
Earlier in 2022, Ram launched a new marketing campaign that involves customers and enthusiasts in creating future Ram models, including EVs – Ram Revolution. The company has launched a dedicated Ram Revolution page on its U.S. website (ramtrucks.com/revolution), where interested people can sign up and participate. It conducts ‘Ram Real Talk’ events where they can voice their opinions that help shape the future of the Ram lineup.
Our new Ram Revolution campaign will allow us to engage with consumers in a close and personal way, so we can gather meaningful feedback, understand their wants and needs and address their concerns – ultimately allowing us to deliver the best electric pickup truck on the market with the Ram 1500 BEV.
Mike Koval, Ram brand CEO – Stellantis
Ram 1500 Electric truck concept
Ram will unveil the concept version of the Ram 1500 electric truck later this year. Koval told Automotive News at the 2022 New York International Auto Show that a lot of feedback Ram receives from Ram Real Talk influences the design of the Ram 1500 electric truck concept. An evolved version of this concept with road-ready changes will hit the market in 2024.
Ram will launch electric models in most of its segments by 2025 and in every segment by 2030. Image: StellantisNorthAmerica.com
Before Ram Revolution appeared on the website, we saw the trademark filings at IP protection agencies in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. At the USPTO, the application says that the trademark is for “International Class 012: Motor vehicles, namely, passenger trucks.”
While the Ram Promaster EV is coming in 2023, the Ram Electric truck will follow in 2024. Ram hasn’t shared how many EVs it plans to launch by 2030 but has promised one launch in every segment that it operates in.
Featured Image Source: Stellantis
Keyword: Everything we know about the Ram 1500 Electric truck (2024)