New Ram 1500 Ramcharger Launch Pulled Ahead, All-Electric REV Pickup Pushed Back
Stellantis reverses the Ram launch cadence based on consumer interest.
For those excited to get their hands on a 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger, the version of the full-size pickup truck that uses a gas engine as a generator to make it an extended-range EV (EREV) capable of going 690 miles after a full battery charge and filled-up gas tank, we have good news. Stellantis has decided to move up the Ramcharger's on-sale date and start taking orders in the first half of 2025 in response to strong consumer interest. The automaker had already started gathering handraisers.
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It means the launch of the Ram 1500 REV, the pure EV, will be pushed back, an acknowledgement that consumers are slower to adopt electric vehicles than originally forecast. This marks a flip-flopping of the order the two electrified Rams were to appear in: The REV was to launch before the Ramcharger, and in November there were more than 30,000 hand-raisers. Ram has already been building preproduction models because the original plan was to get some into dealers’ hands by the end of this year. That was pushed back a few months into 2025, and now the decision has been made to wait until 2026. The order has been reversed and now the Ramcharger will launch first, in 2025.
Interest in the Ramcharger, and extended-range EVs or EREVs, has been growing as people learn more about the technology. Other automakers, including Volkswagen, Ford, and the Korean brands, are working on them, as well.
The Ramcharger was designed to appeal to more traditional truck buyers, giving them the towing and payload they need, without range anxiety or limited radii of use, while allowing them to dip their toes into EVs and experience what they can offer. In other words, they can enjoy the Ramcharger's 120 to 140 miles of electric range in everyday commuting, around town, in school drop-off lines, etc.—but if towing or driving longer distances, rely on the onboard gas generator to blunt the typical effects higher speeds and hauling have on all-electric trucks' range.
The changes to the launch cadence come shortly after Tim Kuniskis came back to Stellantis and resumed his title of Ram brand CEO after retiring in June. He was succeeded by Chris Feuell, who added Ram to her duties that also include Chrysler brand CEO. Feuell continues to oversee Chrysler and has now added Alfa Romeo. Kuniskis, a longtime employee, returned to the automaker a week after Carlos Tavares resigned as Stellantis CEO.
Alisa Priddle joined MotorTrend in 2016 as the Detroit Editor. A Canadian, she received her Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and has been a reporter for 40 years, most of it covering the auto industry because there is no more fascinating arena to cover. It has it all: the vehicles, the people, the plants, the competition, the drama. Alisa has had a wonderfully varied work history as a reporter for four daily newspapers including the Detroit Free Press where she was auto editor, and the Detroit News where she covered the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, as well as auto trade publication Wards, and two enthusiast magazines: Car & Driver and now MotorTrend. At MotorTrend Alisa is a judge for the MotorTrend Car, Truck, SUV and Person of the Year. She loves seeing a new model for the first time, driving it for the first time, and grilling executives for the stories behind them. In her spare time, she loves to swim, boat, sauna, and then jump into a cold lake or pile of snow.
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