Now in its fifth generation, the Ram line of pickup trucks began as the Dodge Ram way back in 1981. The "Dodge" moniker was dropped when RAM was spun off into its own brand in 2010, and the rest as you know is history. Nowadays, Ram is the last major automaker from Detroit without an electric pickup truck in its lineup, so their concept called the Ram 1500 Revolution BEV (battery-electric vehicle), had better live up to the hype!
Fortunately, the wait to find out is almost over. After disappointing fans with a false start at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, Ram recently announced that the concept will debut at a special event on January 5th during the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Styling Will Be Distinct
Although concrete details are scarce, Ram has released a steady trickle of teaser images over the last year and most recently, a video on December 6th. In the video, there’s a brief glimpse of the front of the truck, with an oversized Ram logo in the center of where the grill would be on an internal combustion engine truck and thick LED strips surrounding the headlights. Another fresh image from the Ram website shows illuminated “RAM” emblems on the front doors, a lower roofline, and vertical LED strip taillights which are decidedly distinct from the Ram 1500 that’s currently on sale today.
These clues indicate that Ram is clearly going in a direction like that of the Chevrolet Silverado EV versus the F-150 Lightning. Whereas Ford's award-winning EV pickup looks very similar to a normal F-150, the Silverado EV is immediately distinguishable from its combustion-powered siblings. Another interesting visual cue is two slim video cameras replacing side-view mirrors to reduce aerodynamic drag. This is a neat feature, but one that likely won't make it to production because the technology is not yet legal in the United States.
What's Under That Sleek Skin?
The Ram Revolution will have a traditional body-on-frame architecture, riding on Stellantis' (RAM’s parent company) new STLA frame, a platform that the manufacturer intends to use for everything from light commercial vehicles to heavy-duty pickups. Stellantis states that this platform will have the battery sitting low in the frame for stability and will be capable of up to 500 miles of EV range with a 200 kilowatt-hours battery.
While Ram hasn’t shared any powertrain specifications yet, they have said that they "will push past what competitors have announced." Assuming that Ram views "competitors" as other full-size pickups in the marketplace, then the one to beat is the GMC Sierra EV with 754 horsepower and 785 pound-feet of torque.
Reading between the lines a bit, Stellantis confirmed at its EV Day presentation in 2021 that the STLA frame can accommodate up to three of the new EDM power modules, which are capable of 443 horsepower each.
So if the Ram Revolution is equipped with two of the power modules as standard equipment, that would translate into approximately 885 horsepower. This would also make the Revolution more powerful than Ram’s own muscle truck, the TRX, which generates 702 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque from a supercharger 6.2L internal combustion engine.
Mopar Insiders suggests that using all available space for an optional tri-motor system may also be on offer for the Revolution. Doing some quick math, that would total over 1,300 horsepower, which is more than the tri-motor GMC Hummer EV SUT with its 1,000 horsepower. This would make the Ram Revolution with tri-motors the most powerful EV truck on the market, regardless of whether your definition of “truck” includes SUT’s or SUV’s.
A Gasoline Motor Might Still Be Involved
Ram CEO Mike Koval Jr. has said that the automaker plans to offer a range extender version alongside the all-electric Ram pickup. Although details are vague, it's expected the truck would be based on the EV Ram, but with a small supplementary gasoline engine.
Gasoline-powered range extenders have not been very popular with consumers so far in other vehicles, but adding them to EV pickups could be a legitimate stopgap solution for towing and hauling heavy loads until EV technology improves to the point where they’re no longer needed.
Recall the embarrassing situation when a popular YouTuber’s Ford F150 Lightning was only able to tow a 3500-pound trailer less than 100 miles before going dead. Even though a range extender wouldn't be a 100-percent "emissions-free" solution for Ram, it would still be greener than current Ram 1500 owners cruising around with a 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 that gets 17 mpg. I will miss that unmistakable V-8 exhaust note, though.