After multiple delays, Ram is pulling the plug on its electric pickup truck. In a Friday afternoon press release, parent company Stellantis announced, “As demand for full-size battery-electric trucks slows in North America, Stellantis is reassessing its product strategy and will discontinue development of a full-size BEV pickup.”
The canceled electric truck’s name, however, will live on because the upcoming plug-in hybrid pickup formerly known as the Ramcharger will now be known as the Ram 1500 REV. Using a gas V6 as an onboard range extender, that one is scheduled to drop sometime in Q1 2026.
Ram originally announced that it would sell an electric pickup truck all the way back in the summer of 2021, with a projected launch date of 2024. A very production-ready Ram 1500 Revolution Concept was unveiled early 2023, but the vehicle was still MIA from showrooms by late 2024. The company then pushed the on-sale date to 2026. Then it said 2027.
Now, it’s no longer happening.
Here’s the key part of the statement:
As demand for full-size battery-electric trucks slows in North America, Stellantis is reassessing its product strategy and will discontinue development of a full-size BEV pickup. As part of this, Ram is renaming its REEV-powered pickup to Ram 1500 REV (formerly Ramcharger). This vehicle will set a new benchmark in the half-ton segment, offering exceptional range, towing capability and payload performance.
Stellantis, the auto conglomerate that consists of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo, has had a particularly rough go at the whole EV thing. The new Dodge Charger Daytona EV simply isn’t selling, is generally disliked by reviewers, and has already seen some deep, deep discounts. Production on the Fiat 500e, meanwhile, was paused for several months over the winter.
Granted, the Great EV Cooling is hardly a Stellantis-exclusive issue. Yes, EV sales exploded in August, but mostly due to the fact that the federal tax credit is going away on September 30, and interested shoppers are getting in while it’s still around.
Automakers left and right are slowing down production. In late August, General Motors announced that it would cut two shifts for a month at its Factory Zero plant in Detroit-Hamtrack, where it produces the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Escalade IQ. This week, it announced plans to scale back production on the Cadillac Lyriq, Vistiq, and Chevy Bolt EVs.
Hopefully, this means that the newly christened RAM REV will be debuting sooner rather than later.
Topshot: Ram Concept
Good move.
Recently, this guy showed the list of EV projects and future EV vehicles that are cancelled left and right. The best news is that Audi had announced that it would not offer the EV version of next generation RS 6 Avant.
People want the noise, grunt, vibration, etc. from the V8 engines that the EV version doesn’t have.
Wow, they can make a good product decision. Maybe there’s hope afterall.
Probably good to pivot, think Ford/GM/Tesla/Rivian have filled the space of +$80k big electric trucks pretty well, need the Ford/Slate/Telo range of $50k and under small trucks to start coming out.
I agree generally, though a smaller/cheaper (sub-$50K) full EV pickup from a major/legacy manufacturer might have had some market appeal, provided they could still manage to make a profit on it after amortizing development costs. I know Ford’s supposed to release one (and we’re probably still a year or three off from being able to buy Slates and Telos, if ever) but w/Ford’s rep for bungling and bugs, there’s no guarantee that they’ll get to monopolize the ‘affordable’ EV pickup space.
PS: I LOVE the medium-dark tealish color on the pickup in the top photo. Such a relief from the endless monochrome dreck so common now.
You might not be familiar with Stellantis’ pricing strategy of the past five years.
No, of course you’re right. I personally have a hard time understanding why anyone wants a six-figure full-size RAM or other domestic pickup or SUV, but I’m weird and probably have a f-ed up chomosome somewhere. I’ve never been into any pro sports either, as a fan/spectator. I played on a few different teams in school and enjoyed it, but to just sit and watch, let alone make being a fan my personality… I just don’t get it. Messed up DNA on my part probably.
Ford should just work more on making the Maverick more available and at the actual prices they advertise. The hybrid gets great fuel economy and should be an even bigger seller.
If we get another few years of this, EVs are gonna have 10cc “compliance engines” installed.
One step forward, two steps back…. They are going to be left in the dust by the competition, Period. Ford has been sucessfully selling an electric F150 and GM now has electric trucks. Agree, the Ramcharger should have been a Tahoe/Yukon/Expedition competitor 30 years ago. Day late and a dollar short. The name does lend itself to an EV
Probably stelatis’ best move at this point is to discontinue the rest of their line up.
Came here to say the same thing. They should just go out of business right now to save everyone a lot of heartache.
That’s a bold strategy Cotton, let’s see if it pays off.
Now can they please make a new real ramcharger. A badass SUV based on the Ram, like the original Ramcharger.
Maybe that’s part of the reason for the name change? A RAM based SUV like Chevy’s Tahoe or Ford’s Expedition should always have been part of the lineup since the ’94 redesign.
I could see this being a thing. The wagoneer is near enough and isn’t selling well. It would be a decent idea to sell a lower content version that doesn’t dilute the intended market position the wagoneer is in to try and recoup some cost on that development
They abandoned the market when it was hot. A ’94 Ram based 4 door Suburban competitor would have printed money.
They have real trouble designing a good looking big SUV. Cases in point: The Wagoneer, the Commander, and the Dodge Aardvark (2nd gen Durango.)
They discontinued it because Jeep was there with the Grand Cherokee. It would’ve eaten into the new ZJ’s sales, and Chrysler really wanted a payoff to their investment of buying AMC. And while the lower on the rung XJ Cherokee did compete with the Durango that came out for 1997 they had been internally trying to design a replacement for the XJ for 2000 with the Compass and the Liberty. Neither of which were meant to be seven seat tow vehicles the way the Durango was.
Now had they created a Ramcharger for the 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 that would’ve been the best time, as the new 2002 Dodge Ram had the 5.7 and SUVs like the Excursion and Trailblazer SS fed into American’s desire for excess. As we all know however Daimler-Benz was just using Chrysler for their dealerships and distribution facilities and refused to let them create new models in segments they didn’t already inhabit. It’s also why we never got the Chrysler ME412, the Plymouth Pronto Spyder, or the V8 Jeepster.
The 1998-2001 Mexico only Ramchargers were interesting.
But who would market it? Only someone sufficiently badass could serve as an ambassador for such a product.
…a badassador, if you will
This feels a lot like it was a horribly mismanaged development program and they were absolutely thrilled a market slowdown could let them cut loose the boondoggle they were creating.
Smarted move they could have made. They would have sold exact 1 of those trucks, all while incurring a ton of expenses. Put that money into good use. Nothing is stopping them from picking this up again in 5 years.
It seems that electric Ram is now in the realm of dreams. Along with electric sheep and other electric herd animals.
I dream of electric sheep.
Are you a Recplicant?
Only Deckard knows for sure.
Interlinked
How come, if you have an iPhone?
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Teslas on fire off the shoulder of I-75. I watched C-pillars glitter in the dark with full-length taillights near Arlington Assembly. All those moments will be lost in time, like Cybertrucks in terrain.”
The Ram REV is quite interesting, the Ramcharger name was way better though.
Not a surprise, that’s for sure.
I saw the Charger EV in the wild for the first time today. Or anywhere other than the Internet for that matter. It was weird listening to manufacturer ICE exhaust as it accelerated up a hill away from. It did sound pretty authentic though.
I just saw my second one yesterday. It was all done up like the General Lee, but I couldn’t see if it had the confederate flag on top.
Stellantis seems completely rudderless right now. Who’d have thought that chasing short-term profit to juice your stock during the pandemic—at the expense of R&D or any real sense of direction—would come back to bite them in the ass?
I expect more of the same to come.
> now
As opposed to when Carlos was in charge?
If they can do this, and price it at a discount compared to a Lightning or Silverado EV, it could generate quite a few sales for them. Last time they talked on this, they were wrestling back & forth with pricing it cheap, because it’s cheaper to build than a full EV, or expensive, because it gives you more options than an EV. Hoping they go with the former, but assuming they’ll probably do the latter.
While I agree, and wish they had done it, there is an argument that just pricing it under would not have had a huge effect.
I bought my Silverado EV last month for over $20K under list.
I was talking about the REV, which is supposed to still be happening.
This will never undercut the Ford Lightning. The standard range electric F150 has a 98kWh battery.
The RAM is literally an entire 92kwh EV battery and two motors, PLUS an additional V6 gasoline engine and driveline.
I can’t wait for the RAM steam engine truck. I don’t need this sissy gas bullshit/liberal propaganda. If I can’t run my truck by feeding it straight goal I don’t want it. I deserve the FREEDOM TO CHOOSE my fuel and I want STEAM PROPULSION like a REAL MAN
Wankers and their horseless carriages.
Almost as bad as those Wankels with their Dorito obsession
Underrated comment
Coalfired or GTFO
Can’t really roll-coal unless you’re actually rolling with coal!
Honestly anyone who would daily drive steam ANYTHING gets huge respect in my book. The amount of perception and knowledge of your machine it would take would be incredible.
Managing temperature. Managing boiler pressure. Managing cylinder pressure. Managing water level. Managing steam consumption vs. production. Cleaning out all the little tubes (yes, water tube boilers like the Doble included). Minutes to start up at the quickest, and hours of maintenance per week afterwards, minimum. Singeing the hairs off your forearms and eyebrows. Keeping track of which of multiple types of grease goes where. Descaling tasks that would give a Midwestern reef aquarist a stroke. All for less horsepower than the most basic diesel.
As a consolation prize, though, you’d handily win any “who has the most torque” dick swinging contests.
Its probably for the best. The full size bev pickups aren’t exactly flying off the lots. They are too expensive for most people or fleets to consider unless there some requirement or optics to warrant the cost. Unfortunately the erev will probably have similar issues with cost. Though there probably is a bigger market. They really need something to take on the Maverick and all the little Bev trucks coming on the market. The ram 700 always looked promising but they refuse to bring it in. The Dakota sold decently too. Apparently munro told ram to bring in the 700 and they didn’t listen.
The 700/Fiat Strada is a Latin market trucklet. It’s not built any where’s close to US safety standards, and about the only engine that’d work without certifying yet another different engine from either companies’ portfolio would be the 1.3T, which I doubt the CVT or 5 speed was really meant to handle, so it’d require an ungodly amount of money to re-work.
The smarter choice would be the Rampage, since all that is, essentially, is a Compass truck. But, with them pushing anything from the CUSW/SUSW era out of the market, we probably won’t see it until it goes onto something STLA Medium or Large, if ever, since at least both were (IIRC for Medium) meant for the US market.
There were some sketchy reports of them building the rampage for the us for my 2027. Most of the us standards are different enough they would have to at least certify but probably reengineer anything anyway. But a parts bin special is probably a better idea for them.
Ramcharger was the best thing about the truck, I hope they reconsider cancelling the name.
As a new Silverado EV (4WT) owner, I’m a bit disappointed. The original Ram Revolution concept was an innovative (but not stupid crazy a la Cybertruck) full size truck EV that would’ve mattered. But everything after that was just proof they weren’t committed. It didn’t have to have all of those features to be a winner, but having several of them would’ve been impressive. https://www.ram.com/cr/revolution/concept.html
The ven diagram of Ram buyers and EV people approaches zero. So this makes sense for the brand.
A PHEV probably can make sense if they get the duty cycle right and it drive does significant fuel/maintenance savings for fleets. But this is FCA/Stellantis we’re talking about so my hopes for reliability are non existent.
Yea that’s probably a good idea, a better idea would have to released the PHEV version years ago.
I agree. I also wonder if we were in the alternate timeline of not having elected a fossil-fuel loving president and had Musk go all MAGA, if that would’ve made some difference. I suspect it would have. It might not have saved this truck, but maybe.
Hah, Stellantis doing something right? No way. Honestly this is Carlos Tavares legacy here he had no idea about the American market.
If they had, they probably would have had my dollars. We were not buying a first year Stellantis product especially one with new technology (for them). We bought an F150 hybrid instead of waiting. On paper, the Ram PHEV is pretty much our ideal truck.
Oh man I would love a PHEV truck or full size SUV. I think you made the best choice with the hybrid, I also don’t think I would trust any Stellantis product, I’ve had enough bad luck with diamler/Chrysler and Dodge it would take alot for me to go back.
Yeah, I do think we got the best available truck for us right now, but would be nice to get a meaningful MPG bump and the ability to actually drive a real distance in electric only mode. Holding out hope that the electrified F250 is PHEV and they get it all sorted out before we’re ready to replace the F150.
Too bad, they would have sold hundreds of them
So, more than the Charger EV?
Well, you have the whole pickup vs hatchback thing going for it, at least
Probably smart. Market is small, and pretty competitive. I do hope the EREV/PHEV is well done, I’d like to see that model work and spread to other, better, brands.
Anyone else think Stellantis would be more successful saving tens of millions of dollars and not hire a new CEO from the failed CEO septic tank and just leave it up to a magic 8 ball? I don’t think they could do any worse.
Ask again later
My sources say yes
Don’t count on it
Is anyone here surprised at all?
*Crickets*
It’s shocking, I tell ya.
<shocked Pikachu face>