Ram will introduce a full-size electric truck by 2024.
As part of the company’s 2021 “EV Day”, Ram parent company Stellantis laid out a roadmap covering its plans to electrify over the next decade. Among those plans is to be the first to market with a fully electric muscle car under the Dodge brand. Jeep also revealed the first images of the upcoming Grand Cherokee 4xe. Most critically, though, Ram needs an electric truck offering as Ford prepares the F-150 Lightning, GM readies the GMC Hummer EV and an electric Chevy Silverado, and new competition emerges from the Rivian R1T and Tesla Cybertruck, among others. On Thursday, brand CEO Mike Koval officially announced the Ram 1500 BEV as its first electric truck, slated to start production in 2024.
“It is our promise to serve the next generation of Ram customers with a next-generation portfolio of products that delivers on their real-world demands,” Koval said as part of the EV Day presentation. Beyond just introducing a light duty truck, the brand plans to capitalize on its entire truck and van lineup, bringing an electric option to the whole portfolio within the next several years. Company-wide, Stellantis targets low-emission (electrified) vehicles to comprise 40% of its total U.S. sales by 2030.
What will the electric Ram 1500 bring to the table?
While Ram promises to bring customer-driven electric solutions to the portfolio, specific product details are light for the time being. Ram did tease a concept-like silhouette, while the broader lens shed some light on what we can expect from an electric Ram 1500 pickup. The truck will ride on a new “STLA” architecture — a set of four modular platforms with similar electric powertrains. From there, Stellantis can scale the performance and battery capacity up or down to fit a specific sort of vehicle. STLA Small, Medium and Large platforms will cover everything from small cars to crossovers, and indeed muscle cars. The “STLA Frame” platform, for its part, will underpin the upcoming electric Ram.
The company says its plan includes a series of three electric drive modules — an integrated unit that combines motor, gearbox and inverter. Those units can then work into front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive applications. Right now, Stellantis plans to take two different approaches to battery development — a “high energy-density” option and a nickel cobalt-free alternative unit. By 2026, Stellantis aims to have its first solid state batteries in play as well. STLA Frame-based vehicles will supposedly hit a range of up to 500 miles.
A new direction, and a new motto
Beyond that, Koval states the brand that, with “full knowledge of what our competitors are doing”, it will surpass their offerings. Their new motto: “Built to Serve a Sustainable Planet”. We will have to wait and see whether they make good on their claims, as no ironclad technical details like power, range, towing capacity or payload are available for the electric Ram 1500 just yet. Stellantis did show relative battery capacities for all its platforms, with the 500-mile STLA Frame platform accommodating anywhere from 159 kWh to 200+ kWh, as well as 400 or 800-volt electrical architectures.
As all the other players aim to launch their trucks prior to 2024, Ram will certainly have a fight on its hands when it enters the EV fray. We can’t wait to see how the upcoming electric trucks will perform — stay tuned for more coverage on TFLtruck.com!
