Pros and Cons of e-tourque?

[56 Pontiac]

The whole ED thing is the other reason why I didn't want to be a guinea pig for the ET, but here I am.

Hey! It causes Erectile Dysfunction?!? I better trade my eTorque NOW!

Dave

 

[zlman]

Did a 1600 mi round trip to Memphis in Nov. 4x4, 3.92, CC, 5.7 ET, 4 people, 2 suit cases in the bed. 75-80 mph on the hwy, never reset the trip. Avg 18.6 mpg. As stated ET doesn't do a thing at hwy speed.

 

[Idahoktm]

Not sure if it does that. Where did you read this? Just curious

You're right, it doesn't do that.

 

[MontFla]

Yeah, tires make a big difference for sure.

 

[MontFla]

Road trip today backroads in Florida 69.3 miles 1 hour 24 minutes. 22.5 mpg

 

[MontFla]

 

[MontFla]

On way home 71.7 miles 1 hour 3 minutes 18.8 mpg. Much higher speed average

 

[MontFla]

Overall these trucks are pretty darn good on gas. I owned a 2014 power wagon with 6.4 liter hemi and bf Goodrich aggressive off road tires and was happy with 14 mpg!! 2016 Ford F-350 6.2 liter and 16 mpg was good. That truck lives in Montana and our home in Florida is perfect for the 5.7 ram 2021 cc

 

[Idahoktm]

I get it the off road tires look cool!!! But do you really need them? If you need them then by all means that is the best choice but if you don’t need them???? Well maybe think about replacing them with a good rain tire. Ie.. Highway tire. Off road tires are not good in rain . Whatever your needs are just be realistic. I have off road play jeep rubicon and I do not worry about gas mileage in it!!!!! My ram is my daily commuter. The wife has a cr-v that gets 34 mpg.

Yep, I definitely need AT tires, but even if I didn't, I would still get them. Life is too short to drive around on ugly street tires.

 

[MontFla]

To each their own! I have a Rubicon that needs off road tires!!

 

[MontFla]

 

[MontFla]

Some toys all tire appropriate

 

[theblet]

You're right, it doesn't do that.

Didn’t think so.

 

[BowDown]

Not sure if it does that. Where did you read this? Just curious

Here

eTorque impact on mpg

My eTorque 2020 Limited is averaging 17.8-18.5 in 80/20 city/highway driving. I'm currently at 5000 miles and overall fuel economy has been 415-430 miles per tank (23 gallon tank) consistently. I've been on a purely highway drive once so far and it was 24mpg at 70mph. You got a etorque limited...

5thgenrams.com

Don't know how accurate it is but I've read it multiple times and thought I remembered an engineer video stating such in 2020

 

[Tinshield]

Not sure if it does that. Where did you read this? Just curious

Actually heard a Ram engineer say it on their eTorque video.

 

[Cda3488]

My opinion it’s not worth the extra 1600 bucks. From what I’ve been reading the people with etorque are not seeing any or much difference in fuel economy. I drove both and went with non etorque.

In my opinion, if you are so worried about gas mileage, get you a 4 cylinder Prius. E Torgue has a lot more be if it’s than just gas mileage. Read up on it you will learn a lot. Just my opinion!

 

[Idahoktm]

In my opinion, if you are so worried about gas mileage, get you a 4 cylinder Prius. E Torgue has a lot more be if it’s than just gas mileage. Read up on it you will learn a lot. Just my opinion!

I've got a feeling he's not going to respond.

 

[Jako]

How many minutes per day do you sit at stop lights? That's the big question you need to ask. If you do a lot of driving where you are stuck at stop lights, then the e-torque will definitely save you some gas. I probably sit at stop lights for an average of 10 -15 minutes per day. If I use the low end of that estimate, then it's 50 minutes per week, and 3.3 hours per month, and almost 40 hours per year.

Once you know how long you sit at lights, you can start to do the math to determine how much fuel it will save you. It's definitely saving fuel by having the big 5.7 shut off instead of idling, but "is it a material amount of savings?" is the question you need answered. Figure out how long you typically sit at stop lights per day, gross it up to get a monthly figure, then calculate your gas savings from that. How much money does it have to save you, personally, for it to be worth it? Compare the figures and you'll be closer to having an answer.

The video below is cool because they quantify the impact of start/stop technology on a real vehicle. You can use that to get a framework for thinking about your decision. They use a small engine, but the analysis is insightful and should be informative to your decision

In this second video a Ram engineer goes over the e-torque system. As part of his discussion he states that in 90 seconds of idling, the truck will use 1.7 oz of fuel. For me, with fuel at $3.55 per gallon, that equates to about $72 per year (based on the low end of my idling time in traffic). At the high end it could be 1.5 times that, or $108 per year at current fuel costs. Is that significant? I don't think $100 per year is significant to anyone who can afford to own a $65,000 vehicle.

If you do a lot of idling, and/or live in an area with higher fuel costs, it could creep up to a meaningful number.


The counter argument is that the e-torque system will eventually need repairs. If it does, then it could certainly eat up any fuel savings you may have accumulated along the way . Some others have pointed out that the system has an 8 year warranty, and if that's true, you have to factor that in too. If you never keep a truck that long, then it won't be an issue for you.

I have the e-torque because it's all that was available when I was in the market. I didn't want it, and a loathed the idea of a vehicle with the stop/start feature. However, I have to give them credit because they have made a very nice system. After a few weeks, the shut-off became a background thing, and I rarely even notice it. The restart is phenomenal, it's extremely fast and very smooth.

They say it smooths out shifts, and it certainly does that when I stomp on it. The truck delivers what feels like a seamless powercurve, the RPM keep rising as you pick up speed and it feels like it stayed in one gear the whole way, it's incredibly smooth. That's more of a "neat" thing though, because I certainly never minded feeling the gear shifts in prior vehicles.

There are a few quirks that come with it. The first thing I noticed was that you can feel the regenerative braking. It's kind of like a very low groan or grumbling noise with some grinding feeling...not a harsh grinding like something is wrong...but you can feel it. Also the truck doesn't coast like my earlier trucks. I used to let off the gas and coast to lights if they were red, but the e-torque can't coast as far because of what I guess I'd call parasitic drag from all the e-torque stuff that's going on. Again, not a big deal, it's just a different deal.

I sometimes get some very light moaning or howling noises that I have to assume are from the e-torque system. I've never heard those in a conventional motor and it's coming from the engine bay.

If you're really unsure, go with the non-etorque.

If we were in a normal economy where i had many choices available to me, I'd have gone with the non-etorque. We're not in a normal economy anymore though, so I had to go with what was available. It's a nice truck, I'm used to the e-torque now, and I don't mind it. I have no regrets about buying it, the truck is a lot of fun. However, if I could snap my fingers and do it all over again, I'd go with the non-etorque because the potential fuel savings it's going to deliver me are meaningless.

Nice job, enjoyed your write up.

 

[AV8OR]

For those who don’t have e-torque has anyone been able to access where the 48v battery pack “dead space” is located for storing stuff behind the rear seat?

 

[SpeedyV]

Did a 1600 mi round trip to Memphis in Nov. 4x4, 3.92, CC, 5.7 ET, 4 people, 2 suit cases in the bed. 75-80 mph on the hwy, never reset the trip. Avg 18.6 mpg. As stated ET doesn't do a thing at hwy speed.

That’s really good with 3.92s!