Question about Ramcharger

[Pikeman_66]

I am on our town's council; we have an opportunity to get a grant for an electric police car with the chargers and installation included.
I'm not sold on a complete EV and I am not even sure if the grant allows for a hybrid yet. but my question to you all is.
have any of you heard or know if the ram charger will be available in a police interceptor package initially?
personally, I would much rather go this route if possible.
the chief is currently looking at a ford Lightning, but I am cautious on this for reliability reasons.
thanks for any info Guys.

 

[Camelot]

Don't do it, if you intend to run it as a daily LE vehicle it will have to sit to much in a 24 hour period, assuming you are running it 24/7. Might work if you are in a small sleepy city, but would never work as a daily vehicle at my substation. Lots of power draw in a LE vehicle such as radio, cameras, MDC and overhead lights.

 

[Pikeman_66]

Don't do it, if you intend to run it as a daily LE vehicle it will have to sit to much in a 24 hour period, assuming you are running it 24/7. Might work if you are in a small sleepy city, but would never work as a daily vehicle at my substation. Lots of power draw in a LE vehicle such as radio, cameras, MDC and overhead lights.

thanks, we are a small town of about 2500 people and we have a 24-hour police coverage on 12 hour shifts with a 5-man department. we have 3 full time cars/trucks right now and an Older SRO truck used at our school mostly. I and the rest of the council are really struggling with cost, reliability and service life on this decision. while the initial cost is covered does the long term outweigh the benefit? we generally like to see at least 5 years on a vehicle for the department, and as many as 8 years.

 

[mikeru82]

I wouldn't buy a PHEV for this purpose. It sounds like this truck will be in constant use. Unless you can regularly plug it in it's just a gas powered EV. Potentially more complexity with no benefit to having the PHEV feature. Along with the issues mentioned by @Camelot, don't forget that it would be a first year model of a completely new design for Ram. So there's the potential for it to be out of service due to the types of issues that often come with a first year model.

 

[silver billet]

How much is the grant worth? EV's are severely overpriced vs an otherwise equivalent ICE so you'd have to compare the price of an ICE without a grant vs EV with the grant and see where you come out ahead.

 

[gpbst3]

Depts that have EVs in use are usually larger in size and have the ability to use the vehicle as more of an admin or community relations role.

It sounds like your dept. will use this as an actual police car. One thing to consider is will the vehicle be pursuit rated? Your dept. may never be in one but that one time they are it could open up some legal obligations. Also as a new release vehicle your going to have a tremendously hard time finding the equipment to upfit the vehicle such as siren/lights console box, prisoner cage, etc.

The F150 lightening would be an easier transition than the Ram.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Depts that have EVs in use are usually larger in size and have the ability to use the vehicle as more of an admin or community relations role.

It sounds like your dept. will use this as an actual police car. One thing to consider is will the vehicle be pursuit rated? Your dept. may never be in one but that one time they are it could open up some legal obligations. Also as a new release vehicle your going to have a tremendously hard time finding the equipment to upfit the vehicle such as siren/lights console box, prisoner cage, etc.

The F150 lightening would be an easier transition than the Ram.

The RamCharger is the same basic vehicle as the current 2025 models. So upfittin won't be much if an issue if here are parts for the 2025s.

 

[HSKR R/T]

My local department has a couple of the Mustangs Mach Es they are trying out for patrol units. Not sure how well they are doing. My neighbor is kind of their tech guy for the department. So they have been at his house a few times for equipment issues.

 

[SpeedyV]

The RamCharger is the same basic vehicle as the current 2025 models. So upfittin won't be much if an issue if here are parts for the 2025s.

And really most parts from 2019+, aside from fascia pieces.

 

[Rick J]

Depts that have EVs in use are usually larger in size and have the ability to use the vehicle as more of an admin or community relations role.

My son is a Commander on a local police force (town of 75K). They received a Mustang EV on a grant and found it not usable as a police vehicle. Their recruiter now drives it because he doens't spend a lot of time on the road.

 

[millerbjm]

I think a series hybrid like the ramcharger could be a great patrol vehicle since it has huge range between the battery and engine and if it was not in service 24/7 could be charged overnight a few times a week and likely rarely need gas. Like others have said upsetting may not be an issue given how many parts are likley shares with the standard 1500. No idea however if STLA plans to make a pursuit rated version of the vehicle. Even if you never plugged it in it would be much better for all the sitting still in 'idle' time and super fast when needed.

 

[Pikeman_66]

thanks for all the input guys, we decided to move forward at least to the point of knowing exactly how much the grant is going to provide.

 

[cerbo]

I d say "how it will be used would be key". They do sit idle when deployed a lot and you still need heat or AC constantly (and electrical) when they are manned or IN SERVICE . I ve seen police vehicles idle for 24 hour periods often. I d be careful unless it is just going to be a special assignment vehicle. If thats the case I d say it s not worth the cost IMO.

 

[HSKR R/T]

I d say "how it will be used would be key". They do sit idle when deployed a lot and you still need heat or AC constantly (and electrical) when they are manned or IN SERVICE . I ve seen police vehicles idle for 24 hour periods often. I d be careful unless it is just going to be a special assignment vehicle. If thats the case I d say it s not worth the cost IMO.

Even a ICE vehicle isn't going to be able to idle for 24 hours without needing to fuel up

 

[cerbo]

Even a ICE vehicle isn't going to be able to idle for 24 hours without needing to fuel up

No but you take a few mins to fill up and back in service .
I believe flexibility is key to what the OPer is asking. EV s still not ready for prime time IMO. Give battery technology another 10 years to improve maybe.

 

[Camelot]

EV is definitely not a choice for a LE vehicle that is supposed to run three shifts / seven days a week. Our cars are very seldom turned off. Everyone fuel by the end of their shift, and hands the car over to the next shift. Might be an option if you can use it for an SRO or leadership that don't do patrol.

 

[HSKR R/T]

EV is definitely not a choice for a LE vehicle that is supposed to run three shifts / seven days a week. Our cars are very seldom turned off. Everyone fuel by the end of their shift, and hands the car over to the next shift. Might be an option if you can use it for an SRO or leadership that don't do patrol.

Lot of it would depends on the department, and as you said, the role in the department. Some have enough cruisers that each officer has their own cruiser they take home at end of shift. Allowing time to charge. Obviously it's not ideal for most LEOs. But they have their place.

 

[millerbjm]

Just to clarify for those discussing EV's the Ramcharger is not an EV - that truck is the REV. The Ramcharger is a series hybrid with electric drive motors and a battery but also a 3.6L pentastar that acts as a generator to charge the battery and provide power to the electric motors. If the battery runs low the engine runs to recharge it and you can just refuel like an ICE vehicle.

 

[StuartV]

I haven't heard anything about the RamCharger to suggest that it wouldn't work just as well as a conventional ICE vehicle in a scenario where it sits idling for long periods. I mean, why would it be less capable in that scenario?

The Pentastar can sit their running while the vehicle is idling, keeping the batteries topped up (if desired - maybe not, if you know you're going to plug it into a charger overnight), as well as running lights, heat, A/C, or whatever.

What I cannot see is a department with limited vehicles having pure EVs. What do you do when a natural disaster comes along (like a hurricane, earthquake, or whatever) that results in electricity being out for a few days or a week? Now your department has vehicles that are disabled because the power is out and they can't be charged??

The RamCharger design (i.e. series hybrid) seems actually pretty ideal for this kind of usage. Charge it from a plug when you can, but you CAN run it 24/7 just by pumping in gasoline. And if you sometimes want to have it "idle" for long periods, you can potentially do so without burning any gasoline at all - or, at least, burn a LOT less gasoline than a conventional ICE vehicle.

 

[Cueva del Osos]

What do you do when a natural disaster comes along (like a hurricane, earthquake, or whatever) that results in electricity being out for a few days or a week?

We’re just north of Houston and boy did you just hit the bulls-eye! Part of my interest in the Ramcharger is the ability to send current to the house in an emergency. I’m also now digging into ”solar generators” (really a digital power source with expandable batteries) with portable solar array and dual-fuel generator. With all the above, we should be able to secure power for our food, light, fans, Rv and even send some power back to the Ramcharger (albeit very slowly!) when the next Beryl takes aim.