Ram Could Build An Electrified Ram, If Customers Request It:

[SpeedyV]

I drive northern Canada areas more than I’d like, places where i stop at the last gas station and top up + fill a few jerry cans for the return trip. With the 8 speed I get amazing mileage but I can’t imagine within the next 20 years those places having the infrastructure I’d need to get an electric truck. It would be a major pain lugging extra batteries to get 1,500 km in a 4x4. One can dream though

That’s a fair point. The plus side would be far fewer moving parts to break in the middle of nowhere, coupled with the redundancy of 4 motors if one or two were to fail.

 

[Wpg_BigHorn]

That’s a fair point. The plus side would be far fewer moving parts to break in the middle of nowhere, coupled with the redundancy of 4 motors if one or two were to fail.

Oh heck yeah to fewer moving parts ... why I love my Dewalt Brushless Cordless power tools ... if I could do that to my Ram, I would without a second thought

 

[1Zach1]

Well, here we go. Electric Ram in the works. Please make this reasonable FCA, I'll pre-order it the second it drops and trade in my brand new 1500 for something comparable.

Fiat Chrysler CEO says Ram will offer electric pickup

Fiat Chrysler will join the growing list of competitors, including Ford, GM, Tesla, Rivian and Lordstown Motors, with plans for electric pickups.

www.freep.com

 

[SpeedyV]

Well, here we go. Electric Ram in the works. Please make this reasonable FCA, I'll pre-order it the second it drops and trade in my brand new 1500 for something comparable.

Fiat Chrysler CEO says Ram will offer electric pickup

Fiat Chrysler will join the growing list of competitors, including Ford, GM, Tesla, Rivian and Lordstown Motors, with plans for electric pickups.

www.freep.com

It was just a matter of time. To remain competitive (or even relevant) over the next decade, they've got to play in this space.

 

[Drewster]

Hell yeah. Hopefully it's a plug-in Hybrid - I'd love to couple electric torque with some solar power some day

 

[Aseras]

It's physically impossible to generate enough power to power a vehicle with solar. Even an RV or semi with 100% efficient solar panels covering the entire body. You are looking at 400-600 watts tops now and maybe 1kw-2kw with 100% efficient solar. That would run the ac and the radio and let you rumble at 3mph like a golf cart, with perfect efficiency. It would need ALL DAY to charge a battery to get you 10 miles at highway speed.

You need a bigger brighter star to do it.

 

[SpeedyV]

It's physically impossible to generate enough power to power a vehicle with solar. Even an RV or semi with 100% efficient solar panels covering the entire body. You are looking at 400-600 watts tops now and maybe 1kw-2kw with 100% efficient solar. That would run the ac and the radio and let you rumble at 3mph like a golf cart, with perfect efficiency. It would need ALL DAY to charge a battery to get you 10 miles at highway speed.

You need a bigger brighter star to do it.

I thought @Drewster was referring to charging with home solar (as my buddy does with his PowerWalls and Tesla Model 3 now). Maybe I misunderstood. Agreed that solar panels are nowhere close to efficient enough for “live” vehicle power.

 

[Drewster]

I thought @Drewster was referring to charging with home solar (as my buddy does with his PowerWalls and Tesla Model 3 now). Maybe I misunderstood. Agreed that solar panels are nowhere close to efficient enough for “live” vehicle power.

You understood 100% correctly

That's... kinda what "plug-in" hybrids are for.....

 

[RRRAAAAMMMM2020]

It's great they have committed to an electric truck, however seeing how much Ford is charging for a truck with no electric range (7k) is ridiculous and won't make financial sense for several years. I am assuming Ram will do the same

 

[1Zach1]

I don't have any interest in a PHEV as they tend to be the worst of both worlds, but the Wrangler 4XE should give us an idea of the upcharge to expect if Ram went that way.

At some point manufactures are going to need to stop with these halo projects and compete in the actual market, because if Tesla is really able to offer what they claim with the Cybertruck it's going to embarrass them.

 

[redriderbob]

BREAKING: RAM Will Build An Electrified Pickup Truck!​

Manley, States Company's Intentions During Conference Call...​

BREAKING: RAM Will Build An Electrified Pickup Truck!

During yesterday's third-quarter earnings conference call, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) CEO Mike Manley confirmed that the RAM brand will join the "surge" of truck makers in building an electric pickup for the North American market. The news comes just over a week after General Motors (GM)...

5thgenrams.com

 

[Americantruck04]

I don't have any interest in a PHEV as they tend to be the worst of both worlds, but the Wrangler 4XE should give us an idea of the upcharge to expect if Ram went that way.

At some point manufactures are going to need to stop with these halo projects and compete in the actual market, because if Tesla is really able to offer what they claim with the Cybertruck it's going to embarrass them.

I don’t care if the cyber truck out performs Ford Chevy, Ram that cyber truck looks ugly and doesn’t even look like a truck

 

[RRRAAAAMMMM2020]

I don’t care if the cyber truck out performs Ford Chevy, Ram that cyber truck looks ugly and doesn’t even look like a truck

Totally agree, it's more like a BMW 6 series crossover

 

[patfromigh]

Hello, I'm new to this forum. I have been posting on Mopar Insiders for a number of months, but the electrified Ram talk here has prompted me to respond.

For me, it is natural to assume that an electrified Ram pickup would be a 1500. After all that is what the previously built PHEV Rams were. Also leading to this assumption is the fact of all the electric pickups proposals the media talks about are targeting the consumer market. Fleet and commercial trucks are more mundane. (Perhaps the battery electric F-150 is an exception.) Much of the details concerning the Jeep Wrangler PHEV drivetrain have been revealed, so we know it will use a P2 hybrid version of the ZF 8-speed automatic. The conventional versions of this transmission are in use already in Ram trucks, so it is obvious that the hybrid setup would fit in the Ram 1500. I don't know what internal combustion engine a potential next generation Ram 1500 PHEV would use. The Wrangler 4Xe uses the GME four, while the Pacifica hybrid uses a Pentastar V6. The Aspen/Durango/Ram hybrids of the past had 5.7 Hemis.

As far as a fully battery electric pickup is concerned, I have to wonder if FCA would want to pursue that. BEV vans from Fiat will soon be under production and this is what most of the customers buying commercial vehicles want. A battery-electric pickup truck requires a huge financial commitment, while a plugin hybrid system borrows from previous commitments. Those parts being the ZF transmission, electronics, programming, and tooling. Much of this is either in place for the Wrangler or underway for the larger Wagoneer. A plugin hybrid solves range anxiety problems while allowing the same vehicle to operate in zero emissions zones. Low and zero emission zones aren't only found in Europe. That are also being established for municipal vehicles in a few US cities. The implications for potential fleet sales are obvious.

Which leads to my next point.

Is there a HD Ram hybrid in the future? The evidence is strictly circumstantial, but such a vehicle remains a possibility. The earlier plugin hybrid project using Ram 1500 pickups, with some Chrysler and Dodge minivans was a cooperative effort between the US Department of Energy and whatever the Chrysler company called itself in those years. (I think it was around 2012-15.) The details of the program can be found here, https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/vehicle-technologies-annual-merit-review
I'm sorry you are going to have to dig around for the details of the Chrysler PHEV project, but it is in there. One of the results of that program has been the Pacifica hybrid.

One of current programs the DOE has going is called the "medium-duty-urban-range-extended-connected-powertrain", or MURECP. Bosch is currently involved in a project through their automotive division. It is a Class4 Delivery van PHEV. The project is at the development stage. the details may be found here, https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/downloads/medium-duty-urban-range-extended-connected-powertrain

FCA is not directly involved in this project, but the delivery van does use a 3 liter EcoDiesel V6 along with the ZF 8-speed automatic. The key to Bosch's hybrid setup is a dual-planetary gear transmission (e2PG), or as they also call it the "e2PG powersplit/multi-mode transmission." The operation of this drivetrain is similar to the Chevy Volt. One of the lead engineers for the Volt program is Micky Bly, who currently has a cubicle in Auburn Hills. Chevrolet called the Volt a range extended electric vehicle(REEV), and Bosch uses the same description for the project.

Bosch supplied the drivetrain for the Fiat 500e California compliance car. While that program was limited production money pit, Bosch intends their REEV system as an optional component for medium duty trucks, such as the Ram 4500 and 5500 trucks. It would probably fit in a 3500. BTW, they are claiming a 60 mile battery electric range, more than enough for zero emission zones.

 

[CornTrucks]

If they were being honest they would call it a coal-powered Ram. Just because other companies are lying to their customers doesn’t make it right.

 

[patfromigh]

I noticed something about the Bosch system. It doesn't seem to leave room for a 4X4 transfer case. So probably that system would be better left with 3500-4500-5500 cab-chassis models. I still hope that the Ram people look into such an option, along with something based on Jeep's 4Xe system for the 1500. I wonder if the 4Xe system would work in the Ram 2500 Power Wagon. I could never afford such a beast, but it would still be much more practical and affordable than the Hummer EV.

 

[patfromigh]

Please note, slightly less than one quarter of electrical generation in the US comes from coal. Older coal fueled plants are being phased out as new emissions regulations are set in place. Electricity generation is undergoing a metamorphosis, so all our energy sources will provide cleaner generation. This includes fossil fuels.

So lets get back on topic.

 

[CornTrucks]

Please note, slightly less than one quarter of electrical generation in the US comes from coal. Older coal fueled plants are being phased out as new emissions regulations are set in place. Electricity generation is undergoing a metamorphosis, so all our energy sources will provide cleaner generation. This includes fossil fuels.

So lets get back on topic.

This is the exact topic. New energy sources are not cleaner (solar and wind). They just aren’t required to account for their forms of pollution. So the move to electric vehicles is destructive, not an advancement; at least not in any environmental or economic sense.

 

[SpeedyV]

This is the exact topic. New energy sources are not cleaner (solar and wind). They just aren’t required to account for their forms of pollution. So the move to electric vehicles is destructive, not an advancement; at least not in any environmental or economic sense.

Please explain how alternative energy companies are "not required to account for their forms of pollution". New energy sources such as solar and wind are far cleaner to produce, as they do not require destructive means to "capture" (e.g. vs. mining, fracking, extracting, and burning).

There was a fun study done a couple of years back that showed it would take roughly 10,000 square miles of solar panels (at current efficiencies) to power the entire US (4 petawatts), ignoring all other fuel sources. That's about 0.25% of US land area (less than 10% of Nevada or Arizona or New Mexico, for example). And it would only require about 478 square miles of wind turbines to power the whole country, or about 0.01% of US land area (based on 1/4-acre per turbine). When we start to combine these and other fuel sources, e.g. geothermal, hydro, biofuels, etc., the idea of going 100% alternative energy begins to look very achievable...even "easy" (over time).

Now, when you say that electric vehicles are "destructive", you can get into a nuanced discussion. The truth is that in the worst cases, EVs are basically a break-even with fossil fuel-powered vehicles over their lifecycle. Ironically, the long break-even period for EV emissions that is sometimes cited is due to many battery production facilities being powered by fossil fuels! Manufacturers have started shifting to alternative energy sources for their facilities, and those that have done so are already producing EVs with less emissions than fossil fuel-powered vehicles.

The ideal state is EV production powered by alternative energy and using recyclable, non-toxic battery technology. That last part is important (recyclability). We're in a moment of rapid advancement right now, where manufacturers are finding solutions to those kinds of challenges. In the meantime, it may be advantageous to produce power at a centralized source (where many types of scrubbers/filters can be employed) vs. dumping those emissions out of vehicles...particularly heavy equipment of any kind. I don't think anyone would be disappointed to see a massive reduction in localized emissions from every vehicle on the road/rails/sea.

 

[Drewster]

This is the exact topic. New energy sources are not cleaner (solar and wind). They just aren’t required to account for their forms of pollution. So the move to electric vehicles is destructive, not an advancement; at least not in any environmental or economic sense.

No, the topic is Ram's Electric Truck - not your opinions on clean energy. The truth is that it depends on where you live, but over the course of their useful life EV's are cleaner than their gasoline counterparts. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/cleaner-cars-cradle-grave#:~:text=Manufacturing a mid-sized EV,much as 68 percent higher. Regardless of what you go out and cherry-pick, this is about the truck Ram is building, not the infrastructure powering it.

For those of us who work in the city and tow on the weekends, I think a plug-in Hybrid would be fantastic. Personally, I drive about 25 miles/ day with a start/ stop heavy commute, and haul a car and sometimes a bunch of friends to the race track every few months. Even the "light hybrid" eTorque gets 6mpg more than my old Hemi, and saves me about $500 a year. If gas goes up to $3.50, that's $1,500 every year.

With a plug-in hybrid, my commute would be powered entirely by my electric bill - largely made up of renewable energy. Considering hybrid SUV's can get ~56MPGe, that would save me another $600 every year with current gas prices. For towing, a hybrid would theoretically help climbing slow mountain roads, going through hilly areas - everywhere the V8 struggles. I'm *really* hoping the generator concept spreads beyond Ford, because that would power everything we need for camping at the track, too. For folks with RV's, you could even boondock with some of that power.

All in all, we're talking about a configuration that would benefit folks daily driving their trucks and hauling toys on the weekend, which is a *massive* number of owners. Ford seems to see this, and most reasonable people will only sacrifice a certain amount of livability before going a different direction. 12 vs 16mpg? Yeah you can keep me with Ram lagging at 12mpg with a great price and loads of other features.. but 12 vs 24, and the 24 mpg truck is also my campsite generator, and tows better? Sorry, Ram...

Really I think Ram's biggest problem will be the "good 'ol boy" truck owners that 'gotta have that raw V8 steel truck. Ford owners seem to have gotten over the shock of V6's with more torque than the V8 and aluminum bodies... but Ram owners seem a little more change adverse.