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2026 Ram 1500 Ramcharger Aims to Offer Best of Both Worlds When it Debuts Later this Year
Earlier this year, Ram announced that it was slowing the rollout of its all-electric full-size pickup, dubbed the Ram REV, in favor of fast-tracking a more middling product called the Ram 1500 Ramcharger. The Ramcharger was initially slated to arrive in 2026, after the REV’s debut in 2025, but because of changing market forces and a regulatory environment that CEO Tim Kuniskis likened to “three-dimensional chess, but where every one of the pieces is a king,” the two have swapped places.
The change likely comes because the 2026 Ramcharger purports to offer the best of both the all-electric and the gas-powered worlds by pairing a large lithium-ion battery and two electric motors—one for the front wheels and one for the rears—with a gas-burning engine that acts as an onboard generator. “The Goldilocks truck,” as Kuniskis put it.
At a technical briefing hosted by Ram today detailing the inner workings of this machine, we came away rather intrigued by what this thing promises. The engineering feels remarkably complex but also pretty well thought out, at least on paper. Let’s dig in.
Let’s start by retreading how this is not a conventional truck powertrain. First and foremost, there is no mechanical connection between the gas-burning 3.6-liter V-6 and the four wheels of this pickup. The six-pot is not connected to a transmission, there is no transfer case for four-wheel-drive, and there is no prop shaft running to the rear axle. That gas-burning engine is instead mated to a generator that offers up to 202 kW of peak charging capability, or as much as 130 kW of continuous charging capability.
The generator builds charge for a 92-kWh Lithium-Ion battery pack that sends its juice to one of two electric drive motors—one for the front wheels, one for the rear wheels. Those electric drive modules (EDMs, as the engineers called them) feature 15:1 coaxial gearsets and power inverter modules at each end. The front module offers 250 kW (335 hp) of power while the rear EDM offers slightly less—248 kW (332 hp) and can be had with an electronic locking differential for off-roading. (Initially, the rear motor was reportedly rated for 238 kW, so that one has gotten stronger as the truck has moved closer to production.)
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If all that still seems a bit tricky to wrap your head around, these numbers ought to read easier: With a full charge and a full 27-gallon tank, the Ram 1500 Ramcharger can drive up to 690 miles non-stop. It can rip off 0–60 mph in just 4.5 seconds. You can travel an estimated 145 miles on the battery alone in the right conditions. Even with a battery that shows a state-of-charge reading of zero, using just the juice that the V-6 will spin up through the generator on the go, you’ll be able to tow a 14,000-pound trailer from the bumper.
The Ramcharger ditches a conventional solid rear axle in favor of a five-link independent setup with forged aluminum linkages. (The all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning and Chevy Silverado EV also have independent rear setups.) Despite the independent rear axles, the Ramcharger boasts a gross axle weight rating (GAWR) of 5700 pounds, which Ram engineers proudly touted as the highest rating in the half-ton segment. (A gas-only Ram 1500, for reference, achieves a 4300-pound rating at the most.) This is achieved in part thanks to eight-lug hubs at all four corners—a piece of engineering typically reserved for heavy-duty pickup applications (GMC and Chevrolet full-size EV pickups also use eight-lug hubs).
To stuff a 92-kWh battery and a 27-gallon fuel tank beneath the bodywork of the Ramcharger, the frame rails were pushed outward by eight inches between the front and rear wheels. (The STLA-F frame that underpins the Ramcharger will also underpin the all-electric Ram REV, and it’s a completely different frame than the one underneath regular gas-burning Ram 1500s.) The frame also features taller rails with thicker-gauge steel to maintain rigidity and safety standards set by the engineers.
It may seem like a wildly complicated system, but if it all works as intended, the result will be a lot of the benefits of an electric truck—the refinement, the quiet cruising nature, the instant torque—but with the travel advantages of a gas-burning pickup; so long as you can find gas, you can pound on, no need to worry about planning for charging stops. On the flip side, if you’re just bopping back and forth to work and hooking up a 240-volt level 2 charger overnight, you’ll start each morning with a full battery and likely won’t tap into the gas-burning engine at all.
Pricing details will arrive closer to launch, which is currently slated for the second half of 2025. To state the obvious: We’re very eager to get behind the wheel of this thing to see how all this engineering feels out in the real world.
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Just more cost to buy, more expense to maintain and less resale when it needs more work.
When you make compromises you end up with a product that is ok at everything but not great at one thing.
There is just no savings here to cover the increased cost and expense.
Platform and drive system looks like a giant heavy complicated mess. Cripe. Just use a turbo V6.
It’s an EV with training wheels! The Range Extender should wipe out the range anxiety and if the non-EV types would try to understand the technology, it’s like a Diesel-Electric locomotive with all of the electric torque available from stop to make towing trailers easy. For a pickup, if the electric drivetrain is reliable, it will be an excellent truck.
People just need to get over the range deal as most get over 300 miles now in pure EV form.
Most truck buyers are not EV buyers. They will want the fuel version and if they are pulling they will want a diesel.
This is just an over priced truck that is complicated with two systems that both will require up keep.
This is not new tech here. The Chevy Volt did this 20 years ago.
EVs don’t get anywhere near 300 miles of range.
A buddy is a municipal fleet manager for a large Phx metro city.
99% of city service trucks are ICE pickups.
I’m not talking the F350s and bigger either.
They had a group of EV ford’s to evaluate and they are an abject failure because the range is trash, especially in summer, the costs are too high, and they are useless for anything beyond light hauling.
The majority have been redeployed as take-home vehicles for the administrators.
I prefer the application of this tech in MDT and HDT truck platforms where this makes more sense. Or in retrofit kits like Edison Motors is developing. But I am glad to see this type of hybrid being made by a manufacturer.
Interesting but also not unexpected that this Ramcharger gets 8 lugs axles and heavier axle weight rating, though its just to carry the added weight of two drivetrains and a MUCH bigger frame. What’s the curb weight of this truck going to be? Is payload capacity actually capable or does that 14k lb tow rating require a trailer with less that 10% tongue weight?
A hybrid drive makes so much more sense than a pure EV platform much like Toyota dragging their feet with EV’s and focusing on hybrids. A hybrid like this makes sense for a truck where range and towing capacity are a concern. It would be interesting to know what the range would be for towing. I am surprised they are going with a gas V-6 although their Penatstar V6 has proven itself (much like their HEMI) but a diesel would lend itself so well for an application such as this. The 8 bolt wheels are likely needed to transmit the torque at the wheels as well as for cargo capacity. But at the end of the day it’s likely priced out of my budget and I will have to get by with my HEMI.