Tesla has high hopes for the Cybertruck – if it can ever get it out the door. You’ve probably seen a Rivian or a Ford F-150 Lightning driving down the road. The Chevy Silverado EV will go on sale later this year. But if the credo you live by is “Mopar or no car,” you may have wondered: What does Ram have ready to deploy in this upcoming electric truck arms race?
We’ll finally find out at CES 2023. The Stellantis truck brand unveiled the all-electric Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept, which aims to bring all the muscle car energy Mopar fans expect when a version of it enters production in 2024. That production version will be released in the next few months.
In fact, the design of the “Ram Rev,” as it’s called, previews an entire generation of electric and electrified Ram trucks to come out in the next few years.
Image: Stellantis
While Ram has given plenty of headlines to competitors who made waves with the debut of an electric pickup, Ralph Gilles, chief designer of several Stellantis brands, pushed back the idea that Ram is overdue for something.
Gilles said the goal was to build a concept full of “almost every idea we’ve had” from a team using Post-it notes taped to a wall during brainstorming sessions. And it was also to preview a truck that Ram calls “the leader in all the areas customers care most about,” including electric range, towing, payload and charge time. Ram doesn’t give hard numbers on most of those specs, but with pickups set to become the next big frontier for electric cars, it needs impressive numbers to be a top competitor. Gilles says it will work.
“It’s the difference between taking a really good bottle of wine to a party or just crashing late,” Gilles said in an interview with The edge. “We look to outperform the competition in every respect.”
It’s not just Ram following competitors in the EV race. The same can be said of parent company Stellantis, born Fiat Chrysler, which for years ran on a few electrified products such as the Jeep Wrangler 4xe and Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid.
Image: Stellantis
That is starting to change – and fast. Stellantis showed an aggressive EV plan in 2021. Last year it unveiled the Charger Daytona and two electric Jeeps – to be joined by two more in 2025. Plus, at CES this year, Stellantis showed off Chrysler’s Synthesis cockpit concept, which is said to give a taste of our automated, screen-filled future as that American brand goes all-electric in 2028. It looks like the very international company is finally getting serious about electrifying its 14 brands.
A muscle truck from the near future
Until the production truck stops, Ram fans considering saying goodbye to gasoline have a concept that is striking to look at.
With a low roofline relative to the cargo bed and aggressive front and rear LED lighting (complete with highly illuminated “RAM” tuning fork logos), the concept is a bit bolder and more experimental in design than direct competitors from Ford and GM ; it’s more Rivian than F-150 Lightning. It also has an all-glass roof with electrochromic panels that darken on command.
The Ram Revolution looks and feels like a truck companion to the Dodge Charger Daytona EV concept that debuted a few months ago. And like that electric muscle car’s artificial wail to simulate engine noise – Dodge apparently decided it’s just not the same if the car doesn’t shake up the whole neighborhood even at a modest throttle – the Ram concept goes heavy on gadgets and special features .
Here, however, many of them assist in towing, towing, parking, or simply impressing passengers. The concept features a middle door passage – remember the old Chevy Avalanche? It’s a feature loved by many truck owners but still not common, although more electric vehicles like the electric Silverado and GMC Sierra are following that route. That helps store and transport bulky items, just like the Ram Rev’s frunk, with hooks for groceries, outlets, and storage accessories.
The midgate also has third-row jump seats that can be slightly outboard of the vehicle, though they aren’t quite as bed-bedded as a Subaru BRAT. Safety rules have changed a lot since 1978.
Image: Stellantis
Then there’s shadow mode, which allows the truck to follow the driver walking in front of it. “This voice-activated feature can be useful in situations where the driver has to travel a short distance and does not want to get back into the truck, such as when picking up tools or equipment from a job site,” Ram said in a statement. “The truck follows the driver at a safe distance and uses sensors and camera technology to avoid obstacles.”
Inside there are almost no buttons as most functions have been relegated to a touch screen. But that screen can be removed and used as a standalone tablet, and the EV’s packaging advantage allows the entire cabin to be four inches longer than a conventional Ram 1500.
And yet another sign that automakers are serious about virtual assistants and metaverse-like features – see also BMW’s full CES keynote presentation and concept car – the Revolution also features an AI-powered voice assistant with a Ram-shaped 3D avatar that acts as the “face” of the truck.
There’s more, including a folding steering wheel when level 3-plus autonomous driving is enabled; an outdoor projector that plays movies outside the truck; smart home adjustments from the infotainment system; and an “intelligent storage app” that uses augmented reality to let drivers measure objects to make sure they fit in the truck.
Specs unknown – for now
What we do know is that the Revolution is a true body-on-frame truck that directly integrates the battery pack and sends electrical power to all four wheels. It also features four-wheel steering to facilitate low-speed maneuvers such as parking and towing.
When it goes into production, the truck has to bring large numbers — something American drivers are obsessed withespecially in non-urban areas where trucks dominate, even when it has to pull something heavy.
The competition is heating up. Rivian’s large battery pack gets about 300 miles, and the even bigger Max battery aims for about 400 miles. The F-150 Lightning currently offers up to 320 miles of range, and GM’s Silverado EV claims up to 400. With more and more EVs aiming for ranges of 500 miles or more in the coming years, Ram’s last production truck could be swinging for the fences. The automaker does say that the Rev concept here can add up to 100 miles of range in just 10 minutes on an 800-volt DC fast charger.
Gilles said demand for EV trucks remains burgeoning. A 2024 release gave Ram the chance to observe competitors and talk to its customers about what they wanted from an all-electric truck from the makers of the 702 horsepower TRX. And Gilles said that this truck will even be superior in many ways.
“Because it’s electric, it will put a TRX to shame in acceleration,” he said.
Gilles admits that Ram engineers and designers threw the sink at this concept, and many of these features could be implausible for production tasks. But many others could eventually see the light of day, and Aries will be looking for feedback on what could ultimately make the cut.
“This is an open letter to our fan base,” he said. “The feedback we’re going to get will provide a lot of information about things we want to keep.”
