The new Revolution EV concept debuted at CES 2023 amid fanfare and flashlights. It wasn’t long after this was revealed that we learned of a dirty little secret. This new electric Ram truck will offer a gas range extender as an option. Could this lead to the return of watches to the electric truck market?
Why does the Ram 1500 EV offer a range extender?
Some of the specifications of the new electric Ram truck include 500 miles of driving range, 10,000 pounds of towing capacity, and the fast-charging ability to recharge the batteries to 80 percent in less than thirty minutes.
On the Mitten in Colorado. The difficulty electric pickup trucks face has less to do with the power of the truck but with the electric driving range.
Towing reduces the efficiency of any truck, including both gas and diesel models. For electric trucks, the driving range is greatly reduced when towing a trailer. The Ram EV truck’s range extender can make up for this reduction. Adding a gasoline engine as a range extender turns this pickup into a Ram PHEV rather than a true electric vehicle, but it might be exactly what’s needed.
Ram isn’t the first automaker to consider an electric truck range extender
The covers are barely out of the new Ram 1500 EV, and we’re already talking about making this electric pickup a makeover. It might surprise you that Ford filed a patent for a bed-mounted range extender in 2018. He tells us it was intended to be used in the new F-150 Lightning, but it was a traditional range extender.
To find a traditional petrol-engined model used solely as an EV range extender, we need to look at the BMW i3. This car has a small 2-cylinder engine that only recharges the battery. The new electric Ram truck could use a similar system. This would give this new truck the extra strength needed to haul heavy loads. It will also provide the extra range to get to the next charging station.
Where will the Ram 1500 EV have a gas engine used as a range extender?
The news of changing the entire software to the Ram PHEV by adding a new gas engine is so fresh and new that we don’t know much about it yet. The engine used in the BMW i3 was so small that it could not power this car for long. If a gas engine in the new electric Ram truck were to be used to extend the battery range while towing, it would need to be more powerful and larger than the now-defunct BMW hatchback.
Could we see a V6 taking up storage space when choosing a range-extending option for this new truck? It is certainly possible.
Will other electric trucks move back to add a gas engine for towing?
“Just because your friend jumps off a bridge doesn’t mean you have to follow.” Although moms around the world have been saying this for generations, in the automotive world, if one brand does something that works well, others tend to follow. If the new Ram 1500 EV does better with a gas-powered range extender, will other electric trucks follow suit? This is also possible, by bringing the watches back into the electric truck market.
Then check if it is or not, or learn more about the new Ram 1500 EV in this video below:
