He’s hard at engineering an electric work truck for 2024. But in the meantime, he’s just unveiled an exciting electric vehicle at CES. Ram 1500 Revolution has a lot of very advanced features. For example, its rear wheels will be able to rotate up to 15 degrees to improve the vehicles’ low-speed maneuverability. But will it have a “crabwalk” mode like the GMC Hummer EV that allows it to drive sideways? We don’t know yet. Here’s how we know it’ll improve on the Hummer.
The Ram 1500 Revolution concept car features rear-wheel steering
One of the exciting new features on the Ram 1500 Revolution is the ability to steer its rear wheels. This feature will definitely reduce the turning radius. At lower speeds, the truck’s rear wheels will likely be programmed to turn in the opposite direction to its front wheels. This will allow it to cut sharper corners.
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Is the version of the Ram Revolution behind the wheel of the Hummer?
The GMC Hummer EV supertruck features rear steering. Its rear wheels can actually rotate 10 degrees in either direction. During normal operation, its rear wheels rotate in the opposite direction to the front wheels at low speeds, which reduces the turning radius. But when set to “crabwalk” mode, its rear wheels can rotate in the same direction as the front wheels so it can drive diagonally.
Check out the Hummer EV demo in the video below:
Ram has been eyeing the emerging electric pickup truck segment. But it could have picked up the rear-wheel steering idea from a number of places besides the latest Hummer. No matter where the idea comes from, Ram seems intent on outdoing the Hummer. The rear wheels can set a full 15 degrees to create an especially tight turning radius.
Will the Ram 1500 Revolution EV be able to drive sideways in a crab-walk? It did not announce exactly what capabilities it will program in its new electric truck.
The 2024 Ram 1500 Revolution borrows features from other trucks
Ram certainly has taken an interest in the electric pickup truck market segment. It borrows features from several other Revolution EV concept trucks.
The Ram 1500 Revolution, for example, features a folding center gate between the cab and bed. It also had a “corridor” between the cab and the front luggage compartment (boot). This creates an uninterrupted 18 feet of storage space that is ideal for lumber or other long, thin materials. But Ram wasn’t the first EV concept with this feature—it was a startup called Bollinger.
In addition, Stellantis CEO promised an “extended scale” configuration for Ram Revolution production. This truck will have some kind of internal combustion generator to charge its batteries while in flight. But in fact, it was Ford that first patented an extended range in the bed of a pickup truck when it was first designing the F-150 Lightning.
Will the 2024 Ram 1500 Revolution be able to take advantage of and improve upon these features, making it the ultimate electric pickup truck? We’ll just have to wait and find out.
Next, read why or take an in-depth look at the Ram revolution in the video below:
