2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger Avoids the Range Anxiety of EV Trucks

Could this be the future of Electric Pickup Trucks?

Dear Readers,

I just saw this on Car and Driver yesterday, and I think the 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger needs a full review as soon as I can get a loaner vehicle. Read their full article HERE.

What is it?

This is a Plug-In Hybrid pickup truck from RAM that will go head to head with the Ford F-150 Lightning as well as their F-150 PowerBoost. Read my towing review of the F-150 PowerBoost truck HERE.

Here’s the basics

• The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger is the brand's first plug-in-hybrid full-size pickup truck. It shares a platform with the electric Ram 1500 REV.

• A 70.8-kWh battery provides an estimated 145 miles of electric range and feeds a 663-hp all-wheel-drive powertrain, with a V-6 spinning a generator as a backup.

• With a full battery and fuel tank, Ram is targeting up to 690 miles of combined driving range; it can also tow 14,000 pounds and handle a 2625-pound payload.

Wait… there’s more!

I also has a 7.2kW inverter generator that’s rated to power your house in the event of the power outage. Note that Ford doesn’t promote or recommend using the ProPower generator in the PowerBoost truck to power your house. They only promote that for the F-150 Lightning, which I think is a bad idea. That’s because after a few days of powering your house in an emergency, you’re left with a truck that has no battery power. How do you recharge it when the local power grid is down?

Why is a Plug-In Hybrid truck a good idea?

All EVs and EV trucks suffer from range loss (as much as 70%) when towing an RV trailer of any size. That’s a real downer when you reduce your 300 mile range to less than 100 miles before recharging is needed. Read my ID.4 towing tests from last year HERE.

A Plug-In Hybrid pickup truck would offer the best of both worlds; electric battery power for most day trips, and gasoline power for towing and long trips without range anxiety.

I’ll do a full electrical review later…

I’m asking RAM for a loaner truck so I can test it for towing range as well as using the onboard 7.2kW generator to power one or two RVs while boondocking. Plus I’ll see how it works for emergency backup house power. So stay tuned!

What do you think?

Please leave your comments below. Could this be a great truck for towing small or medium RV trailers? Would you consider it for home backup power? How about using it to boondock for a week without bringing a portable generator?

Let’s play safe out there… Mike