Stellantis (née Fiat Chrysler, née Daimler Chrysler) has existed in a near-perpetual state of crisis for at least 20 years. Even so, the company’s current predicament looks pretty bad. It has leveraged its future to bet on its past, leading to a lineup that is old, inefficient and expensive, with the souring sales and vanishing profits to prove it. The company needs to invest more in its Ram and Jeep brands, bring competitive electric vehicles to market and convince consumers that it is still relevant in a rapidly changing automotive industry.
So when it announced on Friday that it was killing the all-electric Ram 1500 REV after repeatedly delaying it, the peanut gallery proclaimed that it was just another in a long line of bad decisions. It’s not hard to see where they’re coming from: An electric Ram pickup truck would be an investment in the brand, likely a competitive EV and certainly a step forward for a brand that has lost its mojo.
It would still have been the wrong product at the wrong time. Stellantis was right to kill it.
The Ram 1500 REV was supposed to be an all-electric pickup.
Betting it all on the range-extender version is a smarter move. Formerly called the Ramcharger, this gasoline-powered EV now picks up the mantle of Ram’s electric truck efforts—and the 1500 REV name too. Moreover, the Ram REV saga underscores the biggest challenge facing Stellantis as a whole: Faster, nimbler competitors have already saturated the EV market, and now it must fight for scraps with far less real-world EV experience than its peers.
Why The Electric Ram Had To Die
Recessions are a natural part of any industry because they filter out the weakest companies. A booming economy creates bloat and inefficiency, and a recession forces a company to either fix its issues or die. Stellantis knows this all too well. While analysts can debate whether the economy itself is in a recession, the electric car industry certainly is.
With the Trump administration killing EV credits and nixing emissions requirements, EV prices are set to rise just as the incentives for companies to produce them disappear. For strong contenders—your Tesla Model 3s, your compact crossovers, your luxury cars—this is a passing storm. It’s the trucks you really have to worry about.
Ford originally said the F-150 Lightning would start at around $40,000 and at one point announced plans to produce up to 150,000 electric trucks per year. But the truck ended up being far more expensive and tougher to sell than the company expected.
Photo by: Ford
I’ve argued for years that the electric truck segment is oversubscribed, and that’s only gotten more true over time. Panicked by fear of Tesla and a desire to establish a foothold in a segment crucial to the future, many automakers developed electric trucks without really developing a great business case around them. When they’re more expensive, tow less and less proven than gas trucks, why would pickup buyers—who are notoriously focused on durability and slow to accept new technologies—make the leap?
Nobody has a great answer for this, but they all have a product to sell. So you can have your pick of the following six models:
- Chevrolet Silverado EV
- Ford F-150 Lightning
- GMC Hummer EV
- GMC Sierra EV
- Rivian R1S
- Tesla Cybertruck
In contrast, if you want a full-size gas truck, you only have five options. In a market where Ford sold over 700,000 gas F-Series trucks and only 33,510 Lightnings. Even if you exclude F-250s and F-350s, that suggests demand for the Lightning is less than one-tenth that of its gas twin. It’s also a far cry from what the company itself expected. When the truck was announced in 2021, Ford said it planned to build over 40,000 units per year.
The Tesla Cybertruck was supposed to offer more range and a far cheaper starting price. But with current technology it just isn’t possible to make a full-size truck with over 400 miles of range at a competitive price, even if you’re Tesla.
Photo by: InsideEVs
After hauling in a boatload of refundable reservations, the company then announced it would double production capacity to 80,000 trucks a year. Right before the truck went on sale, Ford doubled down again: It announced it would increase production capacity to up to 150,000 units per year. Real sales never got close to those projections, and Ford isn’t alone in that struggle.
Rivian effectively invented this segment with the R1T, but the R1S SUV comfortably outsells it. GM EV truck sales were also a blip compared to its overall light-duty truck sales last year, even if Silverado and Sierra EV sales seem to be accelerating.
As a whole, then, the electric truck segment does not appear to be an untapped market. It is a knife fight where far too many trucks compete for a smaller-than-expected number of buyers.
General Motors originally planned to expand Silverado EV and Sierra EV production to its Orion Assembly Plant. But following slower-than-expected demand and regulatory changes, the company decided to build gas trucks there instead.
Photo by: Jeff Perez / Motor1
Ram cannot change this anytime soon. The fundamentals of the EV truck market simply aren’t there. Modern American full-size trucks are highly competitive and versatile, with the only real downside being that they are expensive to buy and fuel. Electric trucks solve the latter issue at the expense of the former.
The giant batteries you need to provide the range and performance buyers expect in such a heavy form factor are just too expensive. For most, the math doesn’t work out. The roughly $15,000-$20,000 premium of an EV truck can’t be fully erased by the gas savings, and even if it could, the upfront pain is tough to surmount.
That’s especially true for truck buyers, who are unlikely to buy an EV for political or environmental reasons. Many truck owners do maintenance themselves too. Those buyers are likely to be wary of complicated software-defined EVs that they don’t understand and that don’t have proven track records of reliability and durability.
Ram is ill-equipped to solve any of these issues. With a considerably smaller battery supply chain than GM and far less EV experience than GM, Ford or Rivian, I find it vanishingly unlikely that the company could introduce a significantly cheaper product without sacrificing performance.
Fundamentally, the only way to do so is to make a categorical leap in battery technology or to redefine consumer expectations for what a truck should be. I’ve seen nothing from Stellantis to suggest that the company is on the verge of doing either; the Ram REV looked to be just another big electric truck in a market with far too many big electric trucks.
Ram Can Still Win The Electric Truck Wars
All of this is sounding very dour for Stellantis and Ram. But the company actually has a better solution to this problem than its crosstown rivals. Ram was the first of the Big Three to recognize that extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) technology is a perfect fit for Americans seeking an electrified truck.
EREVs are similar to plug-in hybrid vehicles, with one key difference. While a plug-in hybrid uses both electric and engine power to turn the wheels, in an EREV, there is no mechanical connection between the engine and the wheels. The gas engine serves only as a generator, and that makes EREVs far simpler.
The Ram 1500 Ramcharger—which will now be called the Ram 1500 REV—is an extended range electric vehicle (EREV), with a gas motor that acts purely as a generator for its electric powertrain.
Photo by: Ram
You don’t need to handle the awkward business of meshing two disparate power sources into one seamless driving experience. You don’t need a transmission. This makes packaging far simpler. It should also improve reliability and reduce production costs. Most importantly, you get silent, gas-free commuting without a shred of range anxiety, making them a perfect fit for buyers in rural areas or those who frequently tow long distances.
There are downsides. Because the engine cannot power the wheels in an EREV, they require larger batteries and electric motors than equivalent PHEVs. They also need engines that are big enough to keep the battery charged even under high-load scenarios, like accelerating up a long hill. Ford CEO Jim Farley said in an earnings call that this inherently compromises both electric and EREV trucks.
“If you tow, it’s not a good technology,” Farley said. “The batteries have to be too big.”
The 2026 Ram 1500 REV will offer 145 miles of electric range. Add a full tank of gas and you’ll be able to go 690 miles between stops, assuming your bladder complies.
Photo by: Ram
To be sure, the upcoming Ram REV—formerly called the Ram 1500 Ramcharger—has a honkin’ pack. With 92 kWh battery, the EREV has more battery capacity than most EVs, while delivering about 145 miles of EV range. My own 5,300-pound car gets 278 miles of range out of 85 kWh. To offer a similar range, large pickups like the F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T over 120 kWh of energy, showing how battery needs increase exponentially as weight and air resistance balloon.
But combined with a 3.6-liter “Pentastar” V-6—arguably Stellantis’ most reliable motor—the EREV’s battery should provide plenty of shove and all-electric range, with no range anxiety. The big question mark is whether Stellantis can deliver a truck with a giant battery, a gas engine and a smooth overall ownership experience at a price that pickup truck buyers will actually pay.
Like all Ram 1500s, the REV will get a swanky interior for top trims.
Photo by: Ram
“Ram’s direction with REV reflects a lot of listening to our customers and a measured view of where the market is today and where it’s going,” a spokesperson for Ram told InsideEVs via email. “Ultimately, we’re here to meet our customers where they are on their electrification journey and provide them with the vehicles that are going to make their transition the most seamless—particularly for truck buyers and their unique needs.”
No Easy Road
The Ram 1500 REV will have to face assaults from all sides. Gas trucks threaten to undercut it. Electric ones will likely offer more power, more torque and simpler drivetrains with less maintenance. The Scout Terra uses the same EREV truck formula in a novel wrapper, with some serious off-road credibility. And as Ram markets the return of the V-8, the messaging could get muddy; where does this brand’s passion actually lie?
Yet the advantage is clear. While both electric and EREV trucks cost more than gas trucks, EREVs justify the price with a no-compromise approach. Truck buyers are unlikely to pay a premium for a truck that cannot tow their camper to their summer vacation destination, or one that requires frequent 45-minute stops.
I can see them paying extra for an EREV. Ram can advertise the main benefit of an electric truck—quiet, smooth around-town driving that costs you nearly nothing and produces no tailpipe emissions—while also offering the limitless freedom of an American truck with a full tank of gas. You can do all of the clever power-export tricks of an F-150 Lightning without ever having to kill time at a fast charger.
With the tech itself unproven, reliability and durability concerns may still make some buyers cautious. But the payoff could be huge. Rather than chasing Ford and Chevy’s tail, Ram has chosen to forge a new path. I can’t guarantee it will charm Ram buyers, but I know an all-electric version wouldn’t.
Contact the author: Mack.Hogan@Ev Authority.com
