Ramcharger vs. Silverado EV - Title Match! 

Has anybody seen any fuel efficiency information regarding the Ramcharger? My understanding is that one of the reasons that series hybrids are not particularly common is that they may not be the most fuel efficient. There is some inefficiency to converting engine power to electricity, charging and discharging the battery pack and operating the electric motor. If we assumed that each step was 95% efficient, then the total efficiency ( 95% X 95% X 95%) is about 85.7% and I'm not certain that you could make that back by improving the engine efficiency by optimizing the engine to work at one rpm to operate the generator. Most engines are optimized to operate at highway speeds. I suspect that the Ramcharger's highway fuel efficiency would be slightly less than a ram pickup using the base V6 engine. I'd definitely love to see numbers.

Excellent review, I think you covered the issues well. One thing I’ll add is that one extra advantage of the Ramcharger is that gas stations are better setup for refueling during with a trailer attached than a charging station where you probably will need to disconnect the trailer or block chargers if you leave it on. Charging speed is also unimportant as on a long trip you’ll just use gas. I think 150 miles is pretty impressive and will probably mean you’ll only really need to use gas if you are towing. I like the Silverado for the midgate so I’d probably choose that if I wasn’t towing long distances. If I was really going to buy an electric pickup I’d still go for the F150 as I don’t tow and you can get it for a lot less and it’s still very cool. I have a Rav4 Prime and it’s been great. 3 years in I’m still enjoying it and I’ve had no reliability issues. I’m not sure I’d have the same confidence to buy a hybrid vehicle from Stellantis. It would be interesting to see it tested to see if that engine can keep the battery charged fast enough to power a large truck towing a heavy load. If it works well it could be awesome as the specs are very impressive. I’d like to see a Maverick EV or plug in hybrid as that size is more my speed.

If you want to make sure your user base doesn't abuse the battery and then complain when it breaks... juat lock away the area of the battery that most degrades the life of the truck.

Very entertaining information. Thanks.

Great video. Sorry i been absent. Love both of this and i would love to see a comparison on the work truck and tradesman addition of these two truck. See how low they can get the price and what that looks like. You are absolutely right though. Two different trucks for 2 different people. The ramcharger is basically a 3/4 ton truck

Great video, fair reviews, good insights. I love my 23 xlt ER Lightning. In a few years i can see buying a large travel trailer for the family. (I'm thinking 5th wheel large) hopefully buy then some of the hybrid technologies have moved up into the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks. Having a battery to drive around town and a small engine to charge a larger one ton truck would be ideal. 👌 cheers!

4:45 It is common battery management engines to only use the center of the battery pack SOC for many many years of battery life. Example from the Chevrolet Volt is it used from like ~22% to 87% of the complete battery but the display in the vehicle showed that at 0% to 100% usage (ie. middle 65%=87-22). This is true in the Ford F150 and other BEV trucks but they use more of the complete battery but they still leave some SOC at the top and bottom of the battery ... else it will brick or quickly degrade. MGV Gauge% MGV Batt% Min Volts 100.00% 90.20% 4.014 100.00% 87.80% 4.015 100.00% 84.30% 4.009 95.40% 80.80% 4.003 90.50% 77.60% 3.990 79.10% 70.20% 3.954 71.80% 65.50% 3.896 64.00% 60.40% 3.863 54.90% 54.50% 3.835 32.00% 39.60% 3.773 13.90% 27.80% 3.654 5.50% 22.40% 3.595

I once assumed that most cars were going to be series hybrids which were charged up overnight for most daily driving and only used the recharging motor for longer road trips. Then Tesla introduced its Model S and Supercharger network and things changed. Now it seems like Dodge's Ramcharger is going to answer the question of whether series hybrids make more sense for pickups. It may. I think it depends on two factors, how the driver actually uses the truck. and how comfortable they are with using fast-charging networks. For the suburbanite who uses their leviathan class 4 door pickup the same way I use my Kia Soul, a standard electric pickup like the Ford Lightning makes a lot of sense. It would be like a very large Tesla Model S with the mother of all trunks. The Lightning has access to Tesla's Supercharger network, minimizing charging worries and even the base model Lightning has decent range as long as you aren't towing. You also don't have to mess with ice motor maintenance. If you do a lot of long distance towing, say you're a car nut who likes to haul a drag car halfway across the country several times a year, the Ramcharger starts to make a lot of sense. Not having to search for charging stations and unhook your trailer every 100-300 miles might justify the extra cost of gasoline and generator maintenance. It would feel like owning a gasoline truck with the advantage of being able to plug in at night to cover the energy used for daily driving. Assuming that neither of these trucks have any unexpected reliability issues, the winner will depend on how you use your truck and how comfortable you are with fast charging.

I’m guessing the extra 22kwh on the Ramcharger are there to make sure that if you run the battery low before pulling a 14k lb trailer straight up a mountain, there’s a decent reserve of power to augment what the engine can produce. For me, the Silverado EV is hands down the better overall setup, but I can see where the Ramcharger would be better for many people. I’m sure there will even be a day or two out of each year where I’ll wish I had the gas option.

I don't get putting such a large battery in a hybrid. 40 miles of battery range should be more than sufficient for daily driving

First comment!

The ONLY good electric trucks are toys.... Every one of these POSs should be rebadged with "POWER WHEELS FOR ADULTS" It's just Truth in Advertising: A kids' power wheels goes about 200 yards per charge, and one of these adult power wheels goes about 200 miles. BTW: Electric vehicles destroy the environment. To make one metric ton (2204.62 lbs) of usable lithium oxide, you polute 500,000 gallons (1.89 million liters) of clean water.

No one cares