DETROIT — Automaker Stellantis plans to provide an industry-first electrical pickup truck referred to as the Ram 1500 Ramcharger that is geared up with an electrical generator and a fuel engine.

If that seems like an oxymoron, this is the way it works: The truck can function as a zero-emissions EV till its battery dies and an electrical onboard generator — powered by a 27-gallon, 3.6-liter V6 engine — kicks on to energy the automobile.

The result is a truck with the advantages of an EV, resembling quick acceleration and a few zero-emissions driving, with out the vary nervousness synonymous with most present electrical automobiles, in keeping with Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis.

“That is the final word reply for the battery-electric truck. Nobody else has received anything prefer it,” Kuniskis advised reporters throughout an occasion. “That is going to be a sport changer for battery-electric vans.”

The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger is anticipated to go on sale in late 2024 alongside a beforehand revealed all-electric Ram 1500 truck with out a gas-powered engine or range-extending electrical generator.

Stellantis estimates the vary of the Ramcharger to be as much as 690 miles, together with as much as 145 miles powered by a 92 kilowatt-hour battery when absolutely charged with out the extended-range energy from the fuel engine and 130 kilowatt electrical generator.

That vary compares with as much as an anticipated 500-mile vary of the all-electric Ram 1500 REV pickup. It additionally tops the present Ram 1500, which has a 3.6-liter V-6 engine and an as much as 26-gallon tank with a complete vary of as much as 546 miles, in keeping with the U.S. Environmental Safety Company.

Stellantis didn’t announce pricing of the Ramcharger, which was revealed Tuesday as a part of a redesign of present gasoline-powered Ram 1500 pickups for the 2025 mannequin 12 months.

Kuniskis mentioned the Ramcharger is supposed as a bridge between conventional vans with inside combustion engines and all-electric ones, which presently face important hurdles concerning charging infrastructure and vary nervousness, particularly when the automobiles are towing — a most important purpose to buy a truck.

Such enhancements may very well be a differentiator for the model, in keeping with Stephanie Brinley, affiliate director of AutoIntelligence for S&P International Mobility.

“It really works to deal with the truth that proper now the {industry} and the pickup truck phase specifically isn’t prepared to simply flip to EVs 100%,” she mentioned. “It addresses a few of these efficiency and vary nervousness considerations, and it is robust.— However the troublesome half goes to be getting customers to essentially perceive what it does.”

Comparable propulsion expertise — known as extended-range electrical automobiles, or EREVs — is accessible in abroad markets, particularly China. It is also equally been supplied in automobiles such because the discontinued Chevrolet Volt sedan from Normal Motors.

Stellantis engineers mentioned the principle distinction between the expertise of the Ramcharger and the Volt is that the truck is being solely propelled by electrical motors, not the automobile’s engine, as soon as the battery dies. It is also anticipated to be the primary utility of it in a manufacturing full-size pickup truck.

The Ramcharger options 663 horsepower and 615 foot-pounds of torque and may obtain 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds, Stellantis mentioned. The truck shall be able to bidirectional charging, the place the automobile acts as a generator to energy home equipment and even a complete residence, the corporate mentioned.

Kuniskis, who additionally leads Stellantis’ Dodge model, declined to touch upon whether or not the expertise of the Ramcharger shall be utilized in different automobiles. Different Stellantis manufacturers embrace Chrysler, Jeep and Fiat within the U.S.

The Ramcharger operates in another way from present plug-in hybrid electrical automobiles, or PHEVs, that supply a variety of all-electric driving, adopted by an engine powering the automobile after the battery is depleted.

“The Ramcharger isn’t a PHEV,” Kuniskis mentioned. “It is a battery-electric truck with its personal onboard, high-speed charger.”

“There isn’t any connection between the engine and the wheels,” he mentioned. “The fuel generator is barely there to cost the battery.”

Ram’s truck technique is totally different from its main opponents GM and Ford Motor. The latter is providing conventional, hybrid and all-electric variations of its F-150 full-size truck, whereas GM has mentioned it plans to transition from conventional vans to electrical ones with out the usage of hybrids.

Stellantis presently provides PHEV variations of automobiles such because the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and Jeep Wrangler and Grand Cherokee SUVs.

The design of the Ramcharger is a combination between the all-electric Ram 1500 REV and the refreshed fuel variations of the normal vans, which shall be out there early subsequent 12 months.

The Ramcharger contains illuminated strains throughout its grille from the headlamps, new badging that debuted on the all-electric truck and different design and facia components between the 2.

For the normal Ram 1500 fashions, the largest change is the corporate is dropping its well-known Hemi V-8. Changing the present 5.7-liter Hemi engine supplied within the truck shall be a twin-turbocharged, inline-six-cylinder engine referred to as the Hurricane.

“Some clients are going to be upset that you simply’re not going to have a Hemi in there,” Kuniskis mentioned. “Certain, the Hemi’s an absolute legend. Individuals love the Hemi, however this factor flat out outperforms the Hemi.”

The three.0-liter Hurricane engine is rated at 420 horsepower and 469 foot-pounds of torque, whereas a high-output model of the engine is rated at 540 horsepower and 521 foot-pounds of torque. That compares with the present V-8 Hemi at 395 horsepower and 410 foot-pounds of torque.

Inline-, or straight-, six-cylinder engines have been utilized in U.S. automobiles by automakers resembling BMW and Jaguar, nonetheless, they’re removed from mainstream within the U.S.

Different adjustments to the vans embrace a brand new luxurious mannequin referred to as Tungsten and a efficiency variant referred to as RHO changing Ram’s high-output TRX pickup that’s geared up with a Hemi 6.2-liter V-8 able to 702 horsepower and 650 foot-pounds of torque.