Upcoming Ram EV will likely have range-extender version
Most of America's major truck manufacturers are working feverishly on an all-electric pickup, with efforts spewing forth from GM, Ford, and Rivian (and yes, Elon fans, Tesla — eventually). Notably absent from the EV table is Ram, though a conversation at the Chicago Auto Show may have given insight as to why that is so.
In an interview with Ram boss Mike Koval Jr., industry website EV Pulse learned there will likely be a range-extender variant of the Ram EV, in addition to a fully electric version. This technology would certainly go a long way to quashing concerns about total driving range, especially when tasked with doing typical truck work such as hauling payload or towing a trailer.
A range extender is essentially a gasoline-powered engine whose sole duty is to charge up an electric vehicle's onboard batteries. This differs from a tradition hybrid (plug-in or not), whose internal-combustion mill tag teams with the electric motors to move the driven wheels. With a range extender, the power produced by the engine is dumped into the batteries, helping to alleviate range anxiety.
These engines generally aren't very large; the range-extender option in the BMW i3 added a 647-cc two-cylinder engine from an electric scooter, for example. Still, it is enough to do the trick. Don't expect such a small engine in a Ram 1500 ERX though, because the brand still has an image to uphold. A four-cylinder engine, however, wouldn't be out of the question.
Two things immediately spring to mind. First, a range extender could easily be installed under the hood of a Ram EV, because that space already exists to house an internal-combustion engine. But that could spell the death of a frunk (or front storage trunk), a feature which seems to be popular with customers of the Rivian R1T and Ford F-150 Lightning. Depending on the benefits, it could be worth the trade-off.
Second, range extenders are a bit of a mixed bag, both in terms of marketing and government classification. Although the wheels of such a vehicle are always driven by an electric motor, the unit as a whole does create carbon emissions. One can argue that those emissions are simply being pushed further down the line, and electricity coming out of the wall has to be generated somewhere as well.
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BMW ran into an issue where it had to restrict the amount of fuel its range extender tank could hold. Why? At the time — in the U.S. — if the total range exceed that of its pure EV brother, it would be classified as a plug-in hybrid, nullifying the attractive government rebates.
Assuming the latter hurdle has been removed, a Ram EV could be a great option for some shoppers. One thing 's for sure: the next couple of years promise to be very interesting in the electric pickup truck market.