Electric RAM 1500 Revolution Concept: looking ahead to 2024

Highlights

• Fully electric
• Coming in 2024
• Completely own design

We can’t stress it enough: pick-up trucks are vital in North America. In the US, the ‘trucks’ from Ford, Chevrolet and Ram have been in places 1, 2 and 3 of the sales rankings for years, above all ‘normal’ car models. It is not surprising that the whole world is watching the electrification process of this category with interest. It started with the Ford F-150 Lightning, a car that was unveiled in the spring of 2021 and that we have now even been able to drive in the Netherlands. Ford was the first and, in a way, got rid of it the easiest, simply electrifying the existing F-150. General Motors takes a different approach. The electric Chevrolet Silverado is a completely own design, a pick-up that shares nothing with its petrol-fired brother. Well, one thing: the electric variant also has a GMC brother.

So Aries is a bit late to this party, as the Americans themselves would say. However, the brand of the Stellantis group wants to take revenge and, as promised, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with a concept preview of the electric production pick-up that should appear in 2024. That concept car is called ‘Ram 1500 Revolution’ and thus makes no secret of the fact that it is a direct competitor of the F-150 and the electric Silverado. After all, with that ‘1500’ we have an outright class division. Ram follows the path that General Motors chose earlier and therefore makes the electric pick-up different from the existing petrol variant from top to bottom.

Compared to the regular Ram 1500, which is also surprisingly popular in the Netherlands, the car looks a bit friendlier and less imposing. On the other hand, it looks a bit more modern and futuristic, although Ram does not seem to want to ram the existing clientele in that area too much… ram, as it were. The relatively smooth-lined carriage looks sleek and tidy, but also tough and recognizable. For example, we still see a large grille-like element between the headlights, which of course consist of elegant LED stripes. The brand name ‘Ram’ is written in thick LED letters across the nose and back. From the side, the clear split between the double cab and the cargo box makes it clear that this is still a body-on-frame truck, i.e. with a separate chassis. The Ram 1500 ‘BEV’ is therefore on Stellantis’ STLA Frame platform, one of the company’s four announced EV platforms. The tailgate is split and can be opened sideways or downwards, just like the existing generation of Ram 1500 trucks. What is new is that if the cargo box does not meet the requirements, an enormous ‘frunk’ of extra, closed luggage space is available. Yes: here too the nose of the car can be stuffed with stuff.

The interior looks just like the outside somewhat futuristic, but not too crazy. It is therefore not difficult to imagine what a production-ready variant will eventually look like. The seats are on rails, which can also be found in the cargo box and even in the frunk of the concept car. By placing the furniture, but also hooks and eyes on those rails as desired, the layout of the pick-up is particularly flexible, according to Stellantis. The flexible, foldable partition wall also contributes to this, as does the tailgate that can serve as a cargo box extension. Interestingly, Ram provides a set of extra seats behind the second row of seats. These can reportedly also be placed in the cargo bed if necessary, for a sensation that is undoubtedly comparable to what rear passengers of a Skoda Felicia Fun experience.

Unfortunately, Ram does not yet release exact specifications. We do know that the STLA Frame platform is good for a range of up to 800 kilometers. It is also known that the RAM concept has an 800 Volt system, so that it should be able to achieve up to 350 kW on the fast charger. The production version of this car will be on the market in 2024, but will be presented in 2023.