RIP RAM BEV

[Firn]

As someone who has taken his SR Lightning on 14 road trips (and about to leave on #15) of more than 1500 miles each, I think this take is comically absurd. I do an insane amount of long distance driving and the Lightning fits my use case perfectly. It is a joy to drive.

Counterpoint, as someone who has taken a few roadtrips (half a dozen or so) the time spent charging IS an impact.

Because of the charging we will be a one-BEV, one-ICE household for a while.

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[Timeless Epoch]

I feel GM made the idea of a BEV truck with a range extender obsolete. Perhaps Stelantis came to the same conclusion.

 

[Stalemate]

Those jokers better refund my deposit lol. Called them today and got the typical wait for a person music, then after about 5 mins of being reminded to stay on the line it goes to a voice mail box ughh.

I called them a couple months ago on a Saturday not realizing they were closed. Figured I would call them during the week when I got around to it. Much to my surprise, THEY called ME the following Monday - and I hadn't left a message. They were very nice about refunding my $100, and I got the impression that they had been processing a lot of refunds.

 

[WXman]

Just a wise business decision by RAM. They've seen how Ford has bled money with the Lightning, which is why Ford is removing content from the Lightning every 6 months. They've seen GM's dismal sales numbers. The regulatory environment has changed and they are in a position where they need fast cash to get back on track after their former CEO tried to run it straight into the ground, and they are going after it with V8s in everything again. Once they turn it around next year and start getting cash coming in again, they can work on the range extended version of the truck. But for now they just need to sell vehicles, lots of vehicles.

 

[swajames]

Just a wise business decision by RAM. They've seen how Ford has bled money with the Lightning, which is why Ford is removing content from the Lightning every 6 months. They've seen GM's dismal sales numbers. The regulatory environment has changed and they are in a position where they need fast cash to get back on track after their former CEO tried to run it straight into the ground, and they are going after it with V8s in everything again. Once they turn it around next year and start getting cash coming in again, they can work on the range extended version of the truck. But for now they just need to sell vehicles, lots of vehicles.

A wise business decision from an organization circling around in the flushing waters of the automotive crapper primarily because it is known for making bad ones? Stellantis make a grand total of one vehicle that's competitive. And it's a minivan.

 

[WXman]

A wise business decision from an organization circling around in the flushing waters of the automotive crapper primarily because it is known for making bad ones? Stellantis make a grand total of one vehicle that's competitive. And it's a minivan.

Um...

They had the #2 pickup truck in all the land, passing the Chevrolet brand for the first time in history.

They had the #1 muscle car in all the land, despite Ford and GM having much newer models on sale.

They had the top SUVs with Wrangler and Grand Cherokee both selling like hotcakes.

They were dominating in every segment. Not just competitive, but dominating.

And then the new CEO said three years ago "NO MORE HEMI" and sales went down the tube. Their push to go electric in the entire portfolio literally came close to sinking the company. Thank goodness they pushed that guy out and brought back the guys who know how to sell cars just in time.

 

[swajames]

Um... No. They make a good van. The rest is why they are likely going out of business.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

In a few years, new battery technology (Sodium ION for example) will make the range and charging time issues of EVs practically moot.

Why do you think so?
I have two Sodium battery packs, each are 100AH packs, one 12v one24v. I bought these three years ago, and use them for service work to run inverters (before the Lightning I needed small travel 120VAC systems, that could take the winter more or less) The advantage of the sodium packs is low and high temperature tollerance far better than LiFePO4 - BUT the disadvantages are:
Higher weight per kWh stored.
Wider voltage range from low to high SOC which most inverters struggle to use the full range.
Fewer charge cycles during the life of the battery compared with LiFePO4.
Cost were actually higher for the Sodium packs, mostly due to lower volumes of production (then).

From my experience I believe the best use for Sodium Cells is stationary back up power to support utility scale loads, not so much for EV's due to lower energy density, higher weight, and fewer charge cycles.

 

[Firn]

Um...

They had the #2 pickup truck in all the land, passing the Chevrolet brand for the first time in history.

They had the #1 muscle car in all the land, despite Ford and GM having much newer models on sale.

They had the top SUVs with Wrangler and Grand Cherokee both selling like hotcakes.

They were dominating in every segment. Not just competitive, but dominating.

And then the new CEO said three years ago "NO MORE HEMI" and sales went down the tube. Their push to go electric in the entire portfolio literally came close to sinking the company. Thank goodness they pushed that guy out and brought back the guys who know how to sell cars just in time.

Let's not forget that they rank at the bottom of nearly every reliability scale and their actual electric outing was their frigging halo car, and was absolute garbage.

This wasnt just a no hemi, go electric, failure. It was a bad product worse product failure that was timed the same.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

https://electrek.co/2025/02/25/ram-touts-new-ramcharger-reev-as-ultimate-electric-pickup/

"...Combined with a massive 92 kWh battery, the pickup can drive up to 690 miles, or what Kuniskis calls an “unlimited” range.

Powered solely by electric power, Ram says the pickup has a driving range of around 145 miles. After the battery runs out of juice, the gas engine kicks on to extend its range..."

It's like buying 2 trucks, and EV and an ICE truck...no thanks.

makes me wonder - does the 3.7L engine have enough power to run a 60kW generator?

My comments are not support of the gas-electric drivetrain, just noting that range entension doesn't have to mean unlimited range.
For big trailers I perfer the "idea" of the trailer having it's own battery and motor set up.

But the issue still comes back to the one we face right now - Charging infrastructure was not built with trucks and trailers in mind. Now 100,000 charging stations across N.America need to morph to accomodate. Going to take time.

 

[swajames]

ABRP has, as an aside, just fallen foul of my strict "if you fail to notify that a renewal is upcoming before you charge the card and process the renewal, then I won't do business with you" policy. I had an ABRP premium account and they just renewed the annual subscription without any heads up that it was about to process. So I've canceled it and won't renew again. I used to be something of an ABRP evangelist but that's not something I'll be doing any more.

 

[RLXXI]

ABRP has, as an aside, just fallen foul of my strict "if you fail to notify that a renewal is upcoming before you charge the card and process the renewal, then I won't do business with you" policy. I had an ABRP premium account and they just renewed the annual subscription without any heads up that it was about to process. So I've canceled it and won't renew again. I used to be something of an ABRP evangelist but that's not something I'll be doing any more.

Corporate structure, Had Norton and Acronis do me the same way, was my fault for not checking to see if they automatically check the box for renewal. They do, and I hadn't logged into the accounts in a long while. I should have checked it right then and there but got in a hurry or distracted and didn't until I got the notice from my bank.

Now when I purchase ANYTHING with a subscription style renewal system, (trial versions as well), I go right back into my account and uncheck that damned box.

 

[RLXXI]

makes me wonder - does the 3.7L engine have enough power to run a 60kW generator?

My comments are not support of the gas-electric drivetrain, just noting that range entension doesn't have to mean unlimited range.
For big trailers I perfer the "idea" of the trailer having it's own battery and motor set up.

But the issue still comes back to the one we face right now - Charging infrastructure was not built with trucks and trailers in mind. Now 100,000 charging stations across N.America need to morph to accomodate. Going to take time.

The 18kW Generac whole home genset I have uses a 1.0L v twin engine, basically a motorcycle engine.

 

[Scorpio3d]

When Tesla was coming out with the cyber truck, their version of a range extender was just a battery pack that fit in the bed (I think it was about half of the bed length and height)and I assume it could be taken out?
I think that would be a great idea, for those occasions when you need it!

 

[swajames]

Corporate structure, Had Norton and Acronis do me the same way, was my fault for not checking to see if they automatically check the box for renewal. They do, and I hadn't logged into the accounts in a long while. I should have checked it right then and there but got in a hurry or distracted and didn't until I got the notice from my bank.

Now when I purchase ANYTHING with a subscription style renewal system, (trial versions as well), I go right back into my account and uncheck that damned box.

In California at least ABRP's failure to notify likely breached a legislative change that took effect on 7/1 requiring specific notification before any automatic renewal should be processed (mine was middle of August).

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