If the Ramcharger were available when you bought your lightning...

[Zprime29]

For myself, no I'm sold on pure EV. I don't mind the road trip limitations 2-3 times a year for the benefits of city driving an EV 95% of the time.

My wife, on the other hand, is not so willing to compromise. I won't enumerate all the reasons why, just trust me that it ain't gonna happen anytime soon. Best I can do right now was get her into a PHEV vehicle. There's just enough range to cover the round trip to drop kids off at school ( a 20 mile trek each way ). The engine gets used on the afternoon trip to pick them up, as we can only charge it at level 1 right now. But that's fine, 70% of our miles are covered on the battery and the engine is used weekly.
1 oil change per year (every 10k miles)
spark plugs last 100k miles, so once every 10 years
Regen braking so brakes will last same as a pure EV
A tank of gas lasts about 2 months, a huge improvement from filling up every 2 weeks

An EREV would fit her nicely. A one hour trip once a year for maintenance is not that bad and now we don't have to rent a car for long road trips. I would absolutely consider an EREV for her, if only a 3 row existed.

I have a coworker who is considering the Ramcharger, I'll share if he gets one and what his thoughts are.

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[Marc]

The last thing I want to deal with is the complexity of the gas/hybrid system, the additional maintenance and costs of gas. Too many negatives. If or when I change vehicles it will be another all electric pickup or SUV.

 

[JRDM2]

There were several trucks I was looking forward to, and being a Mopar enthusiast I was interested in the REV and I'm still curious about what it will become. I didn't want to get excited about any one thing until enough hard details were released and my wife wanted me to wait a year after they started rolling off the line before getting one. Anyway I needed to replace my vehicle much sooner than any of the options coming out in the next two years. Thankfully the Lightning brought a lot to the table with specific options I wanted at a payment I was willing to pay in an attractive product. I can't get too concerned about what's coming because they weren't options and I've already made my commitment for the time being anyway.

 

[21st Century Truck]

Our family went from the usual array of gas clunkers & beaters, and later new gasoline cars, to three sequential Priuses including one plug-in one, to two Ford Fusion Energies (both were actually almost great sedans) to now pure EVs: the Mach E and now the Lightning for me and a used Audi Etron for Sonny Boy. The Etron was the 1st EV in the family.

So, as good as the several hybrids have been for us, they were basically a group of transition vehicles over time. Now, "forget it"... no more gas stations, no more habitual dealership visits, no more dangerous fluids forgotten in the corners of the garage, etc. etc.

It took Sonny Boy longer to teach himself how to do long road trips... I was the early adopter for that aspect of EV life.

So for this family, no we don't need a Ramcharger-like solution.

 

[K6CCC]

Nope. I have wanted to go pure electric for years, but until the Lightning came around there pretty much was nothing available in a pickup. Having 14,661 miles on the Lightning since I bought it in February, I am totally satisfied with the pure electric decision. Not going to any sort of hybrid - the worst of both worlds.

 

[davehu]

No.

ditto on the no

 

[rockhead]

if ????? you mean if it is EVER available ? I liked the idea of it's range as my use case is just covered by my ER, I sure am glad I didn't bother waiting

 

[WXman]

If the upcoming Ramcharger were available when you bought your Lightning, would you still have purchased the Lightning?

100% I would have gone Ramcharger without even thinking about it. PHEV is the SUPERIOR way to go in my opinion. It allows all of the benefits of the EV experience, but it eliminates the horrible towing experience.

I could drive the truck 90% of the time using the battery. Those occasional weekend trips long distance with my camper in tow to a campground somewhere would utilize the engine onboard, negating the need to search for a level 3 charger or figure out the logistics of getting a truck and trailer into a level 3 charger. It would be the best of both worlds.

With Ram and Scout both bringing EREV or PHEV trucks to market in 2028 it's going to become a very interesting landscape in the truck market. Current stats show that 65% of pre-orders for the Scout pickup and SUV are the EREV version, leaving 35% for pure EV. I think that is very telling. And could be why Ram has scrapped their EV truck and moved the REV name to what was the Ramcharger.

And all the guys who say "I'd never buy a Ram!" must not have ever owned Rams. I've had 30+ vehicles, mostly pickups and SUVs, from ALL the brands. My Rams have always been the most reliable and dependable and it's not even close. The Ford dealer just took my Lightning to the shop with 4,500 miles on the odo today. And my other F-150 has a faulty 4x4 system right now. And my brother's F-150 is needing driveline repair right now. I'd take a Ram 6 days a week and twice on Sunday over the other brands.

 

[RickLightning]

100% I would have gone Ramcharger without even thinking about it. PHEV is the SUPERIOR way to go in my opinion. It allows all of the benefits of the EV experience, but it eliminates the horrible towing experience.

I could drive the truck 90% of the time using the battery. Those occasional weekend trips long distance with my camper in tow to a campground somewhere would utilize the engine onboard, negating the need to search for a level 3 charger or figure out the logistics of getting a truck and trailer into a level 3 charger. It would be the best of both worlds.

With Ram and Scout both bringing EREV or PHEV trucks to market in 2028 it's going to become a very interesting landscape in the truck market. Current stats show that 65% of pre-orders for the Scout pickup and SUV are the EREV version, leaving 35% for pure EV. I think that is very telling. And could be why Ram has scrapped their EV truck and moved the REV name to what was the Ramcharger.

And all the guys who say "I'd never buy a Ram!" must not have ever owned Rams. I've had 30+ vehicles, mostly pickups and SUVs, from ALL the brands. My Rams have always been the most reliable and dependable and it's not even close. The Ford dealer just took my Lightning to the shop with 4,500 miles on the odo today. And my other F-150 has a faulty 4x4 system right now. And my brother's F-150 is needing driveline repair right now. I'd take a Ram 6 days a week and twice on Sunday over the other brands.

We have owned minivans from Plymouth, Chrysler, and then Dodge. Based on those experiences, and the fact that Stellantis is a Dutch-owned company now, with many quality issues, we would never consider them.

Yes, Ford is leading the recall race.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I have strong bias against Dodge products in general, but the temptation for a hybrid like function is there, but at the moment my personal commitment to Ford products would have resulted in still buying the Lightning in the summer of 2022.

I also look forward to what a gen2 Lightning will bring, hopefully a little more capacity in the HVB, or a 800v system with a OBC and DCFC charging rate that's better than our current Lightnings could still fill the gap for long trips.

 

[PJnc284]

.

And all the guys who say "I'd never buy a Ram!" must not have ever owned Rams. I've had 30+ vehicles, mostly pickups and SUVs, from ALL the brands. My Rams have always been the most reliable and dependable and it's not even close. The Ford dealer just took my Lightning to the shop with 4,500 miles on the odo today. And my other F-150 has a faulty 4x4 system right now. And my brother's F-150 is needing driveline repair right now. I'd take a Ram 6 days a week and twice on Sunday over the other brands.

Was wondering if I've just been lucky. Started out with a 97 Dodge Dakota. It was great aside from the 12-14mpg on the highway. Had it for about 15 years. Then had 3 generations of Tacomas (07,12 and 16) before I bought a 2020 Ram 1500 back in 2020 to pull the boat since it was too big for the Tacoma. Thing gets better mileage than the tacoma even with the v8. Kept both when I got the Lightning. Can't say i had/have any interest in the Rev though since i don't travel/tow a lot so the lightning is perfect.

 

[Heliian]

Hell no.

If I needed a gas powered truck for trips I'd just buy the lightning AND a cheap gas pickup for most likely less than the ram abomination.

In reality I bet the ram rev would get terrible mileage and cost more to operate than 2 seperate trucks.

There is no one size fits all solution.

Rams attempt at drawing in the "I need 1500 miles of range and 30 second fillups" crowd is a lost cause.

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

I would consider trading the Lighting for a Maverick-sized BEV. More likely we’d trade the Mustang Mach-e for a Maverick-sized or Tacoma-sized BEV and keep the Lightning. The Lightning is huge, but it’s the best road trip vehicle we’ve owned.

My experience is very similar - 16 road trips of 1500+ miles, much of it through charging (and real) deserts. I have NO interest in returning to gas - I love my Lightning. I had a Maverick hybrid on order, but was already driving the Lightning when it arrived, so I turned it down. If Ford built a Maverick-sized full BEV, I might be tempted, but the utility, space, and comfort of the Lightning is hard to beat.

 

[fhteagle]

Like you I had a Volt, which served me very well. If there would have been an EREV truck circa 2015-2019 or so, I would have absolutely jumped on that. The US auto industry screwed up hardcore by not coming out with a single first party EREV truck. Going through this intermediate development step when batteries were weaker and more expensive a dozen years ago made a ton of sense, and they all missed it.

But it's 2025. Charging infrastructure is way better. Yes there are few holes in a few places that still need to be filled. But I live in a very rural place and with a very small amount of planning, range is just not an issue.

Honestly I'd rather have a strong (~100kW maybe, the combustion guts and MGB from a Volt, for example) generator and a small battery buffer on a "drop axle" between the truck and trailer, with a way to hook that DC direct to the BEV truck. That way I'm only carting the combustion stuff for the few trips that might need the extra range pulling a trailer. And the generator can be left elsewhere for backup power the rest of the time.

A Lightning or GM BEV with 16k+ towing rating would be nice. Probably will keep my Lightning until this, with physical diff locks, is available.

Stellantis products? Ugh, no thanks.

 

[Zaptor]

Hell no, lol

I had a deposit ($100) to hold a place in line for the RAM REV but when they cancelled it, I got my $100 back and bought a second Lightning (yes, for slightly more than my $100). IMO the Lightning is the only EV truck worth its price. Rivian is a toy truck for influencers, Cybertruck is hideous and also politically problematic, Silverado is just ugly.

I told my wife we're gonna be like those people with 6 Camaros in the driveway, half on blocks, only it'll be Lightnings...

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