Ram announces an all-electric pickup truck as part of an overall EV strategy

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Get ready for more plug-in pickups. Stellantis – the automaker formerly known to us as Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles, or FCA – has announced a company-wide commitment to electric vehicles (EVs), including an all-electric Ram 1500 that’s expected to go into production in 2024.

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The electric Ram was teased during a presentation outlining Stellantis’ electric ambitions, and while very little information was provided, we did grab these renderings of what it could look like when it arrives.

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Stellantis plans to invest more than €30 billion from now through 2025 for electrification and software. The new company was formed earlier this year when FCA merged with PSA Group, which owns such brands as Citroën and Peugeot. It has a target of more than 70 per cent of its sales in Europe, and over 40 per cent in the U.S., being low-emission vehicles by 2030. Every one of the company’s 14 brands is expected to have at least one fully-electric vehicle.

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Each brand also gets its own snappy (or maybe not-so-snappy) tag line, such as “Tear Up the Streets…Not the Planet” for Dodge, and “Clean Technology for a New Generation of Families” for Chrysler. Ram’s will be “Built to Serve a Sustainable Planet.”

Ram also sells commercial vans, the full-size ProMaster and compact ProMaster City. While it’s not yet clear which fleet vehicles will go plug-in, Stellantis has a headline of “The Global Leader in e-Commercial Vehicles” for all of its commercial products. Plans are to release medium-size vans, powered by hydrogen fuel cells, by the end of 2021, although exactly where in its global markets hasn’t been confirmed.

All electric vehicles will be built on one of four platforms – small, medium, large, and frame – and with standardized battery packs and fast-charging capability of 32 kilometres per minute. Both the large and frame platforms will have a range of up to 800 kilometres, although of course that will be the maximum. We’ll have to see what battery size the Ram uses, and if it’ll be a single choice, or if range options will be available at different prices.

Of course an electric Ram had to happen, because everyone’s plugging in that direction. Ford is already taking orders for its F-150 Lightning ; it looks like Chevrolet’s electric Silverado may start production in 2023; and it’s likely that Toyota’s all-new Tundra will offer a hybrid powertrain and possibly a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version when it debuts in 2022.