It’s been well over a year since Ram announced its Ramcharger extended-range electric truck. We’ve always known it would have the company’s 3.6-liter V-6 engine hooked to a generator, providing electricity for the battery and two electric motors. The automaker finally shared some additional information on Monday, including a bit more insight into how the gas and electric components all work together to deliver a range of 690 miles.
Our man Kevin Williams already briefed you on the Ramcharger’s 92 kWh battery and why only 70 kWh is usable. By keeping some juice in reserve, the Ramcharger is always able to provide full power to the driver, even if the battery’s state of charge is depleted and the generator is the sole source of electricity. Ideally, it will never come to that. But Ram gives the driver three distinct modes of operation that dictate how the electricity—be it from the battery or the generator—is used. Those modes are: Electric+, E-Save and Eco.
Photo by: Ram
If you want a wholly EV experience, Electric+ is the mode for you. Press that button, and the engine will not turn on until the battery’s usable power is depleted. That should be around 140 miles of normal operation, according to Ram. Obviously, flooring the skinny pedal or towing up to 14,000 pounds will significantly reduce that range. But no matter how heavy your right foot is, the engine stays off in Electric+ mode until the battery is drained.
At that point, the engine comes on and the generator feeds electricity to the motors. The battery’s reserve will also provide juice, which keeps the Ram at full operating power until the 27-gallon fuel tank is drained. Refill the tank and you’re back on the road, but the generator won’t recharge the battery back to full capacity. You’ll need to plug in for that.
E-Save mode activates the engine at any point. You won’t gain any horsepower by bringing it online, but the engine will maintain the battery’s current state of charge while you drive. If you have a full charge and start in E-Save mode, you’ll stay at that charge until the engine runs out of gas. If you engage E-Save mode at any point below 50% on the battery, it will slowly bring the battery back to 50%.
Photo by: Ram
Why would you choose this mode? Ram sees this as a way to ensure some electric-only functionality for specific points in a journey, such as cities where only zero-emission vehicles are allowed. Instead of draining the battery, you can run in E-Save mode and have some juice left for silent running later.
The final mode is Eco. Ram didn’t go into detail here, aside from describing this as the best choice for conserving power. In Eco mode, horsepower is limited and other non-essential functions like climate controls are reduced, all in the name of conserving energy. Whether or not Eco mode is required to achieve Ram’s 690-mile maximum range is unclear. But if you’re just cruising on a day that’s not too hot or cold, Eco will let you make the most of your octane and electrons.
“I think [the Ramcharger] is really going to be a secret weapon in the industry,” said Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis during the Ramcharger media presentation “It’s why we wanted to share it with you as soon as possible. It’s not a PowerPoint slide. This thing is real, and it’s coming real fast.”
Look for the 2026 Ram Ramcharger EREV to debut sometime in the second half of this year.
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