Electric pickup trucks are the biggest thing in EVs right now. Rivian struck first with the R1T, then GMC went big with the violently American Hummer EV. Next, Ford whipped out the white-hot F-150 Lightning, and Chevrolet is set to kick off production of the Silverado EV in just a few short months. Tesla also revealed a stainless steel douchedecahedron called the Cybertruck that was supposed to arrive two years ago but that still hasn’t happened yet. Given the way things are going, it might not happen until after GMC starts production of the Sierra EV in early 2024. Either way, everybody’s gunning for a share of that market and Ram won’t be left on the sidelines. While a production-spec electric Ram truck won’t happen until 2024, Stellantis’ truck branch just gave us a teaser of things to come with the Ram 1500 Revolution Concept.
The first thing you’ll notice about the Ram 1500 Revolution Concept is how it looks quite different from any Ram you’ve probably seen. There are a few good reasons for this, so let’s start with the big stuff. Ram has pushed the base of the windscreen forward to create more room in the cabin. This results in a short dash-to-axle ratio which looks a bit dorky compared to the pickups you’re used to seeing but should be incredibly useful. It’s a similar move to what GM’s pulled with the Chevrolet Silverado EV and will no doubt become commonplace in the electric truck market. Add in bedsides that overlap the cab, and you end up with a very weird profile.
Up front, Ram certainly had a challenge on its hands with the relatively small cooling openings required on an electric truck. After all, this is the brand that pioneered the semi truck look, so we’re talking a reinvention after 30 years of consistent design language. The new front end treatment is a good thing, a lot more subdued than the big rig grilles you get on gasoline-powered Ram trucks yet still purposeful. The black textured plastic should hold up well against theoretical highway sandblasting and plenty of real estate is dedicated to functional lights. That fresh set of daytime running lights is supposed to look like tuning forks but I’m seeing more Ninja Turtle mask than anything. Who wouldn’t want a Ninja Turtle truck?
Around back, the tail lights mimic the daytime running lights, while a split tailgate with a built-in bed extender looks seriously useful and far more elegant than the optional split tailgate on current Ram models. It could be that the panel gap really tighter, but all the trim on the tailgate could simply be more distracting than just an emblem.
Let’s talk about the Ram 1500 Revolution’s bed because it gets weird. Upon first glance, there is a very noticeable seam between the bed and the cab. However, once you get a look inside the bed, you’ll notice that there’s a midgate just like on a Chevrolet Avalanche for extending the bed length to haul long things. The Chevrolet Avalanche had a shared cab and bed assembly, yet the seam on the Ram 1500 Revolution Concept suggests separation of cab and bed. What’s going on here?
As it turns out, a bit of assembly and a bit of styling. The team at Stellantis built separate cab and bed assemblies for the Ram 1500 Revolution, then joined them together structurally at the seam. However, the seam doesn’t just serve a structural purpose, but also an aesthetic one, recalling the separately-mounted cabs and beds you see on traditional pickup trucks. It’s a unique melding of form and function that gives us insight into how this special show truck was made.
As for what’s underneath the sheetmetal, the Ram 1500 Revolution is a body-on-frame truck running on Stellantis’ STLA Frame architecture. If you’re not familiar with STLA Frame and how it slots into Stellantis’ long-term electrification plan, here’s a look at the company’s four vehicle platforms meant to launch Stellantis into the high-volume EV game:
As is fairly common among EVs, the Ram 1500 Revolution features a motor at the front, a motor at the back, and a battery pack in between. While motor outputs and battery pack specs haven’t been divulged, Ram states that the 1500 Revolution uses an 800-volt architecture, so it’s ready to plug into those fancy 350 kW charging stations.
Since electric motors typically necessitate independent suspension unless you want an axle-mounted motor pushing unsprung weight into ungodly territory, Ram’s been able to give the 1500 Revolution a few tricks in the handling department. Not only does it get air suspension like posh half-ton Rams of today, it also gets four-wheel steering with 15 degrees of maximum angle on the rear wheels. Should be a doddle to park, then. Mind you, it won’t always stay where you park it. This concept has a function where it will follow you as you walk, illuminating the path ahead. Someone’s been watching The Love Bug, I see.
Move to the cabin of the Ram 1500 Revolution and it’s very clear that this is a pure show vehicle. There’s a snowball’s chance in hell that any of this glitz will be seen in a production truck, and some of it just seems strange. I mean, a retractable steering wheel? No gauge cluster? A detachable lower infotainment screen? Weird. Still, the multi-panel glass roof is quite neat and I like the idea of armrests that can slide forward and flip open to become tables. Imagine eating Taco Bell off of those bad boys. Oh, and I adore the rear-hinged rear doors, they add such a sense of drama and the lack of a B-pillar really opens up interior access.
Perhaps the most unhinged idea on the Ram 1500 Revolution is the third-row seating. Attached to the mid-gate are flip-up jump seats that appear to offer all the comfort of the rear row in a ’90s extended cab compact truck. I’ll crop in on that photo above to give you a better look.
Given how occupants would surely be packed in like sardines, you’d think lawyers would immediately be up in arms over the concept. However, this is the same company that will sell you a 700-horsepower street car so long as your credit score is greater than two, so it looks like the streak of putting safety third shall continue. Hell yeah.
Speaking of hinged things, open up the front of the Ram 1500 Revolution and you’ll find a sizable frunk with some really neat storage solutions. Not only are there dividers and grocery bag hooks, but the frunk features two cupholders and a pass-through into the space occupied by the center console.
It’s worth keeping in mind that the Ram 1500 Revolution is still very much a concept. There’s no telling what styling elements will carry over to a production-spec electric Ram, although it doesn’t sound like a long wait before we find out.
Ram states in a press release that the 2024 Ram 1500 BEV is “to be introduced in the coming months.” Hopefully the Ninja Turtle front end makes it to Ram’s first mass-produced electric truck.
Photo credits: Ram
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The extra seating is an attempt to make up for the… ahem… undersized… sideview mirrors.
It makes me angry how much visual trickery they are using to make it look slimmer and shorter. In real life that’s like a foot tall black stripe at the bottom. They raised the bed top to be inline with the hood and windows and then they painted that fin on the sides to hide the cabin height. Its all smoke and mirrors. The only cool thing is the suicide no B pillar and there’s no chance that makes it to production.
I love how they realized that nearly the entire footprint of the truck is taken up by the massive passenger cabin, so they made a bed extender to make the bed a usable size. And of course it’s made out of plastic so it’ll break off a few years down the line after being soaked in UV rays in the parking lot every day.
To be entirely fair, an extendable bed (that’s usable and durable) would be fantastic for a whole lot of truck owners. Beds are empty a lot of the time. I personally could get away with a “short box” offered by most manufacturers, but there’s about two times a year a “long bed” would be handy as hell. If a consumer could buy a crew cab short box, that extends into a temporary crew cab long bed, whats to hate about that?
Sure, hate on the potential reliability of a prototype though… I mean, Tacoma beds are plastic and they are perfectly fine. The mid-gates on Avalanches had loads of plastic, and they were fine.
It’d be fine if it was made out of aluminum or coated magnesium something. But you never want your tray style bed extension to be made out of plastic if it’s more than one third the length of the bed, because the point where it goes over the tailgate opening acts like a fulcrum point. Ending up with the bed extender being bent or even cracking. We learned this when they started making them for trucks like the Ranger and the S-10.
If they went with the normal drop down tailgate style and just used a cage style bed extender I don’t think this would be a problem. Albeit if they just made a two seat regular cab version they wouldn’t need a bed extender in the first place to achieve seven and a half feet.
How do you know how much of it is plastic and much is some form of metal? I mean, come on dude. Also, how the tailgate splits open to be part of the extender is a drastically different design than most bed extenders and looks pretty strong depending on the hinge design of the tailgate.
It might be stronger with that tailgate design. But I’m assuming it’s made out of plastic given 1.) The RAM Rebel and TRX’s… everything on the exterior being plastic. 2.) The gate looks like the only thing that’s metal in that configuration aside from the floor slats, and 3.) The bedliner tray of most trucks is already plastic and bed tray extenders for compact trucks in the past were often plastic. … Assuming they weren’t the ultra-cheap ones that were just a piece of tubing that you shoved into the hitch receiver and looked like somebody sat on a football field goal post.
It’s a truly great idea right? If built right i can see most buyers ticking that box (sorry)
“Imagine eating Taco Bell off of those bad boys.”
THAT’S HOW YOU GET ANTS
3-row? Six doors or GTFO
Arguably, there are six doors into the passenger compartment, given the pass throughs at the front and back. Which gives you an excellent opportunity to make everything worse for certain passengers. “Nope, you get in through the bed AND have to sit in the little jump seats. And you have to squeeze in through the frunk.”
(If you don’t like that technicality, I can find you six doors using the split tailgate as 2 or the tailgate and midgate as the additional doors.)
Nice fluff piece but how about some actual details.
What’s the price range of the vehicle?
What’s the driving range on full charge?
How many passengers can it carry?
How much space in the bed?
You know the stuff that will actually make me decide whether I want to buy the vehicle or not!
– $344666 fully equipped
– 30 mile range
– 50 passenger carrying capacity, 55 with the extended bed
– Lots of bed space
It’s a concept. Nothing released about any of those things you’re asking. Except range, which is mentioned in a graphic, but again, it’s not a production vehicle, so all we’re really looking at here is design, which is, ya know, a concept.
Ugly piece of shit just like everything Chrysler has always built.
I am no traditonalist, but I grew up in the country and pickups are working vehicles that should look like shit and occasionally smell like shit. I just can’t imagine dumping a cubic yard of manure in the freakin’ Starship Ramterprise here.
Needs a combustion engine up front to keep it charged, but I like it. Please keep the suicide doors, add actual gauges with BUTTONS, and also make it not an EV.
I like how they anticipated the needs of kidnap victims and made sure they have a place to stow their beverages while locked in the frunk.
Cab forward is back!
Bruh I made an account to say how terrible this article is… Is this written by a 3rd grader? I’m blocking this site from my news feed real quick. L
Cool story bruh
RIP Grayson, we hardly knew ye.
Shame he never read one of Torch’s Cold Starts. He would of left even faster lol.
cool now make it smaller
Oh look, another oversized EV truck that should probably require a CDL and will tear apart our already crappy roads! YAY!
The logic of making hybrids look weird for the sake of it seems to have extended to EVs.
Was this thing generated by AI?
I remember sitting in one of those jump seats back in the 80s but I don’t remember any seatbelts. Regardless, not sure how this qualifies as a 3rd row!
It’s some seating behind the second row. It’s not like the third row seating on a lot of the smaller 3-row SUVs is that usable, either.
I’m excited for it because it is extra interior storage room.
Yep. That’s why i’d be a lot more excited about it if it were available without that superfluous 2nd row of seating. .
I can remove seats a lot more easily than I can add space. If adding the seats gets me the space, great. If they want to offer a seat delete option that saves me a few bucks, even better.
To me, as a married guy that has a wife who insists on third rows for that one time a year her extended family visits so we have extra seats, this fits the bill. I put down the $100 to reserve a silverado EV but in all honesty the RAM is sooooo much more attractive so far.
I also have the $100 on the Silverado, but this looks like it could be worth waiting for. Assuming it stays close to concept and isn’t prohibitively expensive.
Hard to say which features and design elements will remain in the production truck, but my guess is that “prohibitively expensive” will be a base feature on all trim levels.