RAM has promised big things for its upcoming electric pickup truck, the RAM 1500 REV, though specifications have yet to be released.
Superior range, payload, towing, and charge time; that was the message from RAM when it revealed the name of its first production electric truck, the RAM 1500 REV. This message was echoed in RAM’s Super Bowl commercial that poked fun at “Premature Electrification” (PE) concerns. But without releasing the specifications of its upcoming truck, it remains unclear if the historic American truck can achieve its new herculean task.
RAM has yet to release any information about the RAM 1500 REV, other than its design and release date of “late 2024,” shown in its first-ever Super Bowl commercial. However, looking at the current competition, you can get a good idea of what specs RAM is aiming for.
One of the most critical factors a consumer will look at when buying an EV is the vehicle’s range, so it is no wonder RAM is promising to lead in the category. To achieve this and upset the current range leader in electric pickups, the Rivian R1T, the RAM 1500 REV would need to be able to go more than 328 miles on a single charge; no small task for Stellantis’ first EV in the United States.
Second, if the REV is going to have a superior payload, it will need to put up numbers almost equal to the current gas variant RAM. The Ford F150 Lightning leads electric trucks, having a payload of 2,235 pounds, while the gas-powered RAM 1500 has capacity for only 100 pounds more.
Towing, a massive challenge for any electric truck, could be a particularly difficult challenge for Stellantis engineers if their truck is to be a leader in the segment. While the Ford and Rivian trucks have towing capacities of 10,000 and 11,000 pounds, neither has been able to do so while towing for any considerable distance, a concern that is even addressed in RAM’s own Super Bowl ad. From the testing done by various sources on both the Lightning and the R1T, anything more than 100-120 miles of range while towing could make the 1500 REV a leader in its class.
As if these three tasks weren’t enough, RAM is promising to be a new leader in charge time, a crown that will certainly need to be battled for thanks to Ford’s impressive 30-40 minute 10-80% charge time.
This leads us to the question; are these achievements remotely possible? There are a couple of reasons to believe they are.
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- Credit: RAM Trucks
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- Credit: RAM Trucks
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- Credit: RAM Trucks
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- Credit: RAM Trucks
First, suppose RAM can build its first EV on an 800/900-volt architecture. In that case, the drivetrain’s efficiency and charging time could improve dramatically, allowing the 1500 REV to hit many of the targets listed above. This is especially the case compared to the 400-volt architecture used within the current electric trucks on the market.
Second, if RAM can source higher efficiency motors, it may be able to circumvent issues of range, though it may face problems regarding power to move over 11,000 pounds when towing.
Third and potentially the most likely, RAM could opt to fit a gargantuan battery into its first electric truck. With a massive battery pack of over 150 kWh, the 1500 REV would benefit from increased range and increased power thanks to the battery’s ability to meet higher power needs. Though, with such a massive pack, the RAM 1500 REV would suffer in the weight department, potentially decreasing its payload and towing capabilities.
Whether RAM achieves its design goals or not, the added competition in the electric vehicle market is always welcome. Though RAM isn’t introducing its first EV as quickly as many would have hoped, with such high goals, it may be worth waiting for. Though with competition on the horizon, Stellantis will need to work quickly if it hopes not to be left behind.
What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!
Elon Musk
Tesla confirms that work on Dojo 3 has officially resumed
“Now that the AI5 chip design is in good shape, Tesla will restart work on Dojo 3,” Elon Musk wrote in a post on X.
Tesla has restarted work on its Dojo 3 initiative, its in-house AI training supercomputer, now that its AI5 chip design has reached a stable stage.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed the update in a recent post on X.
Tesla’s Dojo 3 initiative restarted
In a post on X, Musk said that with the AI5 chip design now “in good shape,” Tesla will resume work on Dojo 3. He added that Tesla is hiring engineers interested in working on what he expects will become the highest-volume AI chips in the world.
“Now that the AI5 chip design is in good shape, Tesla will restart work on Dojo3. If you’re interested in working on what will be the highest volume chips in the world, send a note to AI_Chips@Tesla.com with 3 bullet points on the toughest technical problems you’ve solved,” Musk wrote in his post on X.
Musk’s comment followed a series of recent posts outlining Tesla’s broader AI chip roadmap. In another update, he stated that Tesla’s AI4 chip alone would achieve self-driving safety levels well above human drivers, AI5 would make vehicles “almost perfect” while significantly enhancing Optimus, and AI6 would be focused on Optimus and data center applications.
Musk then highlighted that AI7/Dojo 3 will be designed to support space-based AI compute.
Tesla’s AI roadmap
Musk’s latest comments helped resolve some confusion that emerged last year about Project Dojo’s future. At the time, Musk stated on X that Tesla was stepping back from Dojo because it did not make sense to split resources across multiple AI chip architectures.
He suggested that clustering large numbers of Tesla AI5 and AI6 chips for training could effectively serve the same purpose as a dedicated Dojo successor. “In a supercomputer cluster, it would make sense to put many AI5/AI6 chips on a board, whether for inference or training, simply to reduce network cabling complexity & cost by a few orders of magnitude,” Musk wrote at the time.
Musk later reinforced that idea by responding positively to an X post stating that Tesla’s AI6 chip would effectively be the new Dojo. Considering his recent updates on X, however, it appears that Tesla will be using AI7, not AI6, as its dedicated Dojo successor. The CEO did state that Tesla’s AI7, AI8, and AI9 chips will be developed in short, nine-month cycles, so Dojo’s deployment might actually be sooner than expected.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s xAI brings 1GW Colossus 2 AI training cluster online
Elon Musk shared his update in a recent post on social media platform X.
xAI has brought its Colossus 2 supercomputer online, making it the first gigawatt-scale AI training cluster in the world, and it’s about to get even bigger in a few months.
Elon Musk shared his update in a recent post on social media platform X.
Colossus 2 goes live
The Colossus 2 supercomputer, together with its predecessor, Colossus 1, are used by xAI to primarily train and refine the company’s Grok large language model. In a post on X, Musk stated that Colossus 2 is already operational, making it the first gigawatt training cluster in the world.
But what’s even more remarkable is that it would be upgraded to 1.5 GW of power in April. Even in its current iteration, however, the Colossus 2 supercomputer already exceeds the peak demand of San Francisco.
Commentary from users of the social media platform highlighted the speed of execution behind the project. Colossus 1 went from site preparation to full operation in 122 days, while Colossus 2 went live by crossing the 1-GW barrier and is targeting a total capacity of roughly 2 GW. This far exceeds the speed of xAI’s primary rivals.
Funding fuels rapid expansion
xAI’s Colossus 2 launch follows xAI’s recently closed, upsized $20 billion Series E funding round, which exceeded its initial $15 billion target. The company said the capital will be used to accelerate infrastructure scaling and AI product development.
The round attracted a broad group of investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, and Baron Capital Group. Strategic partners NVIDIA and Cisco also continued their support, helping xAI build what it describes as the world’s largest GPU clusters.
xAI said the funding will accelerate its infrastructure buildout, enable rapid deployment of AI products to billions of users, and support research tied to its mission of understanding the universe. The company noted that its Colossus 1 and 2 systems now represent more than one million H100 GPU equivalents, alongside recent releases including the Grok 4 series, Grok Voice, and Grok Imagine. Training is also already underway for its next flagship model, Grok 5.
Elon Musk
Tesla AI5 chip nears completion, Elon Musk teases 9-month development cadence
The Tesla CEO shared his recent insights in a post on social media platform X.
Tesla’s next-generation AI5 chip is nearly complete, and work on its successor is already underway, as per a recent update from Elon Musk.
The Tesla CEO shared his recent insights in a post on social media platform X.
Musk details AI chip roadmap
In his post, Elon Musk stated that Tesla’s AI5 chip design is “almost done,” while AI6 has already entered early development. Musk added that Tesla plans to continue iterating rapidly, with AI7, AI8, AI9, and future generations targeting a nine-month design cycle.
He also noted that Tesla’s in-house chips could become the highest-volume AI processors in the world. Musk framed his update as a recruiting message, encouraging engineers to join Tesla’s AI and chip development teams.
Tesla community member Herbert Ong highlighted the strategic importance of the timeline, noting that faster chip cycles enable quicker learning, faster iteration, and a compounding advantage in AI and autonomy that becomes increasingly difficult for competitors to close.
AI5 manufacturing takes shape
Musk’s comments align with earlier reporting on AI5’s production plans. In December, it was reported that Samsung is preparing to manufacture Tesla’s AI5 chip, accelerating hiring for experienced engineers to support U.S. production and address complex foundry challenges.
Samsung is one of two suppliers selected for AI5, alongside TSMC. The companies are expected to produce different versions of the AI5 chip, with TSMC reportedly using a 3nm process and Samsung using a 2nm process.
Musk has previously stated that while different foundries translate chip designs into physical silicon in different ways, the goal is for both versions of the Tesla AI5 chip to operate identically. AI5 will succeed Tesla’s current AI4 hardware, formerly known as Hardware 4, and is expected to support the company’s Full Self-Driving system as well as other AI-driven efforts, including Optimus.
Tesla confirms that work on Dojo 3 has officially resumed
Elon Musk’s xAI brings 1GW Colossus 2 AI training cluster online
