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Stellantis unveils 2025 Ram 1500 ‘Ramcharger’ with gas tank and battery

Credit: Stellantis

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Stellantis has unveiled its new 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger, which features both battery-electric motors and a gas engine to recharge on the go.

According to a press release shared by Stellantis on Tuesday, the Ram 1500 Ramcharger will feature 250-kW front and 238-kW rear electric drive modules, as powered by a 130-kW generator and a 92-kWh battery. Between these and a 3.6-liter, V6 gas engine, the truck is expected to offer up to 690 miles of range, with the gas-powered hardware turning on to charge the truck once the battery runs out of power.

The partially electric truck will essentially function like a plugin hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV).

The Ramcharger also boasts a 0-60 mph acceleration of 4.4 seconds, along with 663 horsepower, 615 lb.-ft. Of torque, and up to 14,000 pounds of towing with payloads up to 2,625 pounds. The company says that the truck will be able to gain 50 miles of range in just 10 minutes using 400-volt fast charging at a capacity of up to 145 kW.

“With unlimited battery-electric range, the Ram 1500 Ramcharger is the pinnacle of the light-duty pickup truck segment and the ultimate electric truck,” said Tim Kuniskis, Ram brand CEO for Stellantis. “The new Ramcharger is a beast of a light duty – 663 horsepower, 615 lb.-ft of torque, 4-second 0-60 mph, 14,000 lbs. of towing… and zero need for a public charger.”

The partially electric pickup will be built on the Stellantis STLA Frame platform, and it will feature advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) capabilities, including the Level 2 hands-free highway assist. The vehicle is also set to include regenerative driving modes, a set of e-shifter buttons, a 1,228-watt Klipsch audio system with 23 speakers and more.

It will include adjustable driving modes and air suspension with the following settings:

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Driving Mode settings for the 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger

  • Auto
  • Sport
  • Tow
  • Snow
  • Off-Road

Air Suspension settings for the 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger

  • Entry/Exit
  • Aero
  • Normal
  • Off-Road 1
  • Off-Road 2

The electric pickup will also include a 400-volt DC fast-charging port on the front quarter panel on the driver’s side. It also has a power tailgate and interior features such as a 14.5-inch front touchscreen, a 12.3-inch instrument cluster, a 10.25-inch passenger screen, a digital rearview mirror, a Head-Up Display (HUD) and more.

Those who are interested in buying the Ram 1500 Ramcharger can reserve a spot here with just a $100 refundable membership charge.

You can see a few more images of the forthcoming Ramcharger below.

Credit: Stellantis

Credit: Stellantis

Credit: Stellantis

Credit: Stellantis

Earlier this year, Stellantis announced the fully electric Ram 1500 REV, which reportedly ran out of reservation spots a little over a week after it went live. The upgraded trim of the electric pickup is expected to have a 229 kWh battery pack offering up to 500 miles of range, while the standard range option will feature a 168 kWh battery with up to 350 miles of range.

The announcement arrives amidst increased competition in the electric pickup sector, including direct Ram 1500 REV competitors like the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Chevy Silverado EV and the Rivian R1T. Although it’s a less conventional electric truck, the Tesla Cybertruck will also begin deliveries later this month.

Lucid Motors adopts Tesla’s NACS, leaving only Volkswagen and Stellantis

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla briefly offered this Robotaxi part for your personal car

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Credit: @tpgoebel | X

Tesla briefly offered one Robotaxi part in its Parts Catalog for your personal car, only to remove it just a short time after it was first noticed.

Tesla’s Robotaxi camera washer apparatus was briefly available for purchase on the company’s Online Parts Catalog. The camera washer was first noticed on Model Y Robotaxi vehicles about six months ago in Austin.

First noticed by Not a Tesla App, the Camera Washer entries appeared for the new “Juniper” Model Y under a category called “Halo,” which has also now disappeared. Interestingly, Halo probably is related to Tesla’s internal “Project Halo,” which was a project that aimed to retrofit customer-owned Model Ys into functional Robotaxis.

This hardware addition would likely be required for the vehicle to operate as a Robotaxi, as the Camera Washer seems to be a non-negotiable part of the vision-based system Tesla utilizes for self-driving efforts.

However, this part has since been removed and is no longer visible on the EPC.

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Now the true question lingers: Why would Tesla add this Camera Washer to the Model Y parts catalog? Is it planning to make it available for owners to utilize on their own cars for personal use, or will it become a prerequisite for Robotaxi operation in customer-owned cars?

While discussing the upgrade options for Hardware 3 vehicles during the Q1 Earnings Call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had said that the company could establish small, satellite shops that would upgrade cameras and self-driving computers. Perhaps this same strategy could be utilized for vehicles that want to be included in Robotaxi but do not have the correct hardware.

AI4 is currently represented as capable of unsupervised self-driving, and the same was said about HW3 at one point, only for Tesla to admit last quarter that it would, unfortunately, not be possible. Perhaps AI4 vehicles might need this camera washer as a prerequisite, just as HW3 cars will need that camera and computer upgrade.

This could be the first hint of that’s where we are headed.

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Tesla Robotaxi gets sweeping but polarizing change

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has started rolling out a broader change to the ride experience for its Robotaxi fleet by silencing turn signals, but the change is certainly polarizing.

Tesla has generally made it clear that its purpose-built ride-hailing platform, Robotaxi, will cater to the rider in nearly every way possible. This includes having climate preferences, music, and other personal settings loaded up in the car as the rider enters.

But Tesla is taking it a step further by muting turn signal chimes altogether, a change that appears to be a way to make the ride more peaceful:

However, there are a handful of people who are not thrilled about this change. Turn signals are a conditioned part of the human mind for those who ride in a car regularly.

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Taking a turn without one feels strange and odd, and not hearing it click while activated could set off some alarms for riders, who might use the noise as confirmation that other drivers know of their intention to turn.

Turn signal noises are still audible in customer cars, so if you use FSD in your personal vehicle, you will still hear the turn signal.

The move is certainly one that is unique, but not one that separates it from other ride-sharing services. In a normal car, the clicking sound confirms to the driver that the blinker is active. In a fully driverless Robotaxi, that feedback serves no purpose for passengers, other than peace of mind.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.6 review: a rare regression, but some bright spots

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla released Full Self-Driving version 14.3.6 last week, and after what was potentially one of the best FSD releases in v14.3.5, there has been a bit of a regression. While there are some bright spots, the changes made to v14.3.6 seem to have backtracked some behaviors.

Overall, it is hard to really complain about FSD in any sense; it has revolutionized how I travel literally anywhere. According to my self-driving app, the last time I went a day without using it was 59 days ago.

However, I think it’s also important to recognize when things are just plain bad with FSD. There are times it does truly mind-boggling things, and I’ll dive into those here. Additionally, I only had these issues on local roads, not on highways. Highway operation, generally, is always incredible other than the occasional complaint about speed or left lane camping.

With those things being said, my personal experience may not represent others’ experiences. A handful of people have said they have had a similar experience on v14.3.6, while others have said it is more than normal.

Turning Hesitancy, Inaccuracy

I’ve noticed more inaccuracy turning into multi-lane stretches of road than in any version I can remember. I’ve had at least three instances of FSD turning into a stretch of roadway that has two or more lanes, and not selecting a lane confidently as it has in past versions.

Instead, the car will drive over one of the dashed road lines, and the steering wheel will jerk back and forth before picking the lane. It should be said that it has always picked the correct lane when choosing based on the navigation, but it is still very indecisive. The steering wheel jerking is reminiscent of some of the later versions of v13.

I admit I really hate to see the steering wheel jerking come back. However, I think when Tesla releases v14.3.7, it won’t be present. When there are occurrences of it in FSD versions, it is usually resolved by the following release.

FSD Disregards Manual Turn Signals

This is my biggest bone to pick with FSD other than Navigation issues, but this one seems like it would be such an easy fix.

If Tesla is going to put the word “Supervised” on the end of “Full Self-Driving,” then when I tell the car to do something, it should do it. If I input an increase in speed by pressing the accelerator, the car will immediately respond. It does not disregard my input because it feels it is traveling at the right speed.

FSD should never disobey and turn off turn signals that the driver inputs. Trying to direct the car into the correct lane, I had initiated the left turn signal not once, not twice, but three times, with the car turning it off all three times and continuing in a lane that would end in just one block. The only solution at this point would be to zipper merge.

This goes back to the fact that self-driving’s biggest bottleneck might be rider preference. A zipper merge might have been more than reasonable, might have saved me time that I spent sitting through an additional light cycle, and might be something many drivers would do. I was in no hurry, I traditionally do not try to zipper merge because it feels inconsiderate, and lastly, the car should have just followed my input.

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This caused me to disengage and drive manually the rest of the way home. Sometimes I just do not need FSD to try to pass every car it can at intersections.

Bird Braking is a Thing of the Past

The big complaint with recent versions of Full Self-Driving has been what we’ve coined as “bird braking,” which is when the car will brake suddenly as a bird flies past.

There have been zero issues with this so far in v14.3.6, which is an excellent improvement.

FSD Might Already Be Taking Note of Driver Preferences

Another thing I have noticed over the past few days is that v14.3.6 seems to already be taking my preferences with navigation into account.

This is something that is supposed to be rolling out with the Summer Update, but I have a hunch it’s already present and might have been included in this v14.3.6 build. On Friday, FSD pulled into an entrance to a local convenience store that it had never attempted to go into before.

Typically, I manually pull into this entrance because it avoids heavy cross traffic at the main entrance. FSD has always chosen that congested main entrance.

Additionally, FSD has pulled into my assigned parking spot at my townhouse community on multiple occasions with this release. This is something that used to happen ocassionally, but not consistently.

It also navigated back to the same convenience store last night, drove through crazy cars scrambling to gas pumps, navigated out of the parking lot correctly, drove me home, and, once again, parked in my assigned spot.

As previously stated, this release just seems to have a few things that need to be brought to Tesla’s attention, and also to make others who use FSD aware of some things that I’ve experienced. I look forward to the next release that will remedy these issues, just as Tesla has always done in the past.

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