Stellantis makes a disappointing decision for its American electric car with 800 km of autonomy

Particularly anecdotal in France, the pick-up market is on the other hand very developed in the United States. So much so that in 2022, this segment represented more than 20% of new car sales in this country, compared to 16.8% in 2016. A strong increase, which obviously gave ideas to certain well-known manufacturers.

No RAM 1500 for right away

This is obviously the case for Tesla, which lifted the veil in 2019 on its Cybertruck, which finally started deliveries much later, during last year. Great good for him, since the electric pick-up today represents 50% of sales of this electric silhouette in the USA. During the 3rd quarter, no less than 16,692 units were sold, while France should be deprived of them, even if we saw it at the Paris World Cup.

And inevitably, this success story has inspired other brands, which hope to be able to compete with it. Among them, let us mention the Stellantis group, which last year presented its RAM 1500 REV, an electric version of the legendary American pick-up. The latter, which has not been talked about much since, should have initially seen the light of day in 2025. But this will ultimately not be the case, as confirmed by a spokesperson for the European group, relayed by the very serious media Automotive News.

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For those who are worried, no, the pickup is not canceled, but its launch is simply postponed to a later date, and more precisely to 2026. The reason? A ” slowdown in industrial demand » for this type of vehicle according to the Franco-Italian group. Concretely, customers are not rushing to the gate to buy these electric utility vehicles, while they traditionally remain very attached to thermal models. But the launch of the RAM 1500 is not threatened, quite the contrary.

Because if the zero-emission version (exhaust) will indeed be postponed, the group founded in 2021 resulting from the merger between PSA and FCA will, however, soon market another variant. The latter is known as Ramchargerand has the particularity of having a heat engine in addition to the electric unit. However, this is not a hybrid model, since the enormous petrol V6 in fact plays the role of a range extender here to recharge the battery. But no disproportionate power here, since it does not develop only 174 horsepower.

Customers not yet ready?

Nothing surprising, because the heat engine is not connected to the wheels and only serves to power the 91 kWh gross battery (71 useful kWh) on this version. This can then display a total range of 1,100 kilometers, but this variant equipped with a range extender can in fact only drive 233 kilometers on battery. However, this technical sheet seems to suit customers perfectly, as explained by the Stellantis spokesperson, who justifies the priority given to the Ramcharger.

He explains that this decision was motivated by “ considerable consumer interest » but also the need to “ maintain a competitive advantage in technology “. Not to mention the “ slowing industry demand for half-ton BEV pickups “. In short, American customers aren’t quite ready for electric utilities of this type yet, even if the success of the Cybertruck seems to prove the opposite. But the brand image undoubtedly has something to do with it.

For the record, the RAM 1500 REV, which will therefore arrive in 2026, has the right to a huge 233 kWh batterywhich allows it to display a range of 800 kilometersaccording to the US EPA cycle. The latter is more severe than our European WLTP approval. We should therefore count on around 900 km in WLT.

But this totally insane accumulator could significantly increase the weight of the Ford F-150 Lightning’s rival, and cause its consumption to skyrocket. Which would force customers to stop at a charging station more often…