RAM 1500 electric pick-up goes from wild to mild

After wowing CES with its Revolution battery electric full-size pick-up truck, RAM has quickly followed up with the production version to a more muted response.

The RAM 1500 Revolution BEV concept looked wild and included attention-grabbing features such as suicide doors, an electrochromatic sunroof and a folding mid-gate that extended the bed into the cabin.

But instead the production RAM 1500 REV pick-up – which could join its ICE-powered brethren on-sale in Australia in the future – eschews the headline grabbers and is closer to the current internal combustion model.

The reaction from US critics to RAM’s first BEV pick-up has been a bit mixed as a result.

“Mostly, we blame the concept for writing a check the production truck appears unable to cash,” wrote Eric Stafford for Car and Driver.

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Elecktrek’s Fred Lambert was also dubious, especially because the 1500 REV won’t arrive on the US market until 2024.

“By the time this thing hits the market, Ford is already going to be close to releasing the second generation of the F-150 Lightning and there are going to be three or four other electric pickup trucks available from other major brands.

“Now, it doesn’t mean that Ram will be completely left behind, but it basically needs to hit it out of the park on its first try, which is not easy.”

The competition for the Ram 1500 REV wont only include the F-150 Lightning, but also the Tesla Cybertruck, the Chevrolet Silverado EV, the GMC Sierra EV and the Rivian R1T.

Perceptions of the RAM 1500 REV could change when more detail of performance and payloads are announced.

So far RAM has promised the dual-motor all-wheel drive pick-up will deliver a max driving range beyond 800km and towing capacity beyond 4500kg.

It will also use an 800-volt electric architecture allowing DC fast-charging rates up top 350kW.

A range-extender version of the RAM 1500 REV will also be offered.

Last month RAM announced it had temporarily halted pre-orders for the REV without stating how many orders it had accepted.