What's new
By:

Update on the REV release!

R

Rotorhead

Member
Founding Member âš¡
Joined
Feb 8, 2025
Messages
51
Reaction score
46
Points
18
At the 12 minute mark (so you dont have to listen to the rest of info if you dont want) the guy on the phone they are talking to (Sam Abuelsamid) attended the RAM investor day and he says they still plan to launch the REV (and Grand Wagoneer EREV) before the end of the year. So there is still hope for us!

 
They're certainly doing cool stuff on the ICE side of things. Just like every manufacturer, though, they're getting whipsawed by events: EV subsidies go away and demand craters, manufacturers cancel dozens of models and take billions in losses on those programs, only for the Strait of Hormuz to shut down and send oil prices skyward. It'll be interesting to see how well these thirsty cars and trucks move, especially once there are EREVs available.
 
Rotorhead said:
At the 12 minute mark (so you dont have to listen to the rest of info if you dont want) the guy on the phone they are talking to (Sam Abuelsamid) attended the RAM investor day and he says they still plan to launch the REV (and Grand Wagoneer EREV) before the end of the year. So there is still hope for us!

Click to expand...

Yeah.. i'll believe it when I see it. They been kicking this can down the road for a while now.
 
Well, some positive news is a welcome change. I agree, they are doing GREAT things with the SRT and V8 front. I'm definitely excited.
 
I've been sorta assuming they are just being tight lipped about it. I just don't understand why? Is it lack of confidence and fear it'll be viewed as an EV and just look bad on them if they Hype it along with the return of the HEMI? Funny part with the HEMI stuff is the Hurricane is a faster and generally more refined engine. I get some don't want refined...but still sorta weird selling "sport" trucks that are slower than a pretty basic standard truck on some level.

I have always figured it would launch sometime with or after the 2027 models start hitting....I've just been frustrated they aren't doing anything with the Insider+ things and letting some of us see these as I am guessing anything built recently are pretty much mostly done by now and getting to a more mature than they'd normally launch with state just cause of all the delays and confusion giving more time to optimize everything. Have the EVs that had all the issues from probably similar systems they could use to make sure these won't have same stuff and all the rest.

Anyway...I am glad they are still lumping in the REV with the Grand Wagoneer 4xe...always figured they had to do none or both...but nice they are confirming this.
 
Notice here on Slide 14 that they do claim 2026 for both SUV and pickup REEVs. Then the rest touts this STLA Brain and other related jazz for select 2027 models and looked all that up and that is what RAM 1500's get for 2027 model year across the line-up. So basically figure that's all that's been holding up the REV to a degree. This new autonomy and AI compute regime wasn't ready for roll out and they decided it didn't make sense rolling out STLA Frame without all that as part of it. Might be some of the Grand Wagoneer S and Charger EV issues are partly related to that whole system not being quite finished and they just hacked some stuff into those to get them out. I could see a somewhat less powerful computer and other bits not quite fully figured causing the sorts of software problems those have had.

We'll see...but I think REEV stuff is probably going to launch here with the 2027 model launches and they are just being silent about that on the marketing end for whatever reasons. We'll see soon enough I guess.
 
Thanks for that deck, great info. I also noticed they will be using Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, maybe the delay was switching to those batteries as there are a lot of upside to those and a few downsides. The biggest downside is they dont work in below freezing temps, so maybe they have been working out how to keep them in a conditioned state so they accept charge and discharge cycles when in colder climates. The ones I have for my RV just disconnect when they get below a certain temp so they dont get damaged. But I have seen some that can self-heat so they can be used anywhere, obviously that lowers their efficiency as they have to use power to keep them above the low temp, but I imagine that is easier in a vehicle than a standalone battery like I have. The benefits are they are WAY WAY WAY lighter than other batteries and they can fully discharge without issues. For example, regular lead acid batteries that are 100Wh are really only 50Wh usability and weigh 50+ lbs where my LiFePh batteries weigh ~25lbs and i can use the full 100WH when camping. Obviously I am just speculating, but this is the first mention of the LFP batteries I have seen. I know the new solid state batteries are getting all the attention, and I figure those will be the future of BEV's and maybe they will slip them into the REEV's in a couple of years as they are more efficient and can charge and discharge much faster as well as being safer (no lithium to burn), imagine having the same range with half the battery (increased payload?). That would be HUGE for 3/4T and 1T trucks.
 
Rotorhead said:
Thanks for that deck, great info. I also noticed they will be using Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, maybe the delay was switching to those batteries as there are a lot of upside to those and a few downsides. The biggest downside is they dont work in below freezing temps, so maybe they have been working out how to keep them in a conditioned state so they accept charge and discharge cycles when in colder climates. The ones I have for my RV just disconnect when they get below a certain temp so they dont get damaged. But I have seen some that can self-heat so they can be used anywhere, obviously that lowers their efficiency as they have to use power to keep them above the low temp, but I imagine that is easier in a vehicle than a standalone battery like I have. The benefits are they are WAY WAY WAY lighter than other batteries and they can fully discharge without issues. For example, regular lead acid batteries that are 100Wh are really only 50Wh usability and weigh 50+ lbs where my LiFePh batteries weigh ~25lbs and i can use the full 100WH when camping. Obviously I am just speculating, but this is the first mention of the LFP batteries I have seen. I know the new solid state batteries are getting all the attention, and I figure those will be the future of BEV's and maybe they will slip them into the REEV's in a couple of years as they are more efficient and can charge and discharge much faster as well as being safer (no lithium to burn), imagine having the same range with half the battery (increased payload?). That would be HUGE for 3/4T and 1T trucks.
Click to expand...
Even the drawbacks on LFP are getting addressed...CATL's latest LFP the Gen-2 Shenxing is supposed to mostly fix cold weather issues to the point I think it's generally similar to other NMC and other ternary chemistries or maybe even better. It's really just the energy density that is a downside on LFP...but even that isn't exactly true since ternary packs tend to need used in a narrowed range like 10-80 or 20-70 for extended cycle lifes and LFP can do deep discharge and be topped up to 100% with less consequences.....so are technically closer in useful energy density than the spec would suggest. I think the bigger question mark is more what all these latest generation LFP production capacities are...not sure it's easy to get a hold of them just yet...but maybe. But yeah...there are ways to make them work in colder temps regardless...you just lose lots of range and charging speed mostly. I have a Vinfast with them and it's not unuseable in the cold...but definitely way degraded if it's cold soaked, luckily in TX here that rarely become much of a problem.

Sodium Ion I think offer some of the best promise as far as being great for the cold, not needing lithium, and also charging super fast. But the density is lower yet. CATL is promoting hybrid pack designs though to bring them into the fold where you'd have them for the charging speed when you first plug in and to keep voltage up in the cold and things like that while also having other chemistries in the same pack for their advantages. I am pretty sure all the pack design and cell chemistry stuff is going to evolve a lot over the next decade or 2 and it won't really settle to some clear common approach everyone uses for awhile....if ever...but I do think there will be some level of circling wagons on some similar enough approaches at some point to help get the cost and all the rest fully in control and winning vs ICE power only stuff. Tend to figure the all day battery with similar pack sizes and weights to today is when ICE finally has to take a hard loss in the market.
 
I think we are probably 2-3 years away from real production capability for the sodium stuff. CATL is just now starting to ramp up their production and automobile use is probably 5-6 down the list at this point. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Excited to see some news about this, I had just about lost hope!
 
Rotorhead said:
I think we are probably 2-3 years away from real production capability for the sodium stuff. CATL is just now starting to ramp up their production and automobile use is probably 5-6 down the list at this point. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Excited to see some news about this, I had just about lost hope!
Click to expand...
Yeah....I get impression a lot of the confusion is desire to push HEMI as the hallmark of RAM brand and they are too early in that pivot for it to be easy to boast about the REV without getting hate from their HEMI faithful. Now even articles pointing out the Ramcharger itself will be a lot about being a HEMI alternative to the Grand Wagoneer...so maybe not even necessarily much cheaper base price wise...but a different marketing for a more performance orient rather than "lux" SUV. But who knows...might still get the basic Hurricane in a base model and it'll just be a lot of HEMI pushing to get more $$/Margin on those.

I will be curious when the REEV stuff launches what the demand is and how they react if they create similar demand to this HEMI push...I have to assume that doesn't bring margin like the HEMI if they aren't charging kinda high premiums for the REEVs.
 
From everything I have heard they are not much more (if any) costwise than a hurricane/hemi. V8/I6, axels, transmission, differentials are about the same as the v6, batteries and emotors.
 
Rotorhead said:
From everything I have heard they are not much more (if any) costwise than a hurricane/hemi. V8/I6, axels, transmission, differentials are about the same as the v6, batteries and emotors.
Click to expand...
I think that tends to be a lot dependent on the battery pack factory volumes and the STLA Frame build volumes. I do think that might be true if BEVs sold better or they can get to like quarter or more of all the body on frame builds being STLA Frame versions with the REEV powertrain on it. I tend to feel it's mostly the battery pack costs that blow the budget though. I think a lot of the cost analysis for battery build costs had assumed WAY faster BEV market share taking than has ever actually happened so it's right now only Tesla and slowly GM here who have the proper volumes to really get battery costs where all had been assuming they could go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom