https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a...%20Opens%2C%20Both%20Subbed%20Last%2030D


https://www.autoweek.com/news/a4575...%20Opens%2C%20Both%20Subbed%20Last%2030D


Wonder if anyone will ever plug it in.

Definitely a game changer.

So you get an ICE and BEV in one package? I can't be the only person who thinks this is [censored] stupid. At this point just buy an ICE only truck and don't deal with the added complexity. It's not a game changer...it's an unnecessary complex waste of cash.

And I know why they used the Ramcharger name, but this is not a Ramcharger.

My question is what is the cost to run the vehicle? Is it a break even type of thing or a cost savings over the regular gas model.?

Can't imagine what the repair costs on this thing are going to be in 5 years if the truck lives in the rust belt.

Might be one way to beat Biden's green deal, or maybe its a way they can sell all that EV stuff they have been collecting while they thought it was going to be a major seller.

I'm betting Ford is really going to watch how this works.

Where is the ramcharger. All I see is a 4 door truck

Exactly. And a retro RamCharger would sell like hotcakes right now against the Bronco and Scout. Hey Chrysler, not everyone wants a Wrangler

On the same note"cost of repair" wonder what insurance will cost? I replace damaged frames on Wrangler's insurance generally a 35-40 hour job. Had a Wrangler4xe tapped in the rear bumper and frame bent, was over 100 hrs. labor!

I assume when the 3.6 V6 does run powering just the generator
it runs at its most efficient BSFC conditions
and I am personally interested in what
RPM, Average Piston Up/Down Ring Speed, and Manifold Atmospheric Pressure (MAP sensor output)
that turns out to be for the Pentastar V6.

Since you can avoid the worst detonation operating range,
did they bump up the Dynamic Compression Ratio?

In this special engine operating conditions situation,
could you buy E85 fuel and get equal cost per mile as E15?

Since Ferdinand Porsche earned some of his reputation by using engine generator powertrain in World War I German U Boot submarines, I guess
“What Goes Around Comes Around”

I hope an automotive magazine takes this Ramcharger U Boot powertrain pickup and an all battery Ford Lightning F150 on a long trailer towing trip comparison.

If the top engineers at Toyota still believe that gas-hybrid automobiles are a better choice for at least the next 30 years this Ramcharger pickup is just a “big battery” hybrid plug in.

I agree it will be much, much harder to repair any wreck.

When it develops a fault on the highway it might be slightly more able to “limp home” to the dealership.

I wonder where the chances of a fire set on this EV? We have gas, oil, a presumed cooling system, and all the EV stuff included. Then, wasn't it a 4x4 to boot? Lets add a little off road, or even salted road conditions, to the challenges. I bet that monthly auto insurance payment would be pretty scary..

The Electric Car Dream is Dying

Mandating electric cars means turning over the automobile industry to China.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-ele...-is-dying/Ford is trying to stop its electric car bleeding.
Back in March, I wrote that, “Ford reported that it’s going to lose $3 billion on electric cars in 2023. Unlike most automakers, Ford reports its electric vehicle numbers separately, but experts estimate that most car companies are losing similar amounts on the dead end business.”

“Ford plans to make 2 million electric cars every year by 2025. That would be impressive considering that Ford only sold 61,575 of them in 2022. It sold 3,624 electric vehicles in Feb 2023.”
By July, it was a loss of $4.5 billion.
“Ford said the higher loss projection for Ford Model e reflected “the pricing environment, disciplined investments in new products and capacity, and other costs.” Ford also now expects to reach a 600,000-unit EV production run rate during 2024, instead of the end of this year, on the way to achieving a 2 million annual run rate.”
Now, Ford is finally pulling back.
Ford Motor said Thursday that many customers in North America are no longer willing to pay a premium for an electric vehicle over an internal-combustion or hybrid alternative.

As a result, it’s postponing about $12 billion in planned spending on new EV manufacturing capacity.

Customers’ reluctance to pay extra for EVs has complicated Ford’s ambitious and expensive plans to sharply increase production of those vehicles.
This isn’t a sudden development. EVs are a luxury market. That market has mostly been tapped. Ford and GM jumping into it just burned a lot of money. Now, Ford is trying to burn it at a slower rate. There was never a huge customer base for electric cars. And the only way to expand that customer base is regulatory bans on real cars, which is what California and other lefty states are doing, but those bans are aimed for the mid 2030s. And Ford is sensibly taking more of a wait and see attitude.

GM, which has also been losing a lot of money, is also pulling back.
General Motors is abandoning a self-imposed target to build 400,000 electric vehicles by mid-2024, the latest sign that automakers are concerned about the viability of the market for battery-powered cars.

The move on EVs is a surprise one for a company that has bet its future on the technology, anticipating that it will eventually phase out sales of gasoline-powered vehicles next decade. It comes as rivals, including Tesla and Ford Motor, have also raised red flags about consumer demand for EVs and buyers’ willingness to pay a premium for them over traditional models.

Compared with its competitors, GM has been among the most bullish in pursuing a transition to EVs. Investors cheered its declaration in early 2021 that it would phase out nearly all gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035, among the first automakers to vow a full switch to electric.

The question now is whether these pullbacks signal that the car companies wagered too heavily on EVs or are simply confronting hiccups in their transformation toward an electric-dominated future that Tesla pioneered. GM Chief Executive Mary Barra on Tuesday said she believed it was the latter.

“As we get further into the transformation to EV, it’s a bit bumpy, which is not unexpected,” Barra told analysts during GM’s earnings call. “What we’re moving to is something that we can react in a much more agile way to make sure that we have the right vehicles.”
The federal government and states have two options going forward. They can either stop their planned car bans or reckon with a reality in which the US car market will be dominated by China. While we can’t build affordable EVs, China and some Asian automakers will be able to.

Mandating electric cars means turning over the automobile industry to China.

If the Lithium battery develops a fault that turns into a fire I would guess there is a 90% chance the Ramcharger gasoline tank will burn, just like seawater shorting lead acid batteries killed U Boot crew.

quote
Mandating electric cars means turning over the automobile industry to China.
end quote

I would say “Mandating electric cars too quickly will benefit mainland China”.

Wall Street Journal front page article that says that there is a USA coal mine that contains a rock layer that holds a huge deposit of rare earth metals needed for EV DC motors. For decades rare earth metals were mined at Mountain Pass CA.

It was recently announced that an extinct USA volcano caldera contains a huge deposit of lithium.

I have known for a couple decades that a Volcano that used to exist near the seacoast VA/NC border 306 million years ago deposited a layer of ash that contains a deposit of rare earth metals. Geologists guess the Volcano was there because the ash layer is 9 feet thick there, but tapers down to 6 to 9 inches in KY and WVa.
For a long time I wrongly thought: where out west was the Volcano because generally winds blow west to east across the USA?

Thing is- 306 million years ago North America was in the Pacific Ocean a few hundred miles west off the coast of where Ecuador is today. Continents get dragged from place to place. Go figure.

In the 1990s I bought samples of all the pure rare earth metals, reacted them with enriched Carbon-13, and tested the carbide made for ionic conductivity.
I confess to being “as hard headed as a carbide bit.”
In the 1970s I would rush up and touch worn tungsten carbide tipped mining bits with “Tempilstick crayons” deep in British coal mines to measure their temperatures just after cutting rock without using electricity. I later heated them in a lab to high temperatures and turned them on a lathe against sandstone rock wheels to find out how much more quickly they wore down.

The USA has the minerals to make lithium EV batteries and rare earth DC permanent magnet rotor motors - if USA miners are allowed to mine and process them.

It is 50/50 this will not be allowed.

It's an electric powered Ram truck with a gas engine under the hood that keeps the battery charged. Ram...with a Charger. Gas engine isn't hooked to the running gear, just the generator.

But....it's still a truck...

Here is the correct link: www.frontpagemag.com/the-electric-car-dream-is-dying

Well, that totally kills the old Ramcharger name!

It's bad enough when people think "Ramcharger" they think 4x4 sport utility.

Green fanboys approve of this? Truck has all the systems of an ICE vehicle- cooling, oiling, fuel distribution, ignition, exhaust etc with all the complexity of an EV? Its a good thing Stellantis is looking out for the planet........ About 4 years ago I posted here in the general section why not instead of a battery have a gas or diesel powered generator to run the electric motor/motors. A member logically pointed out- the goal of an EV is to GET AWAY from gasoline and diesel.