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Kelley Blue Book has awarded the 2024 Ram 1500 a Consumer Choice Award for Best Overall Truck Brand. This is huge for the Ram brand because it applauds the brand’s quality and value. Ram has already unveiled its freshened 2025 model. It gives Ram great credibility that consumers love their tried-and-true workhorse, the Ram 1500. The 2024 Consumer Choice Awards are based on consumer automotive perception data from Kelley Blue Book’s Brand Watch study. Ram is also planning to roll out its first BEV, the Ram 1500 REV, later this year.
Ram 1500
The 2025 Ram 1500 improves on what Ram knows already works. Ram was the first truck brand to really load up on interior luxury when it revamped the 1500 back in 2019. Ram routinely has marketed its trucks as being more affordable but loaded with updated and upgraded finishes like tooled leather and real wood. Ram has pioneered a number of upgrades for people who use their trucks for work and family. Ram added seats in the back that recline. It also dramatically updated its technology, adding a huge touchscreen to make it easier for drivers to use for navigation and infotainment.
New for the 2025 Ram
The Ram 1500 is phasing out the huge HEMI V-8 engine but is offering customers three engine options. The engines include the all-new 3.0-liter Hurricane and 3.0-liter Hurricane High Output (H/O) Straight-Six Turbo (SST) engines, as well as the award-winning 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 eTorque. While some are disappointed about the disappearance of the HEMI, the new Ram 1500 RHO will have 540-horsepower and 521 lb.-ft. of torque, so it is no wimp.
“The new 2025 Ram 1500 brings our customers more: more power, more performance and more fuel efficiency with our all-new 3.0-liter Hurricane engines,” said Tim Kuniskis, Ram brand CEO – Stellantis. “With a choice of new and proven gas engines or our upcoming electric truck offerings, Ram is built to serve truck buyers everywhere. Our new powertrain offerings add to the unique combination of bold styling, leading-edge innovation and technology, durability and capability Ram customers have come to know and love.”
2025 Ram 1500 is Raising the Technology Bar
The 2025 Ram 1500 features an even bigger infotainment, 14.5-inch touchscreen and an updated Uconnect system. The Uconnect 5 system offers even more connected services and features, including a 10.25-inch passenger screen. That means the passenger can help with navigation, check the external cameras, try to find local restaurants or watch something entirely different.
Ram was already known for loading up on luxury, but in 2025, it is adding a new, even more luxurious trim called the Tungsten. An on-board power inverter can produce up to two kilowatts and features two covered outlets located inside the bed that allow customers to power items such as lights, television, reciprocating saw, chainsaw or fan.
In 2025, the Ram 1500 will also offer a new power open/close tailgate with obstacle detection. When equipped, the key fob now includes a button to lower the tailgate. A multi-function tailgate will also be available and adds even greater utility to the segment’s cargo-management and storage.
Ram Will Add a BEV in 2025
In addition to the upcoming gas-powered 2025 Ram 1500, Ram will offer an all-electric 2025 Ram 1500 REV that arrives in the fourth quarter of 2024. Ram will eventually add an all-new Ram 1500 Ramcharger featuring even more range.
Ram leaders say the truck will be available will 500 miles of range and be able to tow up to 14,000 pounds. The all-new truck will be able haul a payload of up to 2,700 pounds and be able to add 110 miles of range in just ten minutes. Ram is also promising another model called the Ram 1500 REV XR will be available later with what it is calling “class-shattering range”.
The all-new pickup has other impressive numbers. The truck is expected to have a 0-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds, 654 horsepower and 620 lb.-ft. of torque. It should have up to 24 inches of water fording, good news for all of the potential off-roaders.
Vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid bi-directional charging affords the Ram 1500 REV the flexibility to charge another Stellantis battery-electric vehicle or provide power back to the grid. The truck can also send power to a home during a storm, run the tailgate party or provide power at the camp or jobsite. An onboard power panel in the bed can provide up to 7.2 kW while an available onboard power panel in the front trunk (frunk) provides up to 3.6 kW.
The 2025 RamCharger is an EV with a V-6 Engine
Ram does not refer to the Ramcharger as a hybrid even though the truck does have a 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine. The engine is adapted for the specific mission of powering the onboard generator to generate electrical power. The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger features a 92 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack, paired with an on-board 130 kW generator, sending power to 250-kilowatt (kW) front and 238 kW rear electric drive modules (EDMs). There is no direct mechanical path from the engine to the wheels. The Ramcharger promises a 690 mile range with 663 horsepower.
The EDMs combine the motor, gearbox and inverter along with all-wheel-drive capability. The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger features one EDM on the front axle with an automatic wheel-end disconnect that allows the front wheels to spin freely in certain conditions, maximizing efficiency. The second EDM is positioned on the rear axle with an available electronic-locking rear differential.
Kelley Blue Book’s 2024 Consumer Choice Awards
The 2024 Consumer Choice Awards are based on consumer automotive perception data from Kelley Blue Book’s Brand Watch study. Kelley Blue Book’s Brand Watch is an online brand and model perception tracking study, which taps into more than 12,000 in-market new-vehicle shoppers annually on KBB.com. The highly comprehensive study offers insight into how shoppers use different factors to drive their purchase decisions.
Ram Photo
Mary Conway is a professional automotive journalist and has decades of experience specializing in automotive news analysis. She covered the Detroit Three for more than twenty years for the ABC affiliate, in Detroit. Her affection for the Motor City comes naturally. Her father ran a gas station while Mary was growing up, in Wisconsin.
Follow Mary Conway at @MaryConwayMedia and send her car news tips for future stories.
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