RAM Ramcharger could be ‘very expensive’, but very necessary

The local importer of Ram says that while it’s open-minded about bringing the plug-in hybrid 1500 Ramcharger to Australia, it certainly won’t be cheap, but it may be just the thing the company needs to survive NVES.

Ateco is continuing to look at a business case for the Ram 1500 Ramcharger plug-in hybrid.

But despite filing an Australian trademark for the Ramcharger name at the start of 2025, a firm plan to bring the petrol-electric pick-up over here has yet to be locked in.

What is clear though, is that if the Ramcharger does make its way Down Under, it will be an expensive rig.

“The price point of Ramcharger is such that it would be a very, very expensive vehicle in this market,” Ram Trucks Australia general manager Jeff Barber said.

“It’s something that we’ll continue to look and see what the demand is for that… but it won’t be driven by NVES.”

According to Barber, the progressive decrease in allowable carbon dioxide emissions under the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, or NVES, won’t be the defining factor in whether the brand introduces the tree-hugging PHEV to Australia.

“I don’t think NVES will force our hand for Ramcharger,” he said.

“NVES will impact all ICE [internal combustion engine] sales in Australia, it will have an adverse impact on pricing going forward.

“We currently have nothing in that space that could offset NVES – we, unlike other brands, don’t have a suite of battery-electric vehicles that we can bring in, so it’s going to be a cost to selling vehicles in Australia, and that cost will be passed on at some point.”

While the RAM 1500 Ramcharger has only just entered the US market after being unveiled back in 2023, the pathway to Australian sales could take even longer.

Besides the additional cost of its 91.8kWh battery, bringing it to Australia would require significant capital expense on the part of Ateco and Walkinshaw.

With a low probability of factory right-hand drive production, the cost of re-engineering the Ramcharger for a right-hook conversion could be much greater than simply paying NVES penalties.

The Ramcharger not only features a unique powertrain with plenty of potentially dangerous high-voltage electronics, but it’s built on a platform that shares almost nothing with what Walkinshaw is currently tooled up to handle, with the same true of all-electric 1500 REV.

Bringing either the 1500 Ramcharger or 1500 REV here would, in all likelihood, require their own specialised conversion facility, and that expense would be passed onto buyers in the form of a gigantic RRP.

But by the end of this decade, NVES will require full-size body-on-frame utes like the Ram 1500 to emit no more than 110 grams of CO2 per kilometre – roughly what a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid AWD currently produces.

With penalties applied to every gram of carbon dioxide over that limit, Ram’s Australian operation will have a choice – either jack up the prices of its vehicles by many thousands of dollars or introduce greener options to lessen its NVES debt.

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