The recently revealed 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger is the world's first series-hybrid pickup truck. While that might sound a bit pompous, it may also turn out to be the best solution to the biggest problem faced by drivers of all-electric pickups: the dramatic decrease in range when towing or hauling anything close to the vehicle's limits.

In fact, the towing test was what made Stellantis engineers go down the gasoline-electric route for the Ramcharger. "We took one of our competitor's trucks and loaded it up to their towing rate," said Joe Tolkacz, Ramcharger propulsion system chief engineer for Automotive News. "Then we took it [from Stellantis headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., just north of Detroit] to Flint and back [about 76 miles] and we didn't make it. We had to stop and charge. We said we really need to do something to extend the capability."

In the case of the 2024 Ramcharger, a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine sits under the hood and its sole purpose in life is to spin a 130-kilowatt electric generator. The gas-burning engine is not connected to the wheels in any way, leaving the job of providing motivation to a pair of electric motors that get their juice from a 92-kilowatt-hour battery pack nestled between the chassis rails.

We already knew this. We also knew that the total estimated range of the Ramcharger is 690 miles, a figure that takes into account both a fully-charged battery and a full tank of gas. But what we didn't know was how many miles one could drive on battery power alone or how much fuel the tank could hold. Until now, that is.

In an in-depth discussion with Automotive News, Tolkacz discussed the ins and outs of the peculiar truck, and there are some very interesting takeaways.