Road-Tripping a Range-Extended Pickup: When to Plug In and When to Let the Generator Run
Can you drive a range-extended pickup across three states without ever plugging it in? Yes, and you would be spending more than you need to. Ram's 1500 REV, slated for production in Michigan in the second half of 2026, carries a 27-gallon tank and a fast-charging port, and a smart road trip uses both.
Leave Home Full, Then Choose Where the Electric Miles Go
An Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (E-REV) plugs in like a battery car and refuels like a gas truck, and a long trip goes best when you treat the plug as the main fuel. In the 1500 REV, two electric motors move the truck at every speed. The 3.6-liter V6 under the hood is bolted to a 130-kilowatt generator rather than to the axles, so its only job is turning gasoline into electricity for the 92-kilowatt-hour pack. That arrangement means a road trip never strands you, but it also means every mile can come from the grid or from the pump, and you get to choose which.
Start the trip with a full charge from home, where electricity is cheapest. Then decide where those battery miles are worth the most. Ram lists an E-Save energy mode alongside its Electric+ and Eco settings, and as the name suggests, it is aimed at saving battery charge for later. If your destination is a city, a quiet campground, or a job site where you will run tools off the 7.2-kilowatt bed panel, arriving with a healthy charge makes more sense than burning it all on the first stretch of interstate. If a charger is waiting at the destination, spend the battery early and let the generator handle the middle of the drive.
Keep Fast-Charging Stops Short
This is where the plug earns its place on a long drive. The REV's port accepts up to 145 kilowatts, and Ram says that can add up to 50 miles of range in about 10 minutes under ideal conditions. Stellantis' own specifications put a full 20-to-80-percent session at about 45 minutes, because charging slows as the pack fills. Sitting through that slow end of the curve is optional in this truck, and that changes the strategy completely.
Instead of waiting out a long session, plug in where you were stopping anyway: lunch, a restroom break, a fuel stop. Ten minutes on a fast charger while you grab coffee buys roughly 50 electric miles, and every one of those is a mile the generator does not have to make. Ram's estimate for generator-powered driving is about 20.5 mpg, so a handful of quick top-ups over a long day trims the gas bill without adding real time to the trip. Before you leave, confirm that your route's chargers work with the truck's CCS1 port, or pack the right adapter.
The same route asks something different of every powertrain. A BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) driver has to build the whole itinerary around charger locations, since each of those stops is mandatory rather than a bargain. Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) owners see their mileage edge narrow at a steady 70 mph, because most of a hybrid's savings are earned in stop-and-go traffic. For a PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), the choice of spending its electric miles leaving town or saving them for the destination moves the fuel bill only slightly on a 500-mile day.
Know What the Generator Can Carry Before the Big Climb
A generator that keeps up on flat ground can fall behind when the load gets heavy, and the BMW i3 with its optional range extender taught owners that lesson the hard way. U.S. versions paired a 34-horsepower engine with fuel limited to 1.9 gallons and no driver-selectable hold mode, so the extender could not switch on until the battery dropped to about 6.5 percent. Owners who held speeds above roughly 70 mph or climbed long grades watched the charge keep falling until the car cut power.
The REV's generator is sized for a far heavier job, at 130 kilowatts continuous, but physics still applies to a truck rated to tow up to 14,000 pounds. A long mountain climb with a trailer asks for more power than steady cruising, and the battery covers the difference. Arrive at the base of a big grade with a healthy charge rather than an empty pack, and switch to E-Save on the approach if the climb is still an hour away. Fill the tank before long rural stretches, too, since a generator running on fumes leaves you with only what remains in the battery.
So before your next long drive, open the route in a mapping app and mark every place you would stop anyway, then check which of those stops has a fast charger within a short walk. Those overlaps are where charging costs you no extra time. Plug in at each one for ten or fifteen minutes, let the generator cover the gaps between them, and you will finish the trip having bought far less gasoline than the tank size suggests.
Sources
- InsideEVs, 2027 Ram 1500 REV Range-Extended Truck: Everything We Know - insideevs.com
- InsideEVs, 2027 Ram 1500 REV: A First Look at the Production-Ready Extended Range Truck - insideevs.com
- Automotive News, Charging Up: Anatomy of an Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (Stellantis specifications) - autonews.com
- 5th Gen Rams, Production-Ready 2027 Ram 1500 REV Debuts in Detroit - 5thgenrams.com
- InsideEVs, BMW i3 REx Lawsuit: How'd This Happen, Who's at Fault? - insideevs.com