Today, Ram announced the 2024 Ram 1500 TRX Final Edition, the last Ram to have the “Hellcat” supercharged 6.2 liter V8 engine.
It will apparently not be the final TRX, as Tim Kuniskis, head of Dodge and Ram, said or wrote, “This current chapter… <>Read more
Stellantis has been sending what some would call mixed signals lately, creating a brand new twin-turbo I-6 engine at the same time as it invests heavily in two North American battery plants (a promised third one was not yet been sited). In point of fact, the company is following its previously announced strategy of selling both internal-combustion and electric vehicles in the US, Canada, and Mexico—a strategy expected to see a 50/50 sales ratio of the two vehicle types in the calendar-year 2030.
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Dodge has released a statement to fleet buyers that the 2025 Durango will have the new Hurricane twin-turbo straight-six as an option; it produces more power than the equivalent Hemi, using the same grade of fuel, but uses around 10% less fuel (in the Wagoneer). It appears that the Durango will be sold with either the 400+ hp or the 500+ hp version.
For the first time, as well, Dodge announced that the Hurricane… <>Read more
When the fuel crises of the 1970s hit, American automakers were unprepared. Once Chrysler saw that big car owners were dropping their V8s in favor of newly-available slant sixes to save fuel, they authorized a two-barrel slant six to make the smaller engine more satisfactory—but could they go further? Chrysler had more than one slant … Read more
The new Hurricane twin-turbo six-cylinder is stunning in its power and efficiency, but many are skeptical, saying it’s too small for serious work trucks.
GM has its turbo four for the Silverado, and Ford has a 2.7 twin turbo pulling the F-150, and they do well—though the Ford seems quite thirsty when towing. But GM and Ford still have V8 choices, while indications so far are that Ram will end with the sixes. (Some do believe the 6.4 V8 will remain on the Ram 2500 and 3500.)… <>Read more
Stellantis, Saft, and the French National Centre for Scientific Research unveiled a new prototype battery today. Unlike many recent unveilings, this battery is not showing off a different battery chemistry; instead, each module has its own charger and inverter through electronic conversion cards. This cuts the system’s cost and reduces the space it needs. Researchers also said it was more reliable than current setups with external chargers and inverters. (Inverters turn direct current, or DC, into alternating current, or AC.) <>Read more
The federal government is pushing automakers towards an electric future, but the regulations both punish and reward – we just never hear about the rewards – issued as credits – which can actually reduce future and past CAFE fines. As a result, the 2024 Dodge Charger EV could actually help the company save money on fines from the 2021-2023 model years.
CAFE Fines And Credits Explained
When an automaker fails to reach the goals of the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) program, the automaker is fined. FCA was fined $77 million for failing to meet CAFE requirements for the 2016 model year and $79.4 million for 2017, followed by a fine of $235.5 million for coming up short for the 2018 and 2019 model years. <>Read more
Lyten’s batteries do not use nickel, cobalt, or manganese, slashing their carbon footprint to 60% of today’s best-in-class vehicle batteries. Raw materials for Lithium-Sulfur batteries can be sourced and produced in North America or Europe, avoiding supply chain disruptions. They also have the potential of doubling the energy density of current lithium-ion systems; and their new sensing modes do not require chips, batteries, or wires. <>Read more
Ram intends to have a 500-mile EPA-estimated range on its Ram 1500 REV next year; but the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado is set to arrive this year, and its pricing has already been announced (unlike Ram’s). The 2024 Silverado EV work pickup, aimed at fleet buyers, will be able to run 450 miles on a charge, according … Read more
Stellantis is keeping its bet on hydrogen even as it builds battery plants with a one-third stake in Symbio, a hydrogen fuel cell company. The other share holders are Faurecia and Michelin, each holding an equal portion.
Peugeot can build the same car with either battery-electric or hydrogen fuel-cell power sources. Symbio plans to start making 50,000 fuel cells per year by 2025 at its Saint Fons plant, which starts production in the second half of this year. Overall, Symbio plans to make 100,000 fuel cell systems per year by 2028, all in France, creating 1,000 jobs in the country. <>Read more
Opinion. Back in 2019, I wrote about the “Tornado,” as the turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine then being development was coded. At that point, the GME 2.0 turbo, coded “Hurricane,” was still in planning. The code names were based on warplanes, as were the Eagle, Apache, and so forth—not past Jeep engines. The Willys/Jeep Tornado engine was an inline six-cylinder with an overhead cam, an advanced design which did not last long on the market. The Willys/Jeep Hurricane engine, in contrast, was a four-cylinder, replacing the “Go-Devil” engine, made from 1950 to 1971. (There was also a Jeep Hurricane concept car in 2005 which is unrelated.) <>Read more
Excuses for avoiding electric cars are plentiful enough to have bingo cards (see end of story), but one of them—the risk of long, difficult fires—may have a solution now. While electric cars are not as likely to catch fire as gasoline cars, they are far harder to put out. (Cheap electric bikes seem to catch … Read more
Created solely for racing, the famed 426 Hemi was a cross between Chrysler’s first V8 engines, which had hemispherical heads, and the big Cross-Ram Wedge engines which were winning on the street but failing in NASCAR—the company’s second completely new V8 design. The engine people believed that the wedge engines would have an edge if they … Read more
For decades, the Department of Energy (DOE) has used the same calculations for the “gas mileage” of electric vehicles. New rules will be coming out in the next year, though, that would slash the CAFE benefits automakers now get from making electric cars and trucks. At issue is the question of how much electricity is … Read more
During the lead-up to the debut of the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170, Dodge showed teasers depicting what appeared to be a pair of leprechauns. Social media’s smoothest-brained users were quick to proclaim that they were ghouls, allegedly confirming the rumor that the Dodge brand was working on a package called the Ghoul, but that was not the case.
Earlier this month, Dodge invited a small group of media to the Auburn Hills headquarters to preview the Challenger SRT Demon 170. Brand boss Tim Kuniskis walked us through the key features and numbers of the newest supercharged muscle car; when he was done, he asked if there were any questions. As you might imagine after the reveal of a thousand-horsepower muscle car, there were plenty of questions about the Demon 170, but a few of us wondered why the teasers featured leprechauns. Kuniskis laughed and asked if we wanted the real story or the story from the marketing people. Of course, we wanted the real story… <>Read more
Automotive News recently ran a Reuters story on the problem of repairing electric cars after a crash that impacts the battery. They found a large variety of manufacturer attitudes towards this issue. Tesla has the least environmentally friendly design, integrating the batteries of its latest models into the unibody, so any damage requires scrapping the … Read more
