The Ram Revolution 1500 REV electric concept truck debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, making its auto show debut last week in Chicago. I didn’t go to CES, so the Chicago show provided me with my first chance to see the truck in person, and I liked the look of it. Since Ram introduced the production version of the electric pickup and the exterior design is more like the current production trucks and less like the concept, my views on the appearance of the concept don’t really matter.
I will say that I like the look of the production body lines more than the concept; and the designers did a great job of bringing the look of the concept exterior lighting to production form. I don’t care for the way that the cab and bed overlap on the concept, as I think that it looks too much like some of the light duty wannabe pickups, so I am happy to see the traditional transition from the cab to the bed.
While Ram has shown off the exterior of the 1500 REV battery-electric production pickup, we have not seen any production interior images, including the frunk and the cargo area. The pictures of the production Ram 1500 REV (BEV) have a tonneau cover, so we cannot see the inside of the bed, but we can see that the RamBox is included. I expect that the bed will feature some sort of advanced tie-down system as standard equipment, since the truck will probably have a fairly high starting price point. The bed shouldn’t differ much from a current production truck since none of the key differences between ICE and EV trucks impact the cargo area.
However, there are two key features of the Ram Revolution Concept truck that I am really hoping makes it to production, the first of which involves the cargo area. The frunk (front trunk, for those new to EVs; it is possible because there is no engine in that place) has a small door at the firewall that leads to the “tunnel” below the center console, which runs through the cabin. There is also an access door at the back of the cab that leads into the bed, creating a straight-through storage/cargo area that runs from the frunk to the bed. With the hood and tailgate closed, this area is 18 feet long; anyone who has ever hauled 12- or 16-foot boards can immediately see the usefulness of this feature.
I regularly haul lumber for my farm and even with an 8-foot bed, hauling 16-foot boards without a trailer is a headache. In most cases, I open the rear slider and set one end of the lumber on the dashboard, then I use a ratchet strap to hold the wood against the passenger’s headrest. Then I use another strap to secure it to the bedside, but with 16-foot boards, there is still wood hanging out the back of my half-ton truck. It isn’t safe and honestly, I’m not sure if it is legal, but it is what I have to do to get larger lumber to my farm.
That 18-foot pass-through storage area that runs from the frunk to the bed of the Ram Revolution BEV Concept is a perfect solution to that issue. Even hauling more common boards, like 8-to-10 feet, would be worlds simpler with this straight central storage tunnel, so with that in mind, I really hope that the designers and engineers can make that feature work for the production Ram 1500 REV.
The other feature of the Ram Revolution Concept that I would like to see come to production is the modular seating system. Each of the four bucket seats in the concept truck attach to tracks that run the length of the cabin, allowing enough movement of those seats to free up room for a pair of small seats that fold down out of the cabin wall to create a third row of seats. The bucket seats can also quickly be removed from the tracks.
While I am not entirely sold on the third row of seats, the modular seating system appeals to me, as it frees up loads of space for interior cargo. While Ram has done a great job of creating rear seating systems that fold into the back of the cab to make room for interior cargo, there is no question that the ability to quickly and easily pop the back seats out would lead to a ton more cargo space. As you can see in the interior pictures here, the Ram Revolution Concept has a completely flat floor under the seats, so if the seats were not in the way, the resulting storage area is more like a cargo van than a truck cabin.
In a traditional seating system, the front seats have the moving portion integrated into the mounting system, so the seating position moves back and forth, but it doesn’t actually move on the floor. The back seats are generally mounted to the rear of the cab floor, or the rear cab wall, and they usually don’t move forward and backwards at all. While this modular seating track system surely costs more than the traditional mounting design, it offers far more potential cargo space and more versatility in terms of seating positions.
While we still don’t know for sure what the interior of the Ram 1500 REV will look like, the cargo/storage tunnel and the modular seating layout are two concept features that would improve the working abilities of the battery-powered pickup.
The word Frunk is such an awkward and ugly word. As useful as a frontal storage area may be, especially with the pass-through, that word has got to go! While I favor the “production” version better than the concept, there are certain features, both cosmetically and practically that I would like to see used on the REV production pickup.
1.) Cosmetics: I’m not gong to lie, I was really liking the one-piece glass/roof design. As expensive as it might be a heated, auto-tinting safety glass design would not only add a bit of aero to the truck but also reduce sun/headlight glare as well as temperature regulation throughout the vehicle. making it a two-piece design so it could have a retractable roof would be even better.
I did like the coke-bottle shape and roof spoiler of the concept and would have liked to have seen a little more of that in the actual pickup truck design but still keeping it less futuristic looking. Another thing that needs to stay is the removable mid-gate feature to allow for the pass through cargo feature. An in-bed trunk would be nice as well.
The interior had alot of nice ideas but the futuristic design threw it off. I was cool with the lighting features, the heads up display and several other things but the design of the seats didn’t look right. The third row jumper seats were an okay idea as long as the truck came in a mega-cab configuration but even still there won’t be alot of room back there for adult passengers. I could see something like that on a 3500 Mega Cab dually with an 8ft bed because the truck itself is already a massive vehicle, but not on a 1500.
My biggest concern is what will the trim levels and power numbers be for this beast? what kind of special editions will we get? Those are the things I want to know most
I agree with most of your notes, I was hoping a decent amount of the muscular, coke-bottle shape of the Concept would influence the production model. But no. IMO< the Production version images so far make it look a bit dowdy, not even as sleek as the current ICE 1500 body.
As much as I want the long-item pass-throughs, I'll be surprised if that feature makes it to the true production version. Chevy got away with the mid-gate on the Avalanche because the cab and the box were one welded unit, the sidewalls the cab & box are continuous welded structure. If you take the existing 1500 cab wherein the cab is totally separate from the box and just take the rear wall out by making the rear wall of the cab flip-down like the Avalanche, the REV would be structurally very much weakened, because the cab doesn't tie into the bed sidewalls to make up for the loss of structure of the flip-down midgate. I admit that the STLA chassis could possibly make up for some for that loss of rigidity, but I'm betting that there is no way to make the production REV meet crashworthiness testing with the box and the cab separate like the current 1500, and the rear wall of the cab effectively removed when flipped down.
In a separate thread after the Concept was revealed, I suggested "Fargo" (short for "front cargo") in lieu of "Frunk", because (a) "Frunk" is Tesla-speak, and as you and others here have pointed out, it's an ugly word, and (b) "Fargo" ties into the historical legacy of the Dodge truck brand from several decades ago (the Dodge Fargo line of trucks).
The passthrough is a small hatch, not a complete deletion of the bed and cab walls as I see it. Proper bracing around the opening would make up any loss in strength. The word Frunk is awkward, true, but it explains the new structure without a long description.
In previous Stellpower article, there is a photo very clearly showing the rear window retracted into the midgate, and the midgate folded downward to the cab floor. The entire rear wall of the cab is open:
https://www.stellpower.com/news-2023/rams-1500-bev-concept-is-testing-the-waters-for-the-real-thing/
From Ram’s own website:
“When cargo exceeds the truck bed length, the midgate can fold completely flat and storage space can extend through the cab and into the frunk, creating enough room for hauling objects up to 18 feet long.”
https://www.ramtrucks.com/revolution/concept.html
I have confirmed that there is no small door, so to get the full 18 feet of cargo space in the Ram Revolution Concept, you do have to fold down the rear cabin wall. However, Ram confirmed that with the wall in its upright position, 10-foot boards will still fit in the frunk/cabin area.
I have reached out to Ram for clarification on this. I understand that the rear wall of the cabin folds flat and creates a huge opening to the bed, but in company pictures of the jump seats, there appears to be a door or something in the middle-bottom of that rear wall.
If you look at the 6th image in this piece, with one jump seat folded down and another up, take a close look at the bottom of the area between the seats. That could be a pass-through for the tunnel…but in any case, we will know for sure once I hear back from the brand.
I like the look of this one much better, but people we really need to stop calling the space where the engine was a Frunk can’t believe i even wrote it right now, i dont remember anyone calling the actual trunk a Bunk because it’s at the back. however it has been called a boot, maybe we call call the front of the truck a Foot. Frunk just sounds so stupid.
The tunnel and removable seats make this as adaptable a truck as possible. It makes up very well for the lack of an 8 foot bed in a garage friendly length.