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.
