While General Motors revives its gas-guzzling Hummer as EVs, Stellantis is working on futuring its most famous muscle cars with an electric powertrain. Two Dodge electric muscle car models, a Dodge Challenger EV and a Dodge Charger EV are likely to go on sale by mid-decade, marking the beginning of the brand’s transition to zero-emission powertrains.
At the Stellantis EV Day 2021, Tim Kuniskis, CEO of Dodge, talked about launching Dodge EVs. He began by explaining how the company wanted to adopt electric powertrains in the first place.
Our engineers are reaching a practical limit of what we can squeeze from internal combustion innovation. They know, we know that electric motors can give us more. And if we know the technology that can give our customers an advantage we have an obligation to embrace it. Whatever it takes to keep them in the lead.
Tim Kuniskis, CEO of Dodge, in July 2021
The brand CEO revealed that the first Dodge electric car release date is programmed in 2024.
Dodge will embrace the sea of change in the marketplace to stand out by embracing electrification. Every ounce of technology we integrate will be done to amplify the elements that define not just Dodge but the muscle car itself, and in 2024, Dodge will launch the world’s first full battery electric car muscle car.
Tim Kuniskis, CEO of Dodge, in July 2021
Design & Features
A slew of teasers followed the CEO’s statements, showing a concept version of the first Dodge electric muscle car. The concept model appears to be wide and has a muscular stance. It features a new version of the brand’s Fratzog logo from the 1960s, with blue illumination at the front and red-backlit at the rear.
Fratzog is a made-up term from a designer, and Dodge used it between 1962 and 1976. Three arrowhead shapes come together and form a three-pointed star and an overall triangular shape. The arrowhead shapes will likely look thinner in the EVs, but they would repeat the classic version’s curves. Kuniskis has told CNBC that Dodge will use the new Fratzog logo to distinguish EVs from combustion models and that the company has no intention to make a Fratzog sub-brand.
The first Dodge electric muscle car models should be highly digital and connected. Stellantis has partnered with Foxconn to develop digital cockpits under a new 50/50 joint venture company Mobile Drive. Based in the Netherlands, Mobile Drive’s work will include infotainment, telematics, and cloud service platform development. The Dodge EVs will likely get a brand-new infotainment system with AI, 5G, and OTA software upgrade capability from Mobile Drive.
OTA software upgrades will keep Dodge EVs updated with new features for years after reaching their customers. For example, customers could enable a power boost feature or unlock a permanent increase in power anytime during the ownership. Mamatha Chamarthi, SVP – Software Business & Product, Stellantis, talked about such capabilities at the company’s Software Day 2021 event.
Dodge is developing performance upgrades, launching actually next week, including driver-tunable software that will deliver an immediate horsepower boost, while retaining the car’s emissions compliance.
Mamatha Chamarthi, SVP – Software Business & Product, Stellantis (Stellantis Software Day 2021 on December 7, 2021)
Specifications
The Dodge electric muscle cars will need large batteries to deliver plenty of horsepower and a long range. So, expect them to ride on the STLA Large platform, which can accommodate battery packs that have a gross energy content of 101-118 kWh and can provide a range of up to 800 km/500 miles. This platform allows high-output electric motors that produce up to 330 kW (442 hp), which engineers could tune for the muscle car application.
Citing insiders, MoparInsiders.com says in a report that Dodge will launch an all-new electric muscle car based on the next-gen Dodge Challenger (LB).
Release Date
Dodge intends to put its electric car on the American market in 2024 but won’t sit idle until the final vehicle is ready. The company will showcase a concept version to generate customer interest and get feedback from its community. It should be the same car the company teased in July 2021 (pictured throughout this story).
In November 2021, Kuniskis told MotorTrend that the first Dodge electric car would debut as a drivable concept in the next four or five months. So, we may see the vision of Dodge’s future no later than Q2 2022 (April-June 2022). The company just needs to wait until it is done with patent registrations. Previously, Kuniskis had told CNBC that he expected to unveil the Dodge electric car concept with the Fratzog logo in early 2022.
The unveiling of the Dodge electric car concept this year is part of the two-year business plan called Never Lift that Dodge announced on November 8, 2021. Dodge says that Never Lift is a roadmap to its performance future. It will have a product- or automotive-enthusiast-related news announcement every quarter to keep the customers and fans engaged. It has launched a website (dodgegarage.com) where it gives the visitors a 48-hour heads up about the upcoming announcements.
On February 23, 2022, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares briefly mentioned the Dodge brand’s electrification in the company’s Full Year 2021 Results conference call. Tavares said that Dodge fans will have even more exciting and thrilling experiences with the brand’s electric muscle cars.
Dodge electric muscle car imagined
British car designer Elliott Winslow-Thorpe has created an interesting sketch of a neo-retro Dodge Charger EV. Inspired by the 1970s Dodge Dodge Charger R/T, the Dodge electric muscle car in the drawing is beefy and simple, yet a futuristic two-door coupe. We particularly like the front look, with bumpers sporting a deep inward slope, large rectangular openings, and narrow side air inlets. The closed-off upper section with a full-width gray panel that integrates half of the sci-fi headlights contrasts nicely with the muscle car silhouette.
The 1970’s Dodge Charger R/T is one of my favorite classic cars. I love the brutality and simplicity of the design, so much so it inspired me to do a sketch of my own based on the 1970’s model. I believe that the original design feeling transfers well into a potential electric model, mainly down to the chargers clean surfacing and bold front and rear graphics. I also think that a modern interpretation with technical details would work well in today’s market.
I kept true to the original with a similar bodyside that wraps underneath the car; the bold rectangle graphic at the front which acts as the focal point for everything to stem from and the little bits of detail like the horizontal line that runs across the front lends it’s self well to being modern light bar signature graphic. This is an ongoing project which I will continue to develop.While I agree nothing will ever replace that original model, I think it’s important with EV’s to have personality about them which is why I think the recognizable 1970s Dodge Charger would work so well as a reimagined modern-day EV.
Elliott Winslow-Thorpe
Gasoline Dodge set models to continue
Electrifying the model lineup will allow Dodge to remain relevant and competitive in the EV era. However, the company won’t phase out internal combustion engine models immediately when it launches comparable EVs. “We didn’t say that the current cars are going to die in 2024,” Kuniskis told Muscle Cars & Trucks, as reported on August 17, 2021. Muscle cars are and will remain a profitable segment, Carlos Tavares, CEO, Stellantis, said during the company’s H1 2021 results conference call.
It is quite clear that the muscle car is still a significant, highly profitable segment in the U.S. and it will remain so in the future with our electrified strategy as it has been presented to you on the EV Day.
Carlos Tavares, CEO, Stellantis (H1 2021 results conference call)
Speaking to Motor Authority in November 2021, Kuniskis did reveal that the Dodge Hellcat models will get the ax by the end of 2023. Potential Dodge Hellcat customers would need to consider the electric Dodge cars coming from 2024 then.
Featured Image Source: Stellantis