Many of you are worried about the long-term reliability of electric vehicle batteries. I know because you ask me all of the time. Among skeptics and prospective buyers alike, it’s one of the first things to come up: Will the battery last? Yet more and more data is showing that modern EV traction batteries just don’t fail in significant numbers. You don’t have to worry about them. It’s the damn 12-volts that’ll leave you stranded in the office parking lot. Internal combustion drivers know that risk. Traditional cars use a 12-volt battery—usually a chunky lead-acid unit—to start the vehicle and power the electronics. You may expect that EVs, with their massive drive batteries, don’t need these ancient bricks. Yet they rely on them for the exact same reasons. EV 12-volt
Tag Archives: AutomotiveTech
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The Ram Ramcharger has a 91.8 kWh battery, but only 69.7 kWh are usable. Ram says this is to provide a consistent driving experience between EV driving and when the truck uses its gas engine. The truck also has a heavy-duty frame and 8-lug wheel hubs to haul more weight compared to its ICE cousin. I know I’ve railed against too-big batteries in trucks in the past, and that includes the all-electric version of this very vehicle. However, when Stellantis previewed the 2026 Ram Ramcharger’s technical details to the media this week, its 91.8 kWh battery felt a little small compared to full EV trucks. Stranger still, Stellantis says that only 69.7 of those kWh are usable, meaning a whopping 22.1 kWh is just in the battery, unable to be