New Ram 1500 and it's mild hybrid system

valhalla360 wrote:
Sounds similar to the early Prius hybrids.

Great if you are primarily using the truck as a "grocery getter".

But probably not much of a benefit while towing. The problem is the boost time is likely limited to tens of seconds or at most a couple minutes. So great driving in stop & go traffic to work or if you need a little surge to pass quickly on a 2 lane road...but climbing a 5 mile grade, your available power is what the ICE generates.

A plug-in parallel hybrid with a tow-haul mode would be interesting but I suspect there isn't enough of a market for it as the vast majority of 1/2 ton pickups do no significant towing.
- Example: If you have a 20mile electric range and you are allowed to manage it, you could hold off burning thru the battery until you get to the base of a long climb and then use the battery power to assist the ICE getting up the grade. That might allow a basic V6 to compete with a V8 in terms of tow ratings.

It's not a hybrid. I don't think they are marketing it a such. The primary function is to smooth out the stop/start feature and aid going from MDS to full power. They do state it can give some extra torque to the engine if needed but in no way operates the way any hybrid vehicle does. The vehicle never operates solely under battery power.

It looks like they may use the "hybrid" terminology but I think this is just adding to confusion on what it does. I would say it has more in common with an electric supercharger than modern hybrid vehicles.