New Ram 1500 and it's mild hybrid system

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.

Acei wrote:
Actually, this has more to do with it's battery and how it can be used.

Does anyone know if the lithium battery built into this system can power the accessories within the vehicle?

Looks like that battery can store up to 430wh and since there's a separate lead acid battery, I would guess you can completely drain that lithium battery without any worries.

This could be very useful for those who camp a lot if the 48v lithium battery converts to 12v and directly hooks into accessory power ports.

430 wh is not much power to work with. A run-of-the-mill lead-acid RV battery is about 100 amp/hours which is roughly 1200 wh. From what I saw in this video the system's main purpose is to provide auto start/stop capability and to essentially act as an electronic "flywheel" to capture some braking energy and put it back to the drive wheels when needed. The engineer claimed a 10% increase in fuel economy.

time2roll wrote:
I doubt the RAM will have a DC/DC converter to produce 12 volts like a vehicle that runs just on battery power. If the engine runs 100% of the time there will be an alternator that supplies 12 volt power.

Either way there would be a BMS to protect the lithium from over charge or over discharge.

The eng wont run all the time, it will have start/stop technology.

I doubt the RAM will have a DC/DC converter to produce 12 volts like a vehicle that runs just on battery power. If the engine runs 100% of the time there will be an alternator that supplies 12 volt power.

Either way there would be a BMS to protect the lithium from over charge or over discharge.

Me Again wrote:

Acei wrote:
Actually, this has more to do with it's battery and how it can be used.

Does anyone know if the lithium battery built into this system can power the accessories within the vehicle?

Looks like that battery can store up to 430wh and since there's a separate lead acid battery, I would guess you can completely drain that lithium battery without any worries.

This could be very useful for those who camp a lot if the 48v lithium battery converts to 12v and directly hooks into accessory power ports.

Lithium batteries do not like to be completely discharged. Chris

Never had a problem discharging all my tool batteries.

I would let that system age a couple of years before buying.

Me Again wrote:

Acei wrote:
Actually, this has more to do with it's battery and how it can be used.

Does anyone know if the lithium battery built into this system can power the accessories within the vehicle?

Looks like that battery can store up to 430wh and since there's a separate lead acid battery, I would guess you can completely drain that lithium battery without any worries.

This could be very useful for those who camp a lot if the 48v lithium battery converts to 12v and directly hooks into accessory power ports.

Lithium batteries do not like to be completely discharged. Chris

I'm assuming they took the right precautions to make sure it doesn't get discharged too low...

Acei wrote:
Actually, this has more to do with it's battery and how it can be used.

Does anyone know if the lithium battery built into this system can power the accessories within the vehicle?

Looks like that battery can store up to 430wh and since there's a separate lead acid battery, I would guess you can completely drain that lithium battery without any worries.

This could be very useful for those who camp a lot if the 48v lithium battery converts to 12v and directly hooks into accessory power ports.

Lithium batteries do not like to be completely discharged. Chris

Techrepulbic, for instance, says:

“4: Avoid completely discharging lithium-ion batteries

If a lithium-ion battery is discharged below 2.5 volts per cell, a safety circuit built into the battery opens and the battery appears to be dead. The original charger will be of no use. Only battery analyzers with the boost function have a chance of recharging the battery.”

I have not seen any manufacturer of lithium batteries recommending a user drain their batteries below 20% SOC.