US icon flexes all-electric muscle and radical new looks. Oh, and there will be a straight-six version too
'O the joy of my 250kW electric drive modules,' Walt Whitman might’ve said upon seeing the new electric Dodge Charger, 'it is uncaged! It darts like lightning! It is not enough to have this certain 0-60mph time,' he likely might’ve added, 'I will have thousands of launch control sprints and all time.'
OK fine, we’re putting words into the mouth of America’s most revered blue-collar poet here, but one suspects Whitman would’ve written an entirely new Song of Joysfor this, the very first fully electric Dodge Charger.
For it be fast. And, very well, it contradicts itself, for it is large and contains multitudes. Four versions of the new Charger have been revealed: a pair of electric muscle cars heading up the pack, and a pair of combustion-engined variants with a 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight-six. Of the latter ICE cars, we know only that they’ll produce 420bhp and 550bhp.
Of the former? There are no bounds. In range-topping, electric Daytona Scat Pack trim, the Charger packs a whopping 670bhp (500kW) and 627lb ft of torque, accelerates from 0-60mph in 3.3s and runs that most American of benchmarks – the quarter mile – in 11.5s. Heck, Whitman would probably be singing soprano at the 12s mark.
The second electric Charger wears an R/T badge, and it’s a little less thrusting, topping out at 496bhp (370kW), 404lb ft and offering up a 0-60mph time of 4.7s. Both cars top out at 134mph (SP) and 137mph (R/T). So they’re very much ableto... push with resistless way and speed off in the distance.
The new e-Chargers (surely the perfect name for an electric muscle car) are the first to use Stellantis’s ‘STLA Large’ platform, an EV chassis with “the potential to carry extreme power”. Both Charger Daytonas feature all-wheel-drive as standard, using a pair of 250kW electric drive modules – one on the front axle, one on the back.
Each drive module features the inverter, gearbox and motor for more efficient packaging: the front drive module is able to disconnect itself where necessary to boost range and efficiency, while the rear module includes a mechanical limited slip diff for better hoo-raas off the line.
And Dodge promises us this new e-Charger will be able tospeak with a full and sonorous voice out of a broad chest. Though its terminology is rather more prosaic. A pair of passive radiators apparently create a unique exhaust profile with “Hellcat levels of sound intensity that shatters the preconception of a typical quiet BEV and instead delivers a sound worthy of the Brotherhood of Muscle”. So, it be loud.
There’s a fat battery pack on board too, a 100.5kWh unit able to offer a peak discharge rate of 550kW. Dodge is quoting 317 miles of EPA range for the R/T, and just 260 for the Scat Pack. On a 350kW fast charger, both cars will be able to go from 20-80 per cent in 27 minutes. Keep running those quarter mile times and this will become an important metric.
Want more metrics? Both cars weigh in at 2.6 tonnes (told you it was large), are slightly longer than a BMW 5 Series, and come packed with a customisable regenerative braking system on board, offering between 0.1g to 0.3g in regen. Indeed the brakes themselves are fairly massive – 16in vented Brembos that are 30 per cent bigger than the last SRT’s setup.
All Chargers sit on multi-link front/fully independent rear suspension, with the R/T and Scat Pack cars featuring monotube dampers. There’s a ‘track pack’ available for the Scat Pack (are you keeping up here?) that gets fancy dual-valve adaptive dampers. Many modes are available across both cars, including ‘donut’, ‘drift’, ‘line lock’, ‘launch control’ and ‘race prep’. Fairly self-explanatory. “Near perfect” weight distribution, too.
Which of course leads us on to the new Charger’s body, and it appears Dodge has mined the spirit of its earlier muscle cars deeper than ever. It acknowledges as such, saying only how it “avoids excess” and takes its cues “from the clean, timeless lines of its predecessors”.
That ridged bonnet slopes down into a straight-edged front grille and ‘R-Wing’ front setup, which Dodge says is a call back to the original Charger design and a way of allowing better airflow. It’s a suitably menacing frame for a wide, fairly simple silhouette that tails back into that now-familiar rear setup complete with ‘ring of fire’ LED rear taillamps. You can option a full-length glass roof if you so wish.
There’ll be two and four-door versions of the new Charger available, each with the same wheelbase. Speaking of wheels, there are many options available, ranged from 18in to 20in. And while the outside pays its dues to the original, the inside is all 2024: a 12.3in central touchscreen and either a 10.25in or optional 16in cluster screen ahead of the driver. Naturally there is much driver assistance embedded within the new Charger’s lines.
Speaking of which, Dodge says the interior ‘linework’ and ‘texture’ both hark back to the ’68 Charger’s instrument panel, which is fine, but the '68 Charger never had 64-colour ambient lighting or a heated steering wheel. Or a wireless phone charger and an optional head-up display. Which the new car has. These are good things to have.
“The next-generation of Dodge muscle has arrived,” said Dodge brand chief executive officer Tim Kuniskis. The powerful play goes on, then, and it’s time for the e-Charger to contribute its verse. Loudly. And very quickly.
