HOW DO THEY DO IT? Do you still find the idea of a fast car that runs on electricity strange? It looks like Dodge is making one. The new Charger will be a two-door solid car that looks like its second-generation 1960s namesake and will have a motor from the future or at least the cutting edge of the present. WHY AND WHATMATES Dodge would have been the last gas-burning holdout, making 11s on an internal combustion island while the rest of the car industry quietly whirred and charged. The “brotherhood of muscle,” as Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis calls it, will run on batteries. PLATFORM Stellantis’ STLA Large platform is hidden behind the Charger’s giant body. POWERTRAIN The electric Scat Pack on the Charger 440, which is the middle model, has 590 horsepower, while the base Charger 340 runs on 400 volts. Dodge Direct Connection lets both types get power boosts over the air, and a transmission with more than one speed is in the works. The top Banshee model, which will have a design with 800 volts, will have two motors, even if the lower-end ones won’t. Even though Dodge hasn’t said how much horsepower the Banshee will have, they say it will be better than the Hellcat in every way. This includes sound amplified by the “exhaust” of the Charger EV, which is set to 126 decibels. COMPETITION The only car on the market that can solve these problems is the Charger EV. The Mustang Mach-E is fast, American-made, and called a muscle car, but its SUV body makes it stand out from the rest. WHAT COULD GO WRONG AND WHY? Before they accept an electric muscle car, Mopar fans might storm the Stellantis castle with pitchforks and flames. DELIVERY AND COST ESTIMATES If everything goes as planned, the Charger EV could come out in 2024 with a starting price about the same as the current 392 Hemi model, or at least $50,000.
