Beloved for their rugged good looks and Cummins diesel engines, Ram 4500 and 5500 HD trucks dominate the hotshot and urban towing trades – but a new startup thinks the next chapter for Ram medium duties is electric, and they’re sick of waiting on Stellantis.
Before you get too excited, you need to understand that the “kind of” parenthetical up there is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Detroit startup ZMD Motors is developing a battery electric retrofit package for Ram’s medium-duty 4500 and 5500 series work trucks that’s specifically designed to meet the needs of hard-working vocational fleet buyers who, up to this point, haven’t had a lot of options to electrify. And for hotshot operators and urban tow fleets tightening their belts amid rapidly rising fuel costs, Ram’s EV production delays aren’t just inconvenient — they’re expensive.
Like rural drivers and last-mile delivery fleets, vocational trucks can rack up miles fast, idle for hours, and spend their lives in dense urban cores where the noise and emissions of diesel trucks are increasingly under scrutiny.
If ZMD’s repower package delivers, it could mean significantly reduced fuel and maintenance costs, as well as increased access to noise-regulated neighborhoods that diesel trucks are starting to get pushed out of … but that could be a big if.
ZMD Motors RAM 5500 EV
ZMD was founded last year by former General Motors executive Dave Stenson, who allegedly spent nearly thirty years leading engineering teams and vehicle development programs Dave’s plan is for ZMD to receive a rolling chassis from Ram through a “ship-thru” logistics process, install the electric batteries and powertrain, then presumably ship from there to dealers and customers.
Despite that pedigree, ZMD is surprisingly light on details. There are no battery or motor specs, no range specs, and no details on the trucks’ layout – will they use e-axles? will they use a big ‘Zilla-style electric motor ending power through conventional driveshafts? will they use in-wheel motors? etc. – if and when they get to production.
Stenson, for his part, remains confident, and suggests that part of ZMD Motors’ value proposition could be providing significant market data for larger OEMs. “I can offer this platform as a toe in the water,” he told Crain’s Detroit. “Any one of these manufacturers that want to work with us to get an electrified product off of their architecture in the market could have a hedge play for a faster entry into the market as the EV demand across segments continues to grow.”
ZMD Motors has little more than a drawing (shown, above) at this stage, but Stenson told Crain’s that there is interest among investors for his idea, but he’s holding out for a commitment from a major OEM before making more significant fundraising efforts.
Electrek’s Take
As excited as I am at the prospect of a serious, medium-duty electric vehicle with big, Ram Truck styling, the reality is that companies like Lightning eMotors (which closed in 2024) and Workhorse Group (whose deployed fleet just crossed 20 million miles) are already offering electric, medium-duty truck retrofits based on major OEM’s existing vocational chassis, and they’re not exactly blowing up the sales charts.
That’s my take, but I’ve been cranky since I had to clean my kids’ fish tank this morning, so maybe I’m not the right person to judge the relative merits of ZDM’s concept drawing on. You guys are smart. Head down to the comments and let us know what you think – and I’ll let you know if I see something a little more real from ZDM at this year’s ACT Expo in Las Vegas.
SOURCE | IMAGES: ZDM Motors, via Crain’s, Clean Trucking.
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