The next Fast & Furious movie may soon have an electric family member as Dodge has unveiled its first electric car, the all-new Dodge Charger. With the debut of this all-electric interpretation, it seems that the “Charger” moniker has found a different meaning.
Before you mourn the loss of the petrol Charger, rest assured that petrol versions of the Charger will be unveiled at a later date (You can still mourn the end of the V8 Charger). What you’re looking at in these pictures here are the Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack and the Daytona R/T which are both fully electric. Unveiled as a concept back in July 2023, you may recall that one of its main highlights is the fake V8 engine sound. And that feature has found its way into the production version of the new Charger.
What powers this all-new all-electric version of this famous muscle car is an all-wheel drive (AWD) dual-electric motor setup. The Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack produces a combined maximum power output of 670 hp and 814 Nm. Both motors are equally powerful with each of them making 335 hp and 407 Nm. The Daytona Scat Pack is capable of a 3.3-second 0-60 mph acceleration time and an 11.5-second quarter mile run.
Besides the Charger Daytona Scat Pack, another electric version of the new Charger would be the less powerful Daytona R/T which outputs a maximum of 496 hp. In case you’re wondering where the internal combustion engines are, don’t worry as Dodge will later introduce petrol versions of the Dodge Charger such as the 550 hp Dodge Charger Sixpack H.O. and 420 hp Charger Sixpack S.O., both powered by 3.0-litre Twin Turbo I-6 Hurricane engines.
Dodge has also enhanced the driving experience of the new Charger with driving modes like “Donut”, “Drift”, and 2 unique “race prep” options. The car also comes equipped with a “Drive Experience Recorder”.
Not exactly the main focus of the electric Charger, it still does come with a sizeable 100.5-kWh battery pack which has a peak discharge rate of 550 kW. Dodge says that the Dodge Charger Daytona R/T is expected to deliver more than 317 miles (510 km) of range, while the higher-performance Charger Daytona Scat Pack provides 260 miles (418 km) of all-electric range.
Both vehicles can be recharged from 20% to 80% charge status in just over 27 minutes when using a Level 3 DC fast charger. The estimated charging capacity is approximately 9.9 miles (15.9 km) per minute of charging time for the Daytona R/T and 8.1 miles (13 km) per minute for the Daytona Scat Pack, using a 350-kW fast charger.
On the outside, the Charger has been blessed with a “purified exterior design” as Dodge likes to call it. The company says that the new Charger “presents a distillation of muscle car design through a modern muscular exterior that focuses on function, avoids excess and subtly acknowledges inspiration from the clean, timeless lines of its predecessors.”
Some of its exterior highlights include its pure widebody stance, bold colour offerings, and a couple of patent-pending features like the R-wing pass for the Daytona. The Charger is available as a two-door and a four-door with the former to enter production by mid-2024 and the latter to do so by the 1st quarter of 2025.
Inside, the new Charger offers a rather conventional setup with a two-screen setup, a conventional gear selector, and a dashboard that doesn’t look like it came from the future. Dodge says that this new Charger’s interior is driver-focused and provides a visceral feel.
Cloth and leatherette seats are standard, with premium options including heated Black Nappa leather and Demonic Red Nappa leather seats. High-backed fixed headrest seats embellished with a unique pass-through are available with Plus Package, Track Package and Carbon & Suede Package.
Safety isn’t discounted with the new Charger as it gets a decent set of advanced safety features. These include Forward Collision Warning and Automatic Emergency Braking with Vulnerable Road Users Detection, Active Lane Management, Active Driving Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop and Go, Blind Spot Detection with Rear Cross Path Detection, Traffic Sign Recognition, and Drowsy Driver Detection.
