AUTO

The 2024 Dodge Charger Flexes Its EV Muscle

March 6, 2024

A two-door Dodge Charger EV will be launching soon, with up to 670 horsepower.
Several high-powered features are clearly aimed at muscle car enthusiasts, like Drift Mode and two Race Prep modes.
EV skeptics may still be hard to win over, but Dodge may be hoping the Charger pedigree will convert some fans.

The all-electric 2024 Dodge Charger will have a tough time winning over EV skeptics. But 670 horsepower is a good place to start.

Muscle car fanatics have quietly — and sometimes not so quietly — dreaded the moment that EV power would reach their most treasured icons. The first domino fell on Tuesday when Stellantis revealed its long-awaited Dodge Charger EV with a fully-electric powertrain.

The Charger and its cousin, the Challenger, have long been the jewels of Dodge performance. Now the company has combined both models into just the Charger and will launch its next-generation platform in both two-door and four-door versions.

What’s Inside the 2024 Dodge Charger EV?

The key is what lies beneath. The Dodge Charger EV will be powered by a 100.5-kWh battery pack sending juice to dual electric motors — one at the front and one at the rear, effectively giving it all-wheel drive as standard.

In the Charger Daytona R/T, the system is good for a total output of 496 horsepower. In the Charger Scat Pack, it’s a whopping 670 horsepower.

Dodge Is Finally Embracing EVs

Few companies embraced the “pry it from my cold dead hands” philosophy toward gas-powered engines like Dodge in recent years. The company released one testosterone-fueled edition of the Challenger after another, with some of them topping 1,000 horsepower.

In return, many enthusiasts pledged their unwavering loyalty. The Charger and Challenger were cash cows for the company, and Dodge kept them around far longer than most outsiders predicted. In the end, the muscle cars’ LX platform lasted nearly 20 years before this latest redesign.

They also produced a feverish passion and culture for the LX models, especially their supercharged 6.2-liter “Hellcat” V8 engines. The Hellcat cemented a legendary status among drag racers, pavement-pounding burnout fans, and anyone titillated by the sound of its stock 707 horsepower (or more).

Dodge had long signaled that the LX and Hellcat eras were coming to a close. Still, the about-face from producing the most vicious V8 on street tires to a fully-electric platform is jarring. Will the topic of conversation at drag strips turn from pushrods to 400-volt architecture?

Dodge Aims To Keep Performance Cred

Judging from initial announcements, corporate brass seems to understand the challenge they’re facing. The long list of high-performance capabilities in the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV reads less like an enticing features list and more like an oil-stained shop catalog.

Every Charger Daytona has an included kit, dubbed Direct Connection, to punch performance to its max potential. The Daytona R/T gets a Stage 1 kit with 40 horsepower, and the Daytona Scat Pack gets Stage 2 for an additional 80 horsepower.

There’s also the PowerShot feature, which can provide boosts of 40 horsepower for up to 15 seconds. And there’s a specialized Donut Mode, a Drift Mode, and two different Race Prep modes. There’s even configurable regenerative braking levels so drivers can cycle to their preference.

Features like these show that Dodge worked to get ahead of public complaints. Tuning and customizing is paramount to muscle car fans, and compared with ICE powertrains, electric vehicles offer only limited opportunities. So Dodge built them in.

It’s unclear whether that’s enough to satiate the rabid Mopar base. It’s possible that for all its good intentions, Dodge’s latest chapter will fall flat among the unconvinced die-hards. Other factors like the price of the Dodge Charger EV (as yet unannounced) and aftermarket support will also play critical roles.

But it won’t be for lack of trying. Gas or not, a 496-horsepower or 670-horsepower muscle car is nothing to sneeze at. To electric believers, the new Charger brings an iconic name and legacy to the EV age. It also brings interesting features and could kick-start a culture that is currently missing.

For the nonbelievers, the new Dodge Charger EV will eventually introduce some traditional ICE options in 2025. This Dodge EV muscle car still has some ICE left in its bones, after all. They’ll just have to go EV to get the highest level available.

Besides, if it’s high-performance they’re really after, the old-schoolers might want to keep a very close eye on the EV side for future muscle cars.

Electric Charger Hellcat in 2026, anyone?