Dodge knew all alongside that changing the Charger to an EV may tick off muscle automotive followers. In spite of everything, the idea of a muscle automotive with electrical motors appears counterintuitive, particularly with a faux exhaust soundtrack added into the combination. However early design previews appeared stable, and Dodge’s sometimes hilarious advertising and marketing performed up the controversy properly.
In a stunning determination, although, the brand new Charger will are available each totally electrical and internal-combustion type. Two- and four-door variants additionally signify one thing of a hedged wager, and clearly pressured compromises throughout the R&D course of.
However a current media launch at Radford Racing Faculty in Arizona offered a superb alternative to check the Charger Daytona’s R/T and Scat Pack trims on public roads and the racetrack. I even acquired a rip on a skid pad for testing out the total rear-wheel-drive drift mode.
In brief: The concept of Dodge, the corporate that gave us Hellcats, Redeyes, and Demons, transitioning to the EV period can actually sound like a tricky capsule to swallow. However the newly electrical Charger Daytona appears to be like good and takes benefit of EV know-how. Total, the R/T and Scat Pack trims exceed expectations, even when each battle to deal with severe weight features. Muscleheads will undoubtedly complain in regards to the faux exhaust, and regardless of the electrical soundtrack, the world’s first electrical muscle automotive proves barely lower than electrifying.
Drivetrain:
Twin 250kW motors, AWD, single-speed (rear LSD customary)
Energy output:
496 hp mixed w/ Energy Shot (Scat Pack: 670 hp w/ Energy Shot)
Vary:
308 mi. (R/T with slim tires), 241 mi. (Scat Pack)
0-60 mph:
4.7 sec. (R/T), 3.3 sec. (Scat Pack)
Quarter-mile:
13.4 sec. (R/T), 11.5 sec. (Scat Pack)
Prime Pace:
137 mph (R/T), 134 mph (Scat Pack)
Weight:
5,838 lbs.
Dimensions:
207″ L x 80″ W x 59″ H
Max cost price:
183 kW
DC quick cost time:
27 min. (Degree 3, 20-80%)
Beginning worth:
$59,595 (R/T), $73,130 (Scat Pack)
Design nails retro-futuristic muscle automotive type
Torquey AWD powertrains
Spacious and quiet inside with plenty of tech
Weighs actually 3 tons with a driver
Observe efficiency restricted by mass and particularly brakes
Restricted vary and sluggish max cost price
Michael Van Runkle
2025 Dodge Charger Daytona Assessment
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
The brand new Charger era appeared good in early pictures, however even higher in particular person lined up baking beneath the crisp Arizona solar. A stable mix of futuristic cues and old-school bulk delivers precisely the presence that Dodge undoubtedly hoped to realize. And in a brief media intro, Dodge reps repeatedly hammered the purpose residence that this can be a muscle automotive first, and an EV second.
Like actually, guys, it’s actually a muscle automotive. Actually. However really, I discovered the presentation attention-grabbing. This was largely as a result of Dodge shared among the engineering that went into constructing a shared chassis for the Charger Daytona’s two electrical trims, in addition to forthcoming four-door variations. And, these will finally be adopted by the non-Daytona internal-combustion Chargers, that includes a Hurricane turbocharged inline-six engine.
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
Testing
However my time at Radford was extra about studying how these EVs drive in the true world, somewhat than specializing in stats and specs. In order quickly because the presentation ended, I hustled over to Radford’s small dealing with circuit to get in line for some monitor testing. I figured the remainder of the journalists would, too, and needed to maximise my seat time.
As a substitute, after I placed on a helmet and head scarf, a Radford teacher gave me a sequence of back-to-back lead-follow stints in Scat Pack-equipped automobiles. No one else jumped in line, so I simply saved spinning laps solo.
However we settled right into a rhythm of three laps out, then coming in to vary automobiles. As a result of even after the primary stint, the brakes smelled hotter than scorching, and the tires began to look a little bit piqued.
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
The primary few occasions out required an adjustment interval, merely to get used to the scale and weight of the Charger Daytona. However I additionally began to suppose possibly I had pushed a button fallacious within the many settings programmable by way of the 12.3-inch middle touchscreen.
The tires’ grip nearly felt okay, because of 305mm entrance and 325mm rear Goodyear Eagle F1 tires. However the energy supply appeared downright unusual in Observe mode, as if the “throttle” was an on-off change after which output died after the primary second or two of acceleration. But I had switched between automobiles …
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
Confused, I ambled over to a line of R/T packages to go out on a highway drive. Positive sufficient, regardless of being rated at 496 horsepower versus the Scat Pack’s 670 horsepower, this automotive felt means faster. In actuality, the R/T and Scat Pack each use two of the identical two motors, Samsung models that put out 250 kW. The ability distinction comes down strictly to calibration.
The spec sheets, subsequently, appear purposefully tailor-made to check and distinction with Dodge’s current gasoline engines.
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
Digital Noise
I like supercharger whine, although, so now we have to speak in regards to the “Fratzonic” exhaust, basically audio system inside a resonator field. The faux noises do present a booming soundtrack when the motors “fire up.” Then, the rumble settles into one thing of an idle, revving when beneath load and even offering some suggestions throughout regenerative braking.
Will muscle automotive fanatics benefit from the Fratzonic system? No. However I discovered it much less annoying than anticipated, particularly from the motive force’s seat. Till, that’s, I went up an extended, regular grade within the R/T, and the noise simply dissolved right into a little bit of a headache.
Not like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N’s fake exhaust, for instance, utilizing the Charger Daytona’s paddle shifters doesn’t present faux gearshifts. So the sound can begin to suck in a steady-state drone. I fiddled via a couple of menu choices and turned the Fratzonic system off for the remainder of the drive.
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
Driver Inputs
The Charger Daytona’s small paddle shifters management how a lot the regen system brakes the automotive. However sadly, regen failed for about half of my check drive, prompting a warning on the gauge cluster that learn “Battery Regeneration Levels Unavailable.”
My battery wasn’t full sufficient to forestall regen, unusually, and if I energy cycled, the automotive regen then turned again on. It was peculiar, to say the least, however then once more, Dodge reps repeatedly defined that we have been driving pre-production automobiles. So hopefully, this doesn’t occur for purchasers.
In any other case, the R/T really impressed me all through the highway drive. In distinction to the Scat Pack on monitor, throttle response offered some instantaneous torque, however then continued to construct because the automotive sped up.
The steering toed a positive line between being heavy and offering suggestions, and the suspension smoothed out all however the worst highway surfaces. In the meantime, the sound insulation blew my thoughts for a Dodge, in a good way.
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
EV Efficiency
Vary efficiency additionally appeared legit. Monitoring my mileage on one loop of the route, I used 44 miles of vary to drive 40 miles. Not dangerous, particularly contemplating that I saved flooring it to attempt to do burnouts. The 100.5kWh battery ought to dwell up pretty properly to the R/T’s official 308-mile vary, I imagine.
That vary drops precipitously to only 241 miles for the Scat Pack, although, regardless of the 2 trims utilizing all the identical elements. Seems pumping 670 horsepower to all 4 wheels in a heavy EV eats up electrons fairly rapidly.
And the load shocked me, too, after I appeared up the specs after the highway drive. I’d have guessed the R/T weighed round 5,000 or 5,200 kilos, however each fashions really weigh 5,838 kilos — or simply above 6,000 kilos with me within the driver’s seat.
Efficiency Unlocked
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
Now I understood a minimum of a little bit extra why the monitor efficiency let me down. However I nonetheless returned to Radford hoping for some extra time on the circuit. Positive sufficient, the road as soon as once more appeared brief so I hopped in and requested for some help to search out the proper settings.
Mentally, I figured that in Observe mode, the Scat Pack places out all of the out there energy as quickly as doable, creating the feeling of jerk that then makes regular acceleration considerably disappointing.
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
After yet one more stint, I made a decision to show each traction and stability management utterly off by holding the TC button on the sprint. Unexpectedly, the Scat Pack awoke noticeably. And never simply within the seat of my pants, but additionally the occasions that I began logging within the onboard knowledge recorder.
The modulation of energy, now not constrained by traction management programming, allowed me to feed again in earlier than apex, when the entrance wheels have been straight to helped pull via corners.
Cracking into the low-41s, the tires and brakes began dying even faster regardless of nonetheless swapping out automobiles each three laps. A lot mass merely eats via consumables when pushing arduous, however I ultimately managed to run two back-to-back laps within the high-41s and known as it a day.
Slide Time
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
I nonetheless wanted to strive one other of the Scat Pack’s modes out on Radford’s skid pad, the place lead teacher Danny Bullock confirmed me easy methods to do some drifting. On this setting, the entrance electrical motor switches off completely, and traction management permits the rear to wind up simply. Too simply, in reality, as I discovered after spinning out instantly thrice in a row and blowing out my left rear tire.
I by no means even acquired wherever near nailing an extended drift arc, and even Bullock spun out giving a demo trip. The skid pad jogged my memory of drifting the Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato on a frozen lake final winter and on a mud monitor earlier than that. Possibly borrowing a bit of data from Ducati bikes, Lambo’s traction and stability management create confidence by hiding within the background.
Dodge may in all probability permit the entrance motor to assist a little bit to manage slides higher, or additional refine the software program to forestall the rear tires from spooling up so rapidly. Then once more, the muscle crowd wants burnouts — and that is actually, positively a muscle automotive, you guys.
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
Physics Can’t Be Overcome
The top of the day quickly approached, and I wound up skipping the drag racing expertise. I figured at 6,000 kilos or so, and 670 horsepower with all-wheel drive, the Scat Pack on a strip merely lacked the requisite shove to really feel wherever close to quick.
And that’s a little bit of a bummer, because the twin motors in a position to hammer out full wattage from one rev ought to be wild. And but the load comes about due to the massive battery pack supporting the motors, in addition to Dodge’s determination to base an EV and ICE automobiles on the identical chassis, plus 4 doorways on the way in which, too.
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
Some little particulars do bear mentioning, although, as I performed round with a Scat Pack on the way in which again to the lodge. The pistol grip shifter helps impart a decidedly retro vibe, however subsequently clashes with the push-button stop-start.
And, the piano black plastic for the rear fascia the place exhaust ideas used to dwell is senseless, particularly whereas spraying up filth and shredding tires. At the least the significantly darkish tint for the elective glass roof blocked out many of the Arizona sunshine, although.
2025 Charger Daytona Assessment: Conclusions
(Picture/Michael Van Runkle)
The 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona takes high marks as the very best EV from Stellantis that I’ve pushed but. Regardless of some pressured muscle automotive gimmicks, way more heritage spirit shines via than within the Mustang Mach-E.
Nonetheless, apparent limitations because of the a number of powertrain choices and eventual four-door variants created challenges that Dodge struggles to beat. Possibly a monitor drive program wasn’t the perfect solution to launch this EV, as a result of on public roads, each the 2025 Charger Daytona R/T and Scat Pack drive surprisingly properly.