My Fourth EV Is A 2025 Charger EV, After Owning Model Y, Mustang Mach-E, And F-150 Lightning, This Electric Muscle Car Finally Gets Everything Right

Nobody, absolutely nobody, has ever lain awake at night, staring at their bedroom ceiling, pining for an electric Dodge Charger. Sure, Tesla fans might fantasize about EVs, and Mustang fans now get their own Mach-E, but the Dodge Charger? Electric? That’s a fever dream cooked up by Stellantis in a boardroom with more cappuccino machines than torque wrenches. And yet, here we are, thanks to the peculiar brilliance (or madness) that only Dodge could muster, looking at a car that is, in the finest Mopar tradition, as illogical as it is magnetic.

Dodge Has Done Big Things

Dodge, the company that gave us the Viper, an objectively dumb but fun-to-drive car, and Hellcats that still stalk the earth. So when Stellantis announced an electric Charger, the world collectively shrugged, then groaned, then peered at it sideways, because that’s how we greet most Dodge announcements, especially the ones that sound like a dare.

Yet, as the initial skepticism wears off and real-world reviews trickle in, something funny is happening, people are confused, but a little bit charmed. Is this the Maserati effect? A car succeeding at nothing but somehow winning you over in the process?

“I wouldn’t touch a Stellantis product with a ten ft pole. They already don’t have very good quality control for their gas cars let alone an EV with tons of electronics in it. 

That’s Designfanatic88 speaking on r/electricvehicles, a fitting eulogy for any product of this empire, yet one that misses the core of the Charger EV’s unlikely appeal. Dodge, for all its questionable corporate parents, has a knack for delivering cars that make no sense and yet, in the most American way possible, work. Not in the clinical, algorithm-driven way of a Tesla, but in the way a Bright Blue ‘70 Challenger RT worked, poorly, sometimes, but memorably and with style.

What You Need To Know About The Charger EV

• The Charger Daytona EV offers two trims… the R/T with 496 horsepower and the Scat Pack with 670 horsepower. The Scat Pack accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds, delivering exhilarating performance.​
• Innovative Sound Experience: To retain the classic muscle car auditory experience, Dodge introduces the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust system. This feature emulates the roar of a traditional V8 engine, producing up to 126 decibels, and can be toggled on or off based on driver preference.​
• Utilizing a 350-kW DC fast charger, the battery can be charged from 20% to 80% in approximately 24 minutes, ensuring minimal downtime.

Let’s hear from the frontline. Dontay_sv, a seasoned EV owner, sums it up perfectly: 

“This is my fourth EV, and honestly, it’s probably the one that I’ve liked the most.

I’ve been into electric vehicles for a while, and the Charger feels like the first one that actually feels like a car with an electric powertrain, not just an EV designed for efficiency.” 

That’s a massive compliment, one Dodge’s best engineers could only hope to get after a long day of battling supplier meetings and overcooked Giga-casting fantasies. And it’s not just the performance or the looks; it’s the personality. 

People Are Confused

But why are people so puzzled? Because the Charger EV does everything in the weirdest way possible. It looks angry, heavy, overstyled, decidedly not an exercise in EV aerodynamics. The interior? Odd but endearing, with material choices that feel pulled from whatever supplier happened to answer their phone that day. Yet the result, as SharkBaitDLS reports, is: 

“The fit and finish is honestly surprisingly good. The interior lighting is nice, the suede seats are comfortable and supportive, and the stitching and materials all look nice.

My only complaint on the interior is for some reason, the rear view mirror isn’t auto-dimming, and instead, you have to go into a menu on the touchscreen to do it. Absolutely awful UX there. The rear seats are unexpectedly nice too. I’ve got the two-door model, but with how wide the doors open and how much space there is, I’ve driven 5 adults around just fine. Plus, the heated rear seats make those folks happy.” 

Dodge Actually Cares

In other words: exactly what you’d expect from Dodge when they actually care, and absolutely none of what you’d expect from anyone else.

And then there’s the experience. 

The, 

“Fratzonic Exhaust”

A name only a corporate committee could love, but, in practice, sounds like a V8 filtered through a Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack. 

“It’s a mashup of electric drive and a rumbling cammed V8. It’s rad. Sounds like a car straight out of Cyberpunk 2077,” 

Says SharkBaitDLS. If you’ve never experienced a simulated cammed idle on an EV, you owe yourself the trip, if only to understand how deep the rabbit hole goes. It isn’t about what makes sense, but what makes you smile.

Here’s the catch, and it’s a big one: the Charger EV isn’t great at anything. 

“The car is not the best driving in pretty much any performance metric that I can say, the steering is responsive in track mode but not as good as the Taycan, it gets beat in acceleration by all kinds of vehicles, and it can’t hide its weight entirely even with the massive tires and brakes,” 

Writes SharkBaitDLS. Range? Atrocious. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to break over 200 miles in real-world driving.” 

Price? 

“The one I test drove stickered for $10K more than the BMW i4 M50 I drove. That’s nuts,” 

NetJnkie observed.

But here’s where the charm sets in, nobody cares. People walk up to the car at red lights and gas stations. They want to know more. 

“Every time I get behind the wheel, I can’t help but have a big grin on my face. There’s just something about the way this car drives, the power, and the presence that makes every ride feel like an event.” 

Says Atrus1212, owner of a Charger EV Daytona Scat Pack. You get the feeling that, much like classic Maseratis, the Charger EV is loved for its flaws as much as its strengths. It is, at heart, a touring car, meant to be comfortable, present, and a little ridiculous, whether powered by dinosaur juice or through a battery pack.

A Brand We Love

• This acronym represents Dodge's high-performance division, originally established to develop enhanced versions of Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep vehicles. ​
• SRT's roots trace back to 1989 with "Team Viper," the group responsible for developing the Dodge Viper. This team later evolved into Specialty Vehicle Engineering (SVE), then Performance Vehicle Operations (PVO), and finally adopted the SRT name in 2004. ​
• SRT is dedicated to producing vehicles with superior performance, incorporating powerful engines, advanced handling, and braking systems. Models like the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and Dodge Charger SRT exemplify this commitment to performance excellence.

This is a car that, by rights, should not exist. And yet, if you squint a bit, you can see the wisdom in what Dodge and SRT have done. After all, these are the people who took the Viper, a car with the subtlety of a hand grenade, and Hellcats that still terrorize city streets, and made them icons.

Maybe, just maybe, they deserve a little trust as they drag the muscle car ethos, kicking and screaming, into the future. As Dontay_sv puts it: 

“Yeah, I see a lot of hate from non-owners, I understand if you’re a Mopar guy, but like I said, the hurricane i6 was announced way back, Mopar didn’t abandon the ICE, just the supercharged V8 lol.”

So, what does the Charger EV actually succeed at? It’s simple, it’s a conversation starter, a statement on wheels, and a perfectly imperfect ambassador for whatever the future of American performance cars is supposed to be. As one commenter on r/electricvehicles succinctly put it, 

“I feel like I should hate it, but it honestly looks sick!” 

It’s too expensive, not all that efficient, and yet, you want one. Maybe not to own, but at least to drive, just to see what happens when you put your foot down and the future growls back at you.

Are you looking forward to the potential return of a V8-based Dodge Charger?

Share your thoughts in the comment section and let us know what you think! 

Image Sources: Stellantis Media Center, r/ElectricVehicles

Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.