Standing behind the brand new Dodge Charger is a wierd expertise.  There is no getting away from the rumbling sound—it is simply too loud to overlook—however the noise does not come from exhaust pipes. It does not want any, because it has no engine.

As a substitute, the decrease portion of the Dodge Charger Daytona’s rear bumper is basically an array of sound tools. Put your hand on it and you may really feel the vibrations. Hell, you’ll be able to even really feel it via the leg of your pants for those who stand shut sufficient. It’s kind of like being subsequent to a speaker at a live performance. However what comes out of it is not music; as an alternative, it is the simulated roars, thrums and pops of a Hemi V8. 

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

Completely none of that is obligatory on an electrical car. However this technique, the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust, completely epitomizes this new Charger: a automotive that makes an attempt to go electrical with out dropping any of what legions of Mopar followers liked. 

In some ways, Dodge pulled this off. The Charger Daytona is as viscerally quick and enjoyable as its gas-powered predecessors. However in making an attempt so arduous to comply with that fuel-chugging muscle-car template, Dodge did not precisely ship an ideal EV. 

(Full Disclosure: Dodge despatched us a Charger Daytona EV for per week for testing.)

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

Dodge Charger Daytona: What Is It?

The brand new Charger is one reply to a tough problem dealing with many so-called “legacy” automakers: How do they take merchandise that’ve been profitable for many years and translate them for the electrified period? 

And the gas-powered Charger and Challenger have been profitable. They redefined the complete Dodge model.

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

At this time, if you consider Dodge, you most likely consider old-school American V8 muscle and never the boring, business-dad Stratus and Intrepid sedans that have been in each different driveway of my neighborhood rising up. With greater than 3 million Chargers and Challengers bought, 20 years of starring roles in scores of films and TV reveals and devoted followers all around the world, Dodge’s trendy muscle automotive nameplates have turn into too huge to stroll away from. 

However the world is altering. The long run is electrical and hybrid, even when it is not occurring as shortly as anticipated. That places a lineup of vehicles outlined by their fuel engines in a tough place. The Hemi V8 engine is what made the Charger and Challenger what they’re—the noise, the velocity, the tuning potential, all of it. The place is that purported to go in a world powered by batteries?

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

Dodge’s reply is to stay to that confirmed method as carefully as potential, even when the Hemi has been swapped for a 100.5 kilowatt-hour battery pack and a few electrical motors. The lineup has been reborn as the newly christened Charger Daytona. For now, it is solely provided as a two-door coupe, however a sedan model is forthcoming. (They’re all Chargers now; the Challenger title has been retired, once more.)

At launch, they might be had in base R/T kind with 496 horsepower or as a 670-hp Scat Pack mannequin, like my tester. The less-powerful model hasn’t been a lot of successful, so Dodge will drop the R/T for 2026. For now, each include dual-motor all-wheel drive customary. 

Electrical vary goes as excessive as 308 miles for the R/T, and as much as 241 miles for the Scat Pack. Add the Monitor Package deal and summer time tires and that drops to 216 miles. A {powerful} inline-six variant is coming quickly for these unwilling to go totally electrical, however I can not say I discover that terribly interesting on any degree. If I wished a BMW engine, I might purchase a BMW, not a fats Dodge. 

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

The numbers for the Charger are as strong as ever. Able to doing zero to 60 mph in simply 3.3 seconds and the quarter mile in 11.5 seconds, the Charger Daytona Scat Pack instantly trounces practically the entire outdated gas-powered Mopar fashions. Not unhealthy in any respect for a primary electrical outing, and we all know extra {powerful} variations are coming, hopefully to dethrone the Demon. 

But the efficiency of EVs is past dispute in 2025. Dodge needed to do extra than simply make a quick automotive to persuade the so-called “Brotherhood of Muscle” to get onboard with electrical energy. And that is the place issues get tough.

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

Dodge Charger Daytona: Driving Expertise

Before everything, I’ve to say it was refreshing to drive an electrical coupe. I am unsure I might ever pushed one earlier than this. The American EV panorama is so dominated by crossovers that it was a delight to be in one thing with simply two doorways that is so lengthy and low to the bottom.

However the Charger Daytona isn’t any light-weight sports activities automotive. The Scat Pack’s 5,916-pound curb weight makes it correctly beefy—for context, that is about 1,500 kilos greater than a Challenger SRT Hellcat, and heavier than EV crossovers just like the Tesla Mannequin Y or Chevy Blazer EV. However I can not say it dealt with dissimilarly to the various gas-powered Chargers and Challengers I examined through the years. It is squishy within the corners, it looms massive in site visitors and it is no enjoyable to wheel into tight parking areas. 

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

Just like the outdated Hemi V8 vehicles, none of that issues if you hit the throttle. Overlook the whole lot else about this automotive, each little bit of criticism and controversy about it, and know this: the factor is quick. Silly quick. Not scary quick, like the primary time I drove a Challenger Hellcat within the rain; thank the AWD for that. However quick sufficient to get you into actual hassle. Quick sufficient to have you ever doing silly stuff very quickly. Even by trendy EV requirements, the acceleration right here is crushing and violent. Additionally: who cares if it might’t do a burnout? It is all-wheel-drive. My outdated Subaru WRX could not do this, both, and it was loads of enjoyable. Take care of it.

The Energy Shot button on the steering wheel provides you 15 seconds of the total 670 horsepower, full with these dramatic countdown graphics flashing throughout the motive force’s show display screen. It is all very theatrical and over-the-top; perhaps you will get your site visitors cop to heat as much as it too, in alternate for not writing you that rushing ticket.

Then once more, velocity alone is not a promoting level for EVs. It simply is not. A Chevy Blazer EV SS will do the 0-60 sprint in about the identical time. So will the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. The Tesla Mannequin 3 Efficiency has this factor beat by virtually a half-second. Pace is reasonable within the electrical world. Enjoyable because the Charger Daytona is, quick ain’t that particular. 

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

EV followers could scoff on the thought of simulating engine sounds, and the hardcore V8 crowd could really feel the very same method. As for me, I completely loved the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust expertise and noises all through the cabin. It provides a degree of depth and enjoyable to the driving expertise right here, escalating in tone and quantity as you cycle via driving modes like Monitor, Drag and Drift. A Stealth mode setting within the infotainment display screen switches it off completely, if you need. However I liked getting that soundtrack with not one of the emissions guilt. 

However the expertise falls down in different methods. The suspension cannot deal with all that weight, particularly when the straights give option to a extra winding highway. And it feels genuinely under-braked for the facility it has. Hey, Dodge: name the fellows at Brembo and order a measurement up subsequent time.

Then there’s the EV stuff. The Charger Daytona provides no simulated gear shifts to go together with the engine sounds just like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N does—it is a much less complete-feeling expertise total in comparison with that car. And with out gears to shift, that Fratzonic sound can keep pretty fixed, which feels bizarre. 

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

Additionally, do not count on any true, easy one-pedal driving right here; you’ll be able to dial up regenerative braking ranges utilizing paddles on the steering wheel, however the strongest setting is not sufficient to convey the automotive to a cease by itself. It feels tuned to drive extra like a fuel automotive than an EV, like Dodge knew its followers did not need that have and did not trouble.

There have been just a few instances I needed to cease and surprise: Does this automotive exist as a result of the individuals at Dodge wished to do it, or as a result of they felt they needed to do it? 

Dodge Charger Daytona: Exterior And Inside

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

No less than the design crew wasn’t enjoying round right here. Actual speak, the Charger Daytona appears to be like nice, from just about each angle. It is a good-looking evolution from the outdated Challenger, virtually Seventies in vibe to that automotive’s Nineteen Sixties’ really feel.

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

The centerpiece is that hood-mounted “R-wing” aero therapy that mixes heritage, model and additional EV vary. The coupe physique’s midsection does look a bit elongated because it was clearly made to be a sedan as effectively. Simply do not count on a lot in the way in which of a frunk right here; that entrance finish was nonetheless designed to hold some type of engine. 

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

The inside is far more of a combined bag. On the Scat Pack, it is a hodgepodge of Alcantara, soft-touch supplies and objectively cheap-feeling arduous plastics. I keep in mind the higher trims of the outdated Challenger feeling a bit extra premium than this does, particularly for the value. On the plus facet, the again seat is fairly voluminous for a coupe, owing once more to its sedan intentions. 

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

In reality, it is so roomy that we simply match 4 tires and wheels for video chief Mike Roselli’s Chevrolet SS sedan within the again by folding the seats down—higher, even, than the Audi SQ6 E-tron crossover he carried them in earlier. Who says you want an SUV? 

Dodge Charger Daytona: EV Vary, Charging And Tech

My Scat Pack Monitor Package deal tester (technically a 2024 mannequin 12 months automotive) was EPA-rated at 241 miles of vary. Once I picked it up in New York Metropolis on a late March night, it learn 222 miles at a 98% cost; not horrible, contemplating the temperatures have been within the low 40s and dropped extra as I drove upstate. 

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

Vary within the mid-200s is not precisely mind-blowing, however it is a high-performance car. It isn’t just like the fuel vehicles this factor replaces had superb gasoline financial system. Nonetheless, the Charger Daytona largely delivered what it promised. Effectivity was within the low 2-miles-per-kWh vary, far decrease than a mean electrical SUV however not stunning given the climate and the truth that I used to be driving the hell out of it each probability I received. Some homeowners have reported seeing effectively over three miles per kWh in hotter temperatures. 

Charging was far more of a combined bag. The max DC fast-charging price right here is an uncommon 183 kW when hooked as much as a 350 kW fast-charger. Supposedly, that is good for going from 20% to 80% in 27 minutes. 

When Mike tried it, his first session at an Electrify America 350 kW station failed after going from 20% to 36%. His speeds have been all over; it is unclear if the charger or the Charger was at fault. A second try fared higher, hitting 183 kW speeds instantly. However issues slowed down significantly after that, dropping to 40 kW by simply 55%. That have dragged on longer than anticipated. 

Picture by: Patrick George

I’ve seen a number of charging exams from different retailers and YouTube channels with combined outcomes, to place it politely. The Charger Daytona has a 400-volt electrical system, an enormous battery to refill and it is one of many first EVs on a brand new platform—I feel these things may use some work. Dodge says a quicker “Banshee” model with an 800-volt structure is coming to say the muscle automotive crown, however we’ll need to see if that plan continues to be on monitor. 

What am I even right here?

Picture by: Patrick George

I can also’t say I used to be dazzled by the tech expertise. The menus and graphics look fantastically hi-res, however the automotive’s software program was typically laggy and buggy. And good luck for those who attempt to make sense of its energy consumption graphs, for instance.

Very like the first-generation Toyota bZ4X, the EV components of this automotive can really feel like an afterthought, or one thing created by people who find themselves simply new to this ballgame. We’ll see if over-the-air updates can easy any of this out. 

Dodge Charger Daytona: Pricing And Verdict

One level of rivalry with the Dodge followers thus far is how a lot these vehicles jumped in worth once they went electrical. A primary Charger Dayton R/T began at just a little underneath $60,000. My fully-loaded Scat Pack Monitor Package deal tester got here in at a whopping $85,965, together with vacation spot charges.

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

Did I take pleasure in driving the Charger Daytona? You guess your ass I did. Do I’ve a tough time recommending you spend $86,000 of your individual cash on this car? Sadly, that is additionally a sure. 

In the long run, we’re type of left with an odd animal right here. And Dodge appears to comprehend it. The advertising round this automotive brazenly and aggressively scoffs on the thought of EVs on the whole. Dodge’s personal web site for the brand new Charger Daytona appears to exit of its option to not point out it is electrical. Gross sales have not been nice. The R/T is already DOA.

And given modifications within the higher ranks at guardian firm Stellantis, gleefully, the Hemi V8 is coming again; Dodge hasn’t confirmed it for this automotive however I might put cash on it. 

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack Monitor Package deal

Picture by: Patrick George

I actually get why. Most everybody within the auto business agrees that the longer term is electrical, however the particulars of when and the way we get there are murkier than ever. Everybody who builds vehicles continues to be determining what works and what does not. Possibly old-school American muscle does have a spot in that future; perhaps it must take a unique kind. 

I hope Dodge does not hand over right here, as a result of it is most likely doomed as a model if it does. Possibly there is a newer, higher option to create a future for American EV efficiency than being so married to the outdated Charger and Challenger mannequin of issues. Possibly Dodge must assume outdoors the field a bit extra. We have seen flashes of that earlier than. It may be accomplished.

Even when Dodge has seen super success in trendy instances by drawing on its previous, that previous does not have to outline its future. And the Charger Daytona can really feel just a little too beholden to that previous typically to work. 

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Supply: Patrick George

Contact the creator: patrick.george@insideevs.com