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The Dodge Charger is a car that got it right for years. That’s why Dodge barely tweaked the blueprint after bringing it back in 2006, leaving it on the same old LX-based platform with each refresh and engine update. But now, for 2024, it’s fully new in pretty much every way—from the STLA Large platform to its standard twin-turbo inline-six and, yup, the electric Daytona models that produce up to 670 horsepower. Indeed, the Charger is another animal now.
You’ve surely noticed by now that it looks different. It has two doors, just like the original! And it also comes with four doors, if you’d rather have that. Either way, the design is an angular departure from the outgoing Charger, and you could even call it retro. The back end is especially reminiscent of older Mopars with the straight-across, full-length taillight, and big rear window that lifts up with the hatch. As for the front, it’s inspired by throwback muscle cars but it’s decisively its own thing; the pass-through R-wing on the nose of the electric Daytona models is especially neat.
There’s a lot to cover here as it’s the most significant new car reveal in recent memory, so let’s get cracking.
Plug It In
Speaking of the battery-powered Charger Daytona, it comes in two flavors: a 496-hp R/T as well as a 670-hp Scat Pack. They sport an identically sized 100.5-kilowatt-hour battery pack and send power to all four wheels via two electric motors. The R/T makes do with 404 pound-feet of torque while the full-on Scat Pack musters up 627 pound-feet. All this means the R/T can hit 60 miles per hour in 4.7 seconds and scurry down a quarter-mile track in 13.1 seconds, while the Scat Pack’s stat line is expectedly more impressive with a 3.3-second sprint to 60 mph and an 11.5-second time in the quarter mile. Not bad, folks.
There are other implications of the Charger going electric, of course. The Daytona variants weigh a good deal more than their internal combustion counterparts—about 5,835 pounds without a driver. Put me behind the wheel and it’s north of 6,000 pounds. And there’s also the range, which the lower-powered R/T actually fares better at—317 miles compared to 260 miles for the juiced-up Scat Pack.
I found this interesting and I think you will too: The Charger Daytona R/T tops out at 137 mph. The Daytona Scat Pack’s max speed is lower than that, even at 134 mph. My bet is it’s due to the 11:1 gearbox; direct drive, in this case, leads to a lower ceiling.
Hemi? Nah, It’s Got a Hurricane
The gas-powered Chargers are different still yet. Gone is the Hemi and in its place is the 3.0-liter Hurricane twin-turbo I6. It also comes in two states of tune—a 420-hp standard output and a 550-hp high output—with power traveling through a ZF eight-speed transmission. These Chargers are all-wheel drive as well, meaning there are no rear-wheel drive models left. They each offer Line Lock, a drive mode created to “remove torque from the front axle and spin the rear tires to clean and warm up the tires before a launch event.” Burnouts are still possible, then, but the Charger is AWD the rest of the time.
I can tell you firsthand that the Hurricane is impressive. I’ve never driven a Charger with that engine—nobody outside Dodge has—but I recently tested a 2025 Ram 1500 with the H.O. I6. It’s chock-full of boost making 28 psi in the top trim, making use of forged internals and a 9.5:1 compression ratio. It doesn’t sound anything like a Hemi but the performance is far and away better than what the naturally aspirated V8 could ever hope for.
It’s worth noting that there are no SRT models at launch, either gas or electric. That presumably means we’ll see even more powerful Chargers at a later date, and we already know the Hurricane I6 can be turned up more. I’m not totally sure what to make of that but it’s something to watch out for after the two-door S.O. Hurricane, R/T, and Scat Pack models hit production in late 2024 with the rest coming in Q1 2025.
This Time, With Feeling
Dodge knows not everyone is thrilled with electrification. Its parent company Stellantis has been altogether hesitant to push for full EVs. But in offering the Charger Daytona as a solely battery-powered option, it’s added some gizmos and gadgets to make up for the lost feel—at least, it hopes so.
Specific to the Charger Daytona Scat Pack is a pair of trick drive modes: Drift and Donut. You can guess what they do, with the former sending more power to the rear wheels for fat slides and the latter operating similarly to lock up the front wheels and let the back tires spin. That’s one way to make up for the lack of a rear-wheel drive option.
There’s also a PowerShot functionality, which works kind of like the NOS button on arcade cabinet racing games. It’s controlled by a button mounted on the steering wheel that unlocks an additional 40 horsepower for 15 seconds on R/T and Scat Pack models. That’s neat, but it means the R/T and Scat Pack are actually making 456 hp and 630 hp, respectively, in most conditions.
Another feature that’s either gimmicky or cool depending on your outlook is the Charger Daytona’s Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust. It’s a funky name, I know, but it’s borrowed from the old-school Fratzog logo that Dodge used half a century ago and is now reviving on the Charger. The automaker hasn’t released a finalized sound clip of it quite yet but Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis has made clear that it’s been a work in progress. The first iteration featured on the Charger Daytona SRT Banshee Concept sounded a little like a big cat growl mixed with an electrical whirring noise. Anywho, it’s supposedly as loud as a Hellcat.
Finally, if you go with the top-shelf Charger Daytona Scat Pack with the added Track Pack, you’ll be treated to dual valve adaptive dampers and 16-inch Brembo brakes with six-piston front calipers and four-piston rears. That suspension has a valve apiece for compression and rebound, and it utilizes three times as many body accelerometers, four times as many wheel-hub accelerometers, and four times the ride height sensors compared to the old Charger. And as for the Brembos, a brake-by-wire eBoost system aids their stopping power by mixing in regenerative deceleration from the electric motors while keeping pedal input in mind.
There’s a lot going on here, but you can tell Dodge has put serious thought into making this a win for enthusiasts.
Even the Inside Is New
The new Charger’s interior is driver-focused, which you can tell just by looking at it. The center stack is canted toward the pilot with the 12.3-inch UConnect 5 infotainment screen displaying all kinds of data, from radio controls and navigation to Dodge’s Performance Pages with timers, gauges, g-force, and even electric powertrain insight. A 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster is standard while a 16-inch cluster screen is also available, providing all that intel in sweet, crispy high-res. The linework and textures are apparently a callback to the 1968 Charger’s instrument panel.
What’s maybe more interesting is the steering wheel. It’s flat at the top and flat at the bottom with paddles behind, even on the Charger Daytona EVs to control regenerative braking. There’s also the PowerShot button I mentioned earlier which puts all the car’s performance features within easy reach.
And if you’re curious, the ambient lighting has 64 color and intensity adjustments. Now that’s customization.
The Verdict From Afar
Well, the Charger isn’t what it used to be—it can’t be. The march of time and emissions regulations mean that there are two paths forward for performance: smaller displacement engines with forced induction or fully electric powertrains. Dodge is doing what it can by offering customers both and allowing them to choose which fits them best.
I don’t have any strong opinions just yet, but I will say the Charger Daytona EVs are the most complete electric performance cars we’ve seen from a domestic automaker. I reckon it’ll be blazingly quick, and who knows—maybe all those gimmicks will make it as fun as the old ones. It’s impossible to say until Dodge lets us drive them, but this is what the Charger is like now. It’s time to adapt.
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com
