Ram TRX Vs Rivian R1T Desert Drag Race: Who’s The Real T-Rex?

Before the Rivian R1T came out, the Ram 1500 TRX was the most powerful production pickup truck available in the United States.

This factory-built truck makes 702 horsepower at 6,100 rpm and 650 lb-ft of torque at 4,800 rpm from a 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 engine taken straight out of a Challenger Hellcat. That's enough muscle for a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 118 mph—limited only because of the standard all-terrain tires.

On its customer website, Ram has this to say about its performance truck:

"The Ram TRX is—by far—the quickest, fastest, most powerful pickup truck in the world."

It's time the truck maker updated this description because the all-electric Rivian R1T renders two of those three attributes obsolete. 

The R1T is more powerful, boasting 835 horsepower and 908 lb-ft of torque from a quad-motor AWD electric powertrain. It's also quicker from 0 to 60 mph, needing as little as 3 seconds to cover the sprint. On paper, the Ram 1500 TRX only beats it when it comes to the top speed, as the Rivian is limited to 115 mph.

To find out which truck is quicker in real life, Edmunds Cars took the 2022 Ram TRX and 2022 Rivian R1T to a dry lake bed and put them to the acceleration test. The two trucks were first subjected to a standing start quarter-mile drag race and then to a rolling start drag race from 30 mph.

The slippery dirt surface obviously makes things more interesting and both trucks should do okay since they are all-wheel drive and equipped with all-terrain tires. The Rivian clearly has the upper hand because of the extra 133 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque—especially the fact that the peak torque is delivered instantly and without any transmission losses.

The Ram 1500 TRX does have the advantage of being slightly lighter, tipping the scales at 6,350 pounds versus the Rivian R1T's 7,148 pounds. Will that help it offset the electric truck's superior power and torque? Watch the video to find out.

Watch more Rivian R1T drag races

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