Winches are a significant off-road accent. And whereas they’re sometimes powered by a car’s 12-volt electrical system, Stellantis is taking a look at an alternate energy supply for them in hybrids and electrical autos.
In a patent submitting revealed by the US Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) Jan. 21, 2025, and submitted by the automaker a few yr prior, Stellantis discusses working a winch not off a battery pack however with a gearbox linked to one of many car’s electrical drive motors.
Stellantis patent picture of a winch geared to an electrical motor
As described within the doc, the winch could be mounted on a car’s entrance bumper within the standard style. However as a substitute of getting its personal built-in electrical motor to spool and unspool a cable (which is then linked to an anchor level to tug the car out of hassle spots), the winch could be linked to a planetary gearbox after which to drive modules like those Stellantis plans to fabricate in Indiana.
The gearbox would in flip be linked to the differential on the entrance axle, permitting an electrical motor usually used to propel the car to show the winch’s spool as a substitute of the wheels. A winch mode would disconnect the entrance wheels, in addition to activate the parking brake to lock the rear wheels for max stability, in keeping with the submitting.
Stellantis patent picture of a winch geared to an electrical motor
The principle advantage of such an association would seemingly be the benefit of integrating winches into autos from the manufacturing facility. Eliminating the devoted motor for winches would make them extra compact, and doubtlessly simpler to position behind a bumper the place they would not be a supply of aerodynamic drag. Not that present consumers of off-road autos have any drawback becoming aftermarket winches, although.
Built-in winches may very well be used on future Stellantis electrical off-roaders just like the Jeep Recon, a Wrangler-like SUV introduced in 2022, and just lately teased once more in a Tremendous Bowl advert, or maybe a extra off-road-focused model of the Ram 1500 Ramcharger plug-in hybrid or Ram 1500 REV EV. The latter has been pushed again as soon as once more, to late 2026, whereas Ramcharger is because of arrive later this yr.