Charger EV vs Hellcat: 0-60 Battle, Price & Performance Guide

You’re at a red light, engine idling. Next to you sits 797 horses under a supercharged hood. You’ve got 670 electric horses humming silently. The light turns green. Who wins?

The answer surprises everyone. The electric Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack hits 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, beating the legendary Hellcat Redeye’s 3.6-second sprint. This isn’t just a race. It’s a revolution wrapped in sheet metal, forcing every muscle car fan to choose between roaring tradition and silent fury.

Keynote: Charger EV vs Hellcat

The 670hp Charger Daytona EV beats the 797hp Hellcat to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds using instant torque and AWD traction. Starting at $59,600 versus $80,000+ for used Hellcats, the electric muscle car delivers lower running costs, modern tech, and repeatable performance while the supercharged V8 offers 203 mph top speed and authentic sound.

The Numbers That Started This War

The stats tell a story that splits the muscle car world in two. The Daytona Scat Pack delivers 670 horsepower through dual motors and all-wheel drive. The Hellcat Redeye counters with 797 horses from its supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI V8, sent exclusively to the rear wheels.

That 0-60 time difference comes down to physics. Electric motors deliver instant torque, every single ounce available the moment you press the pedal. All-wheel drive puts that power down without drama. The Hellcat? It needs three tenths of a second longer just to stop its rear tires from smoking helplessly.

Quarter-mile times show a different story. Both cars cross the line at 11.5 seconds, but the Hellcat traps at 129 mph versus the EV’s 119 mph. Top speed? The Hellcat screams to 203 mph while the Daytona taps out at 135 mph. One dominates the stoplight. The other owns the highway.

Why This Decision Feels So Personal

For 50 years, muscle meant one thing: V8 thunder shaking your chest. Now Dodge asks you to trust electrons instead of explosions. You’re not selecting transportation. You’re declaring who you are.

The Hellcat represents the end of an era. Production stopped in 2023, making every surviving example a piece of history. The Daytona arrives as the future, ready or not. Your garage has room for one. Your heart might be torn between both.

The Raw Speed Reality Check

Launch Wars: Where EVs Embarrass Everything

All-wheel drive changes everything in a drag race. The Daytona plants 670 horsepower through all four contact patches simultaneously. Zero wheelspin. Zero drama. Just violent, linear acceleration that pins you to the seat.

The Hellcat faces a traction nightmare. Its 707 lb-ft of torque wants to turn expensive rear tires into smoke. Even with launch control and sticky rubber, physics fights back. You need skill, patience, and luck to nail a perfect launch without spinning helplessly.

Real-world stoplight races belong to the electric Charger. That 3.3-second 0-60 sprint happens every single time, regardless of driver skill or weather. The Hellcat’s 3.6-second time requires perfect conditions and practiced technique. Rain? Forget it.

Quarter-Mile Truth: It Gets Complicated

By the time both cars cross the quarter-mile mark, they’re dead even at 11.5 seconds. But the Hellcat exits at higher speed, showing how its power builds momentum where the EV’s acceleration flattens.

Weight catches up to the Daytona quickly. At 5,838 pounds, it carries 1,300 pounds more than the Hellcat. That mass becomes an anchor as speeds climb. The electric motors work harder while the supercharged V8 finds its sweet spot.

Rolling races from 40 mph tell yet another story. The Hellcat’s gearing and top-end power delivery start showing advantages. The Daytona still wins from a dig, but highway pulls tilt toward combustion.

Track Day Confessions Most Reviews Skip

The Daytona’s near-6,000-pound curb weight changes everything in corners. Yes, the battery sits low, creating a perfect 50/50 weight distribution. Yes, it pulls 1.01 g on a skidpad versus the Hellcat’s 0.96 g. But physics doesn’t care about balance when you’re hauling this much mass.

Brake performance surprises everyone. The Daytona’s massive 16-inch Brembo rotors stop it from 60 mph in just 111 feet. The Hellcat needs 144 feet from 70 mph. Regenerative braking helps the EV scrub speed before friction brakes even engage.

The Hellcat rewards skilled drivers with adjustability and feedback. Its rear-drive setup slides predictably under power. You feel the limit approaching through the steering wheel. The Daytona pushes toward safe understeer when pushed hard, prioritizing stability over playfulness.

Your Wallet’s Perspective

Sticker Shock and Hidden Savings

The Charger Daytona R/T starts around $59,600. Step up to the Scat Pack and you’re looking at $73,000 to $75,000. The Hellcat Redeye Widebody commanded $91,250 new, though production ended in 2023.

Used Hellcats now trade as collectibles. Clean examples fetch $80,000 or more, especially Last Call editions. Demand exceeds supply for the supercharged swan song. Federal tax credits swing the math toward the EV. Lease one and you can claim the full $7,500 credit immediately, dropping effective monthly payments substantially.

Calculate your real investment after incentives. A $74,000 Daytona Scat Pack becomes $66,500 after credits. That puts it thousands below a used Hellcat’s asking price, with zero miles and a full warranty.

The Five-Year Money Reality

Electricity costs roughly four cents per mile when charging at home. The Daytona consumes 43 to 48 kWh per 100 miles. Drive 15,000 miles annually and your energy bill hits about $1,180 per year.

The Hellcat’s supercharged appetite demands premium fuel. At 15 mpg combined, you’ll burn 1,000 gallons covering the same distance. Premium gas at four dollars per gallon means $4,000 annually just keeping the tank full. That’s $2,820 more than the EV owner spends each year.

Maintenance costs tilt heavily electric. The Daytona needs tire rotations and cabin filter changes. Its Electric Drive Module fluid gets replaced once every 150,000 miles. No oil changes. No transmission services. No supercharger belt replacements.

Hellcat ownership demands constant feeding. Full synthetic oil changes every 5,000 miles cost $150 to $250 each. High-performance brake jobs exceed $1,000. Rear tires wear frighteningly fast under hard use, needing replacement every 10,000 to 15,000 miles at $1,200 to $2,000 per set.

Resale Crystal Ball

Last Call Hellcats already command collector premiums. Limited production and finality create scarcity. Manual transmission models fetch six figures at auction. The V8 muscle car chapter closed with these cars, cementing their future value.

EV depreciation remains uncertain. First-generation electric performance cars face battery anxiety and rapid tech advancement. Will the Daytona hold value like the Hellcat, or depreciate like most EVs? Time will tell, but early adopters accept this risk.

Insurance companies charge heavily for both. The Daytona’s instant acceleration and repair complexity push premiums to roughly $548 monthly. Hellcat rates climb even higher, averaging $627 to $687 monthly depending on trim. Theft statistics and speed capabilities terrify actuaries.

Living With Your Choice Daily

Morning Commute Confessions

The Hellcat announces itself violently. Cold starts shake walls. The supercharger whine carries blocks. Neighbors either love you or hate you. There’s no middle ground. Thirteen mpg in city driving means you’re intimate with every gas station in town.

The Daytona leaves silently unless you activate the Fratzonic exhaust. Your 5 AM departure won’t wake the neighborhood. You start every morning with a full charge if you plugged in overnight. Range reads 260 to 308 miles depending on model and conditions.

Both cars turn parking lots into car shows. People stare. They ask questions. They pull out phones for photos. The muscle car magnetism transcends powertrains. Attention comes standard.

The Charging vs Fueling Dance

Home charging transforms ownership. Install a Level 2 charger for $1,000 to $3,000 and you’ll add roughly 25 miles of range per hour. Overnight charging means you never visit public chargers for daily driving.

Road trips demand planning. DC fast charging adds 50 to 100 miles in 10 minutes under ideal conditions. But you need to locate chargers, wait 20 to 30 minutes for meaningful range, and hope they’re working. Gas stations remain everywhere, serving the Hellcat in five minutes flat.

The Daytona supports both CCS and NACS charging standards, opening access to Tesla Superchargers. Infrastructure improves monthly. What frustrates today becomes routine tomorrow. Early adoption requires patience.

Weekend Warrior Adventures

Point the Hellcat anywhere. Gas stations blanket America. Rural adventures pose zero logistical challenges. Track days favor quick refueling between sessions. Five minutes and you’re back terrorizing apex speeds.

The EV requires forethought. Check charging infrastructure before heading into remote areas. That spontaneous mountain drive might need route adjustment. Range anxiety fades after the first month, then resurfaces unexpectedly on that one unplanned detour.

Both cars deliver weekend grins. The Hellcat rewards with mechanical symphony. The Daytona shocks with relentless thrust. Different paths, same destination: happiness.

The Sound Experience That Divides Families

Hellcat’s Legendary Symphony

The supercharger whine defines the Hellcat experience. That high-pitched, menacing scream rises and falls with your right foot. It’s addictive. It’s intoxicating. It announces your presence from blocks away.

Beneath the blower whine sits the deep V8 rumble. The 6.2-liter engine’s exhaust note carries that classic American muscle tone. Combined, they create a mechanical symphony that purists worship. This sound can’t be faked or synthesized. It’s authentic violence.

Cold starts shake garage walls. Full-throttle acceleration borders on antisocial. The Hellcat doesn’t apologize for volume. It celebrates noise as a feature, not a bug. For many enthusiasts, this soundtrack justifies every compromise.

EV’s Fratzonic Theater

Dodge spent millions engineering emotion into silence. The Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust uses dual transducers and passive radiators housed in a tuned enclosure. It physically moves air, creating pressure waves you feel through the chassis.

The system projects 126 decibels at full chat, matching the Hellcat’s output. The sound reacts dynamically to throttle inputs, mimicking traditional exhaust behavior. You can customize intensity through the app or silence it completely with Stealth Mode.

Reception splits audiences. Some find it surprisingly effective, delivering genuine physical sensation and preserving muscle car character. Others dismiss it as artificial theater, lacking the soul of combustion. The Fratzonic debate won’t settle soon.

Dodge’s investment proves that sound matters profoundly. Raw performance numbers don’t define muscle cars alone. Drama, passion, and auditory violence complete the package. Whether synthesized emotion satisfies like authentic roar remains deeply personal.

Performance Features You’ll Actually Use

EV’s Tech Arsenal

Drift mode, donut mode, and launch control come standard. The Daytona lets you slide sideways, spin circles, and nail perfect launches without requiring advanced skills. Technology democratizes hooliganism.

Over-the-air updates add features while you sleep. Dodge can improve your car remotely, enhancing performance or adding capabilities months after purchase. Your Charger gets better with age, not worse.

One-pedal driving transforms traffic. Lift the throttle and regenerative braking slows the car aggressively, recapturing energy and reducing brake wear. You rarely touch the brake pedal in normal driving. The learning curve lasts one commute.

Hellcat’s Analog Thrills

Line lock enables perfect burnouts. Hold the front brakes, mash the throttle, and melt rear tires into smoke. It’s childish. It’s wonderful. It requires zero talent beyond bravery.

Launch control demands skill despite computer assistance. You need to manage wheelspin, modulate power, and feel the car’s behavior. Nailing a perfect launch feels earned, not given.

No screens separate you from mechanical violence. The Hellcat rewards engagement. You row gears, manage boost, and wrestle power. Modern assists soften its edge, but analog thrills remain at the core.

What Dodge Won’t Tell You

Hellcat’s Known Demons

Supercharger heat soak ruins consecutive runs. After three hard pulls, intake temperatures climb. Power drops. The engine pulls timing to protect itself. Summer track days require cooling breaks or the SRT Power Chiller option.

Rear tires vanish under enthusiastic driving. Expect 5,000 miles from a set if you’re having fun. Budget accordingly. Hellcat ownership includes a tire fund.

Parts availability dries up as production ends. Common service items remain stocked, but specialty SRT components grow scarce. Future repairs might require patience and premium pricing.

EV’s Growing Pains

Software bugs surface in early production. You’re paying to be a beta tester. Over-the-air updates fix issues gradually, but frustration comes with pioneering territory.

Battery degradation beyond 100,000 miles remains unknown. First-generation performance EV longevity lacks long-term data. Warranty covers eight years or 100,000 miles, but beyond that enters speculation.

Service networks still catch up. Not every Dodge dealer understands EV systems deeply. Finding qualified technicians for complex repairs might require travel or waiting. The infrastructure lags the product.

Environmental Reality (Yes, It Matters)

The Guilt Factor

The Hellcat produces 650 grams of CO2 per mile. It’s an environmental disaster that sounds glorious. If carbon footprint concerns you, look elsewhere.

The Daytona produces zero tailpipe emissions. Your environmental impact depends entirely on your local power grid. Coal-heavy regions shift pollution upstream. Renewable-heavy grids make EVs genuinely cleaner.

Battery production carries environmental costs. Mining lithium, cobalt, and nickel damages ecosystems. Manufacturing emissions exceed traditional vehicles initially. EVs break even after 15,000 to 30,000 miles depending on energy sources.

Future-Proofing Your Purchase

Gas bans approach major cities. California mandates zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035. Other states follow similar paths. Your Hellcat might become impractical in urban cores within a decade.

EV infrastructure improves exponentially. Today’s charging frustration becomes tomorrow’s convenience. Betting on electric means betting on infrastructure investment continuing.

Resale markets shift toward electric preference among younger buyers. Collector value preserves the Hellcat long-term, but daily driver appeal trends electric. Consider your eventual exit strategy.

Which Beast Matches Your Life?

Choose the Hellcat If You:

You crave mechanical connection above digital perfection. The manual transmission or paddle shifters matter more than launch control nannies. You want to feel every explosion, hear every note, and wrestle real power.

Gas stations don’t bother you. Thirteen mpg feels like freedom, not penalty. You view refueling as pit stops between fun, not problems interrupting life.

That V8 therapy matters to your soul. The Hellcat’s symphony provides something therapy can’t. Stress melts under full throttle. The sound alone justifies existence.

You’re buying before they’re gone. Last Call Hellcats become instant classics. You understand scarcity creates value. Future generations will envy your garage.

Go Electric If You:

You love pioneering technology. Being first with innovation excites rather than terrifies you. Beta testing through ownership feels like participation, not punishment.

Home charging suits your life. You have a garage, predictable daily routes, and electrical capacity for a Level 2 charger. You wake to full range daily.

Instant acceleration without drama satisfies you. That relentless, silent violence feels more thrilling than building power through rev ranges. You want speed accessible to everyone, not just skilled drivers.

Lower running costs matter long-term. Saving $2,800 annually on energy and thousands on maintenance appeals to your practical side. Performance shouldn’t require sacrificing financial sense.

The Hybrid Option Nobody Mentions

The 2026 Charger Sixpack arrives soon with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six producing 550 horsepower. It bridges the gap for undecided buyers, offering better efficiency than the Hellcat without abandoning internal combustion entirely.

This compromise satisfies neither purist camp completely but captures buyers unable to commit fully either direction. It represents Dodge’s acknowledgment that one powertrain won’t satisfy everyone.

The Missing Pieces Other Reviews Skip

Real Ownership Costs

Hellcat tires cost $2,000 per set. Enthusiastic driving means replacing them every 5,000 to 10,000 miles. Budget $4,000 to $8,000 for tires over five years.

EV charging installation ranges from $1,000 for basic 240-volt outlets to $3,000 for dedicated Level 2 units with smart features. This one-time cost pays dividends in convenience.

Extended warranties matter differently for each platform. The Daytona’s battery coverage proves crucial beyond the standard eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty. The Hellcat needs powertrain protection as specialty repairs grow expensive.

Over five years, expect to spend roughly $152,000 owning the Daytona versus $189,000 for the Hellcat. That $37,000 difference includes purchase price, energy, insurance, maintenance, and depreciation. Your specific situation adjusts these figures substantially.

Daily Usability Surprises

The EV’s frunk adds 1.5 cubic feet of storage the Hellcat can’t match. Small but useful for keeping groceries separate or storing charging cables.

Hellcat visibility suffers in parking lots. Those massive haunches and small windows create blind spots. The Daytona’s modern camera systems help navigate tight spaces despite similar size.

Winter performance tilts heavily toward the AWD EV. The Hellcat becomes a widebody sled on snow or ice. Rear-wheel drive and 707 lb-ft don’t mix with precipitation. The Daytona confidently powers through weather that parks the Hellcat.

Community and Culture

Hellcat owners wave at each other. It’s an instant brotherhood, a shared understanding of choosing noise over sense. Cars & Coffee events celebrate your arrival.

EV forums focus on charging strategies and efficiency tips. The community feels more tech-focused than visceral. You’re trading wrench talk for kilowatt-hour optimization.

Reactions vary wildly by location. Urban areas celebrate the silent EV. Rural communities question its manhood. Automotive enthusiasm fragments along powertrain lines. Your local car culture determines daily reception.

Your Next Move

Before You Decide:

Test drive both extensively. Not dealer lot circuits. Real driving on real roads. Highway merges. Twisty back roads. Stop-and-go traffic. Feel the difference beyond specifications.

Calculate your actual daily mileage honestly. Most people drive 30 to 40 miles daily. The Daytona’s 260-mile minimum range covers that easily. Your routine might not require road trip capability.

Inspect local charging infrastructure personally. Apps show charger locations, but visit them. Confirm they work. Understand how far you’ll drive for DC fast charging. Reality beats research.

Consider your parking situation critically. Do you have garage access? Can you install a charger? Street parking makes EV ownership dramatically harder. The Hellcat requires nothing beyond a parking space.

Questions to Answer:

Do you want attention for sound or silence? Both cars attract eyeballs, but for opposite reasons. Which spotlight appeals to your personality?

Is your commute under 200 miles daily? Honestly assess your driving patterns. The Daytona handles predictable routines brilliantly but challenges spontaneity.

Can you install home charging? This question decides EV ownership success more than any other factor. Without home charging, reconsider entirely.

Does instant torque or building power excite you more? Electric thrust arrives fully formed. V8 power builds with revs and boost. Different thrills require different wiring in your brain.

The Timeline Factor:

Hellcats exist only in the used market now. Production ended in 2023. Finding clean examples grows harder monthly. Prices likely rise as scarcity increases.

Daytona Chargers ship now, though dealer markups vary. Some markets add thousands over MSRP. Shop multiple dealers or wait for supply to increase.

Sixpack gasoline versions arrive in 2026. If neither EV nor Hellcat satisfies completely, patience might deliver the compromise you need.

Your decision window narrows. The Hellcat won’t get cheaper or more available. The Daytona represents commitment to electric performance. Choose soon or watch options evaporate.

Conclusion: There’s No Wrong Answer, Just Your Answer

I’ve laid out every angle, from quarter-mile times to quarterly fuel costs. The Charger EV rewrites muscle car rules with instant, silent violence. The Hellcat stands as the glorious last gasp of supercharged American thunder.

Your choice distills to this: Do you want to own the future or preserve the past? Do you need your speed with soundtrack, or will pure acceleration satisfy your soul? The beautiful truth? Both cars deliver thrills that’ll make you grin like an idiot. Both transform commutes into events. Both make parking lots more interesting.

Pick the one that makes your heart race when you see it in your garage. Whether battery-powered progress or supercharged tradition, you’re getting a machine that refuses boring. And isn’t that what muscle cars have always been about?

Dodge Charger Daytona EV vs Hellcat (FAQs)