Year sago I saw a Scout with special Plate GETMUP

New Article on the Scout/Terra seems as we discussed, most don't want straight EV, more are interested in the extended-range EVs (EREVs)

Link

Scout: America's Charging Infrastructure Helped Demand For Terra, Traveler EREVs

Scout, the Volkswagen-owned electric carmaker, has learned through simple economics that American buyers aren't as hot on EVs as they initially thought. Folks are still ordering both the Scout Traveler, the brand's SUV, and the Terra, its truck, but many prefer to order the vehicles as extended-range EVs (EREVs), instead of purely electric vehicles. In a Bloomberg interview, CEO Scoot Keogh said that selling EVs to “a portion of America” is tough, and range anxiety, coupled with buyers hesitant to rely on public charging, led to an option with a gasoline engine under the hood.


Let's expand on the above definition of an extended-range EV before continuing. Scout's EREV offerings sound like hybrids but differ in some critical ways. A traditional hybrid might use its gasoline engine to motivate the car, supplementing the electric motors and battery with both horsepower and added range. Scout's range extender is a gasoline engine. Yes, but instead of driving the wheels, this engine charges the battery should you run low. It's a nice fallback for a brand building itself on the rugged “get out there and explore (but dot it comfortably and for about 80-100 grand)” ethos that made Rivian what it is today.

And while the company does offer fully electric versions of both the Traveler and the Terra, adding the range-extended options for both gives Scout “a 50-state vehicle” that'll help broaden the already small brand's appeal, or at least Keogh hopes so.

“The two challenges we see with electrification, charging infrastructure — and of course this takes that all off the table — and plus there’s convenience. I think with those two things, a range-extender makes a lot of sense,” says Keogh. The CEO's reasoning is appealing to early buyers, and reservations for Scout's EREVs are out-stripping demand for the fully electric models.

Scout's range-extender option was only added in October, and seeing it so rapidly overtake demand reflects an interest in out-and-out range in EVs. Scout advertises the range of its SUV and truck can exceed 500 miles with the range extender. That figure is a hard one to turn down, and challenges with charging infrastructure, from poor public access to sporadic functionality, certainly aren't helping the case for fully electric driving. Whether this demand is sustained as our infrastructure improves, and whether Scout can leverage this into a niche of its own, remains to be seen.

It’s not range anxiety, it’s range reality.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
Back in 1980 when I graduated college, I came very close to buying a diesel Scout. I ended up with a Bronco. The old Scout would have been a classic to own now!

Until it rusted out...

My uncle had one, and my neighbor had one. They were pretty cool and tough.