- Scout Motors CEO reveals new details about the upcoming electric and range extender trucks.
- The pure EV will be quicker but the EREV will have more combined range and be better for towing.
- The Traveller SUV is considerably more popular among early reservation holders than the Terra pickup.
The revival of the Scout Motors brand under Volkswagen is one of the most exciting developments on the U.S. electric vehicle scene, but we still don’t know a whole lot about its upcoming vehicles. We’ve seen what they will look like, but very little in the way of technical information or specs. One of the main things that sets Scout apart from other companies is that it plans to offer pure electric and extended-range versions of its vehicles.
Scout president and CEO Scott Keogh recently shared some key information about the brand’s upcoming EV and EREV powertrains during an appearance on a MotorTrend podcast. The Scout boss revealed that there will be range, performance and other differences between the two powertrains.
The “Harvester” range extender will feature a four-cylinder engine acting as a generator, likely sourced from Volkswagen, the automaker behind the brand’s revival. Keogh said it’s a “good, high-output four-cylinder that packages well.” The engine won’t have a turbocharger, so if it is a VW unit, it will require extensive modification for its role as a generator.
Keogh also revealed that the Harvester will have a battery capacity of around 60 or 70 kilowatt-hours, roughly half of what Scout wants to give the pure EV variant, whose battery capacity will be somewhere around 120 or 130 kWh.
The EREV will have a battery-only range of around 150 miles, but combined with a full tank, that will increase to over 500 miles. Keogh mentioned that this variant would get a “creative” solution for air intake and cooling since the engine is right in front of the rear axle, but he didn’t detail this further. It will likely have a hidden air intake.
Together with the fuel tank, they will occupy the space that would have been used up by the larger battery pack in the pure EV variant. This means the interior packaging will be the same between the two versions, both of which will have the same capacity in the front trunk.
The BEV variant has a planned range of 350 miles on one charge, and it will also have better straight-line performance, with an estimated acceleration time from 0 to 60 mph of around 3.5 seconds. The EREV will complete the sprint in 4.5 seconds, according to Keogh.
The two versions will also have different battery chemistries, which will also affect the vehicles’ power outputs. Keogh hinted that the EREV would get a cheaper battery chemistry which would result in less power, but he didn’t go into specifics.
It would make sense for the EREV to have a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery and the EV to get a nickel manganese cobalt battery to take advantage of the two chemistries’ strengths. The former is more affordable and takes frequent charging to 100% better, while the latter has a higher energy density and is the preferred choice for the longest range and highest performance EVs.
Both variants will have the same 2,000-pound payload capacity, and their tow rating will be similar but not identical. The extended-range models will be preferred by those who tow over longer distances, and in Terra pickup guise it will be a direct rival to the upcoming Ram 1500 Ramcharger. There may also be a bigger (and still untapped) market for extended-range pickups, which could explain why Ram canceled the fully electric 1500 Rev and will only offer the range extender.
The range extender will have at least three driving modes: one will maximize use of the available current in the battery, one will be akin to a traditional hybrid driving mode that tries to make efficient use of the generator and the third will rely more on the combustion engine rather than the battery.
Keogh confirmed that “over 50%” of all early Scout reservations are for range extenders, while 70% are for the Traveller SUV body. He also noted that 85% of Scout’s supply chain is localized in the United States, which means the manufacturer won’t be very dependent on foreign imports, and its vehicles qualify for the full $7,500 federal EV tax credit.
However, this enticing EV incentive may be eliminated under the Trump administration far sooner than the fourth quarter of 2027, when Scout intends to kick off production of the Traveller and the Terra. These trucks will roll out of a new $2 billion factory in South Carolina, which has a planned annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles. Scout also wants to bypass the traditional dealer model and sell vehicles directly to customers, but it seems that every time a company makes this announcement, the dealers want to make it change its mind in court.
