SCOUT EV’s Jumping on the Bandwagon of Using Small Gas Motor Mileage Extenders

[AbleGuy]

How’s 500 miles range sound to you for an EV?

Even better, how about expanding on that range by hauling an additional gallon or two of gas in a Rotopax to refill the small gas generator tank?

Well, if that sounds enticing, the newest plans from VW’S Scout badged EV’s have you covered!

This use of a small gas powered generator/on board battery charger is rapidly catching on with EV manufacturers as an easy way to address the range anxiety issues scaring new buyers away. Mercedes, Chevy, and now VW/Scout have joined in building this simple solution into the propulsion systems of their new EV’s.

I’d be much more tempted to buy an EV with this technology added to it, especially now that new studies more favorably compare the useful life of EV’s to ICE vehicles.

What are your thoughts? Is the use of the small gas powered range extender/generator a game changer for you?

Read more:

https://www.autoblog.com/news/a-gas-engine-equipped-scout-is-coming-ceo-says

 

[AbleGuy]

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Has Scout Motors Cracked the Code to Make Electric Vehicles Enticing?

This decade-old idea could be a game changer for longtime internal combustion buyers.

www.popularmechanics.com

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What Is Scout Motors’ Range-Extender?​

Scout Motors’ range-extending solution is called the Harvester—a nod to the legacy International Harvester brand—and provides an extra 150 miles of range on top of the 350 miles you get in the vehicles without it.

The vehicle has an internal combustion engine that, rather than driving the wheels, acts exclusively as a generator for the vehicle’s high-voltage battery. We’ve previously seen range extenders in vehicles like the BMW i3 and Chevrolet Volt, but Scout Motors is the latest automaker to bring it back convincingly.

We’d be remiss not to mention that Chevrolet’s Silverado EV pickup can already go 460 miles on a single charge. So what’s an extra 40 miles of range?

Scout Motors pushed the Harvester system to give customers the confidence to adventure out in the wilderness. We don’t disagree that the Silverado EV’s 460 miles of electric range is impressive. We’ve driven vehicles like GMC’s Hummer EV that use GM’s Ultium platform and it’s brilliant.

However, even the best platform will struggle when it comes time to juice up its batteries. Most off-roading spots are generally out in the boonies, where gas stations are few and far between—charging stations are almost non-existent.

But, when going off-road, gasoline is pretty easy to carry and fast to refill. You can carry extra gas in Rotopax canisters, stackable plastic containers that store fuel, diesel, or even water on overland adventures.

For context, the smallest available Rotopax holds a gallon of liquid, making 500 miles just the start of what’s possible. Scout’s publicity photos include a tire swing with provisions to fit a couple Rotopax.

 

[Jeremy P.]

I think it's a good solution for a lot of people in North America, given the distances people may travel especially while towing and the many gaps in high speed charging. Having a decent battery range of 100+ miles to cover the majority of use and the fact that in most of the country it's significantly cheaper per mile to charge at home compared to buying gas will hopefully encourage people to only use the generator on road trips. As people form new habits and become comfortable with charging, maybe they will be okay with a full electric for their next vehicle (especially as batteries keep getting better and number of charging stations increases).

We have a 2014 bmw i3 rex, which has a battery range of about 70 miles and a small engine that runs a generator when the battery is low which is the same concept as the Scout. It now has 130k miles and a very small portion of that is from the generator running. Since the noise and vibration of the engine running detracts from the driving experience it actually encourages us to do as many miles as possible on electric only. That may be an indicator of other people's experience with the scout, where the engine covers that last 5% of use cases, and greatly reduces people's anxiety over running out or finding places and waiting to charge.