- EV model presents 350 miles; larger battery could be detrimental
- EREV system will go 150 miles on battery, then 350 miles on gasoline
- Guarantees full system efficiency whether or not on battery or vary extender
- Rivian-based structure guarantees to maintain electrical vans “contemporary”
It’s been almost two years since Volkswagen’s Scout Motors electrical SUV model introduced a $2 billion South Carolina manufacturing facility and began to emerge from stealth mode. However it will likely be one other two years earlier than these fashions are due for his or her first deliveries.
Based mostly on the reveal of its Traveler SUV and Terra pickup in idea variations proven final fall, together with costs mentioned to begin underneath $60,000, and govt feedback so far, Scout has laid out among the fundamentals for the model.
Scout will, on one hand, supply a glance again to the previous: rugged EVs with squared-off styling impressed by the basic Worldwide Harvester SUVs produced from 1960 to 1980. It received’t be a ruse both, as Scout guarantees to construct unparalleled DIY, back-to-basics simplicity into these vans, with an method that makes them straightforward to restore your self.
Scout idea inside
However however these vans might be backstopped by some modern components, together with a totally new infotainment interface referred to as Group UX, plus a zonal structure and software-defined automobile foundation conceived by the brand new three way partnership between the VW Group and Rivian. That’s an thrilling level, and it opens up every kind of alternatives that might add complexity or simplify, relying on the tip product.
May Scout’s standout pairing of nuts and bolts and clicky buttons, crossed with the potential of satellite-data-delivered characteristic upgrades, assist make EVs fashionable with a brand new group, or will it’s the McDLT of electrical SUVs?
It feels like fairly the balancing act from a know-how and engineering perspective, and that’s why Inexperienced Automotive Reviews checked in with Scout Motors chief know-how officer Burkhard Huhnke final month at CES. As these fashions push forward from the idea to the prototype stage, the CTO revealed varied particulars in regards to the model, the vans, and the tech.
Scout Terra idea
Scout: Trailblazing EV range-extender format
From an engineering standpoint, the elephant within the room is that, amongst Volkswagen Group’s core passenger automobile manufacturers—VW, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Bentley, plus Seat, Škoda, and Cupra—Scout is trailblazing. There is no such thing as a present body-on-frame SUV and there’s by no means been an EV with a variety extender.
“It’s in fact a possibility,” mentioned Huhnke. The CTO underscored that it’s the primary body-on-frame automobile within the group, the primary mannequin with the ladder-frame idea, and the primary such automobile with an EREV propulsion system (a plug-in sequence hybrid system, to be dubbed Harvester). “Every part has been developed as a unit—platform—which has the chance as a versatile platform to be scaled, possibly, sooner or later,” he mentioned.
“Our IP has been generated in-house,” mentioned Huhnke, in regards to the EREV system, referring to it as one other core competence for Scout. So the engine, the generator motor, and different parts will come from elsewhere within the VW Group, Huhnke verified, whereas Scout is managing all of it in a unified system.
“The operational technique, it’s utterly ours,” he elaborated. “We can not construct an engine ourselves, however the vary extender itself is so charming; you’re utilizing a BEV structure beneath and simply carrying a sort of DC charging system with you.”
Huhnke didn’t give any hints about what engine, or kind of engine, could be used right here from the huge VW Group components bin. However addressing a possible sore level—ask some former BMW i3 REx house owners—he assured that drivers would have the “full efficiency of the system” whether or not utilizing the battery or continually charging from the vary extender. Based mostly on cutaways proven by Scout Motors, the vary extender might be small, and can mount not underneath the hood however on the rear of the automobile, behind the rear axle and underneath the cargo ground—an method that may preserve the frunk however hopefully not impinge on off-road angles.
Scout Traveler SUV idea
Why does Scout EV peg 350 miles of vary?
Why did Scout determine that 350 miles is sufficient for the BEV, whereas Rivian, as an illustration, pushes to 410 or 420 miles and the Chevy Silverado EV and Cadillac Escalade IQ push it out to 460 miles?
Put bluntly, it might be near the constraints of what suits inside the ladder body. However Scout additionally didn’t wish to be seen in the identical firm as fashions just like the GMC Hummer EV, Huhnke let on. It’s a matter of maintaining weight underneath management—which is what the EREV model achieves.
Cramming in additional batteries, Huhnke defined, could be detrimental. “You may enhance the driving vary by including increasingly more capability into the battery, and that’s growing the load drastically,” he mentioned. “Or it’s maxed out by the prevailing house of the ladder body.”
Scout claiming 500 miles with in gasoline range-extender type
Huhnke mentioned that the EREV model—which Scout CEO Scott Keogh lately mentioned extra prospects had been ordering due to vary nervousness—will ship an electrical driving vary of round 150 miles, then an extra 350 miles with the range-extender. “So in complete, 500 miles, that needs to be enough; it’s a commerce off in between the load equation and the capability of the battery.”
The one different totally electrical fashions that journey on such a setup—physique over ladder body—are the Ford F-150 Lightning and the Mercedes-Benz G-Class EV (or G580 with EQ Know-how, in Mercedes advertising parlance). The latter suits a 116-kwh battery pack contained in the body rails, whereas the Lightning suits as much as 131 kwh. Scout hasn’t mentioned what measurement its battery packs are, but it surely makes clear it didn’t wish to go super-sized.
GM’s full-size electrical pickups and SUVs, as launched within the GMC Hummer EV, make use of a construction that mixes points of body-on-frame and unibody building, counting on a thick battery pack to offer among the structural advantages of a body. However these fashions’ curb weights soar previous 9,000 kilos.
Scout Traveler idea
Scout EVs might be off-roaders to the core
Scout may even want a brand new degree of traction and stability management techniques catered to off-road conditions—and Hunke assured that these are taking type in-house along with chassis and propulsion growth.
“We’re going to have an air suspension built-in as a suspension system itself (his emphasis),” mentioned Huhnke, which is able to enable new ranges of tuning and discount of noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH). And he says it’s how Scout reconciles this with off-roading that might be one other core competence.
“We had determined to have this off-road functionality, and due to this fact we determined to make use of a extra typical method on the chassis and propulsion system,” he mentioned. “Which means we’ve one e-beam (an electrical motor included right into a stable axle), as an illustration, because the rear axle.”
How a lot of all of that is actually being engineered by Scout Motors? Some growth is going on inside Scout, plus “competence in-house to design, simulate, and run sturdiness testing,” defined Huhnke. “After all we’re working along with suppliers. We can not simply rent a complete crew; that doesn’t make sense.”
Scout Terra and Traveler ideas
Optimizing for weight, aero, sustainability
What Scout is doing loads of in-house is optimizing, through a growth path that’s been totally different than something the VW Group has made to this point, Huhnke defined. Improvement has emphasised using AI and digital twins—one of many auto-industry tech buzzwords of the yr—permitting the crew to check structural particulars, design particulars, or engineering adjustments beneath, in a manner that wasn’t potential earlier than with out bodily prototypes.
“Combining the total compute energy in 3D fashions with a mixed AI method offers us immediate outcomes for adjustments in aerodynamics or construction,” mentioned Huhnke, including that having a brand new manufacturing facility and its increased ranges of accuracy will profit from this superb tuning.
On the way in which from idea to production-bound prototypes, that’s been particularly helpful in reconciling the design from chief design officer Chris Benjamin’s crew with underbody airflow. Huhnke mentioned that it’s going to additionally assist the crew obtain its focused high U.S. security rankings from the NHTSA and the IIHS.
You received’t discover carbon fiber within the Scout vans, nor a lot aluminum. The Scout electrical vans comply with a “conventional supplies method,” mentioned Huhnke, however the optimization method and simulation is resulting in a critical weight discount. It made choices to emphasise metal partly based mostly on carbon footprint, he mentioned. “We’re rigorously going by the fabric record and optimizing from that standpoint,” mentioned Huhnke. “In case you speak about carbon fiber, it’s all the time interesting for use from a weight optimization perspective, however not from the sustainability perspective.”
Rivian and Volkswagen Group electrical structure and software program stack
Radically totally different, Rivian-based underpinnings
Whereas the body-on-frame and solid-axle underpinnings recommend a conservative method to those autos general, what’s beneath connecting parts might be one of the crucial modern layouts within the {industry}.
“With the brand new three way partnership between VW and Rivian, we’ve an opportunity to make use of zonal structure as one of many first manufacturers, and that offers us the OTA alternative we all the time wished to have,” mentioned Huhnke. “So new options, new updates over a lifetime…we’ll hold the automobiles contemporary.”
The CTO is referring to the adoption of Rivian’s zonal structure, which permits an enormous discount of the variety of separate management items across the automobile, and a discount of the quantity of wiring, connectors, and different related items. With software-based controls for zones, it offers far more flexibility to roll out adjustments that might retune, refine, or redefine how a core element works—the dream of the software-defined automobile.
Scout has confirmed that its electrical vans will run on 800 volts, and be able to charging at as much as 350 kw—and that they might help some degree of bidirectional charging functionality. Altogether, which may make it extra superior in some elementary points than Rivian’s present R1 lineup whereas additionally harnessing Rivian’s extra superior electronics structure. The VW Group pioneered 800-volt techniques within the Porsche Taycan and Audi E-Tron GT, and it’s now in a rising group of PPE autos together with the Porsche Macan Electrical and Audi Q6 E-Tron.
Scout Traveler idea
However there are many particulars but to come back. Scout will emphasize tactile buttons and controls and received’t bury objects in infotainment menus, Huhnke promised. But the Scout vans will be capable to each monitor automobile diagnostics and handle predictive upkeep with cloud-based companies, with push updates when required. It additionally plans to construct satellite tv for pc web into its vans, however Huhnke instructed that it’s nonetheless figuring out methods to make {that a} seamless a part of the expertise.
Two years from now Scout will present a really totally different expertise versus Rivian fashions, and maybe a distinct expertise versus some other EVs available on the market. Whether or not or not it’s successful will depend on value, specs, and extra, in fact, however maybe extra so, whether or not truck varieties are charmed by this very unique mixture of the previous and the long run.
