Article: Why More People Are Ordering The Hybrid Scout Harvester (EREV) Than The Electric One

[smboogie]

Getting off the point. Utility scale battery storage is growing exponentially and its adoption curve is happening even faster than solar did. I generate 120% of my need. Yes, there are sectors where fossil fuels will be necessary for a long, long time. My household is not one of them. Enjoy your day.

I agree and you enjoy your day as well

 

[TwoJacks]

Have solar as well and I know that Fossil fuel is not going anywhere anytime soon. There is far too much reliance on it and It fills a critical energy & manufacturing need. Unless you have solar for over 100% of your needs w/storage & you can ensure the sun regularly shines, you will need fossil fuels.

That’s exactly what we have. Large solar array and storage for backup. Net zero on an annual basis including EV’s with credits from the grid. Local grid in Vermont is almost 100% renewables, so we’re almost 100% fossil fuel free as far as utilities and transportation goes. It can be done. Helps to live in a state that has invested in renewables.

 

[James Lancaster]

I need the range extender to tow my 7,000 lb boat to remote lakes and make it back home. I would love to stay all electric but I honestly wouldn’t consider a lake remote enough if it had a charger available. I live in Maine. It’s very rural. I like it that way. I love my wife’s model y. I look forward to trading in my F 150. Hopefully the scout is up to the task.

 

[quikster]

That’s exactly what we have. Large solar array and storage for backup. Net zero on an annual basis including EV’s with credits from the grid. Local grid in Vermont is almost 100% renewables, so we’re almost 100% fossil fuel free as far as utilities and transportation goes. It can be done. Helps to live in a state that has invested in renewables.

Must be nice, here I’m only allowed to generate at most 80% and I still have to pay the utility company at least $30/month even if I send them more electricity than I use

 

[SrfnFly227]

First post on the forum after putting my deposit down earlier.

I reserved my spot in line for the Traveler Harvester. Why? Because I plan to tow my Wrangler to the trails I frequent and they are between 250 and 400 miles away from my house. My hope is that the Harvester can tow 200 miles. If it can, this is my next vehicle. If it can't, I'm not positive I won't be canceling. At 200 miles, I would be stopping to fill my Wrangler up if I were driving so it would not change the routine too much.

The rest of the time, 150 miles EV would equal once a week charging. This vehicle hits all my bullet points. As long as the range is as advertised.

 

[Alder25318]

Interesting how many people think those of that want a harvester don’t really need one. One actually said we are being dishonest with ourselves…lol. I have EV today and any trip over 150 miles one way sucks to the point that I take one of my other vehicles. Harvester will be a game changer whether the Full BEV folks like it or not.

 

[gregdouble]

The harvester is the reason I went ahead and reserved one, and it will be my 1st EV because of that. If the range extender doesn’t pan out I won’t be getting one it’s replacing this

 

[elvis buys]

These perspectives sound about right... for someone who has never ventured far enough out into the boonies to understand just how far that is from the infrastructure that seems reasonably convenient if the farthest you go is suburban trailheads that are less than a mile from paved roads.

Once battery and charging tech is advanced enough, it will be BEV from that point forward unless something better comes along.

It will be many, many years before DC fast charging stations will be widely available & conveniently located out in the boonies. Even in urban areas (close to HV grid power), the cost per kwHr is almost always several times more than utility rates (~40¢ vs. ~10¢), so the cost/mile is about the same as - or maybe even higher than - gas, and the disparity in recharging time vs. refueling time is even more extreme. As is carrying a jug full of extra electrons vs. extra gas.

The closest next best thing for charging in the boonies will be 50a 240v outlets at campgrounds, but in most cases, to use them you'll have to rent a campsite (if one is available), at a location you may not have wanted to stay overnight. And, if the campground operators know you're drawing upwards of 10kw all night long, they almost certainly will charge extra.

You can always rent a truck to do your trips once or twice a year. That alone solves it for many people.

This sure sounds a lot like the perspective of someone who has never actually tried to do that. Good luck finding HD 4WD pickups at your local car rental lot. Most mainstream car rental companies have basic, 2wd low-end half-ton pickup trucks...and even they aren't cheap to rent, but if you do find what you really need, it's going to be a very costly rental. And then you'll have to spend some time setting it up the way you want but you'd still be towing with an unfamiliar vehicle, and will likely be liable for the inevitable scratches that are hard to avoid on BLM & FS roads.

To each their own, but having towed 10k trailers (with a GMC 3500 DMax) all across Big Sky country, I will say not only no, but h*ll no.

All that said, if you plan on using your new >$75k pickup truck as more of a large sedan that didn't come standard with a trunk lid, then sure, the pure BEV should do that very well... but truth be told, it would also do that just as well 99% of the time even if it had only 150-200 miles real-world range, especially if the charging infrastructure build-out gave a higher priority to more (relatively inexpensive) L2 convenience outlets at urban workplaces, apartment buildings & shopping centers.

 

[quikster]

These perspectives sound about right... for someone who has never ventured far enough out into the boonies to understand just how far that is from the infrastructure that's not too far away if the farthest you go is suburban trailheads that are less than a mile from paved roads.


It will be many, many years before DC fast charging stations will be widely available & conveniently located out in the boonies. If you do find one, the cost per kwHr is almost always several times more than utility rates (~40¢ vs. ~10¢) that the cost/mile is about the same as gas, and the disparity in recharging time vs. refueling time is even more extreme. As is carrying extra electrons vs. extra gas.

The closest next best thing for charging in the boonies will be 50a 240v outlets at campgrounds, but in most cases, to use them you'll have to rent a campsite (if available), at a place you may not have wanted to stay overnight. And, if the campground operators know you're drawing upwards of 10kw all night long, they almost certainly will charge extra.

This sure sounds a lot like the perspective of someone who has never actually tried to do that. Good luck finding HD 4WD pickups at your local car rental lot. Most mainstream car rental companies have basic, 2wd low-end half-ton pickup trucks...and even they aren't cheap to rent, but if you do find what you really need, it's going to be a very costly rental. And then you'll have to spend some time setting it up the way you want but you'd still be towing with an unfamiliar vehicle, and will likely be liable for the inevitable scratches that are hard to avoid on BLM & FS roads.

To each their own, but having towed 10k trailers (with a GMC 3500 DMax) all across Big Sky country, I will say not only no, but h*ll no.

One of my friends used to have to rent a truck a few times a year to tow his jeep on his trailer for going off-roading. Luckily we have a specialized rental place here you can get the vehicles he needed consistently, but as you said it wasn't cheap, it was usually close to ~$1000 for a normal weekend not counting fuel or anything and already owning the trailer his jeep was going to be on. Plus not everywhere has places you can consistently get the vehicles to tow, and then you have all the inconveniences of renting. Then like you said unknown maintenance history, new vehicle to get used to, worry about scratches/damage, etc
It's not like just popping over to some city for some sightseeing and dealing with whatever rental you can find for a few bucks per day.
If the vehicle can handle the tow weight buying a terra/traveler with a harvester generator is just a much better solution to me.

 

[M3_R2]

Fringe cases excepted, I'm just concerned that some people will buy into the harvester concept and end up disappointed. Hopefully everyone will do their research and allow the release specs to speak for themselves. If it ends up being your 8 day a week vehicle, that's great and I hope it works out for everyone that makes this choice. It certainly has the potential to fill a void.

Parity to gas costs aren't very meaningful in the overall equation unless you are a full time RVer or towing very long distances or on a very limited budget. Half a dozen times a year, consisting of 10-15% of your yearly range, doesn't really factor in much, esp given what you'd be laying out for the Scout and a trailer. If you can afford all that, I wouldn't be sweating much about energy costs. And if you are a F/T RVer trekking all over, you probably don't want a REX in the first place unless it's from someone that has a far more robust solution than the Scout will likely be. In those cases, it's hard to beat a HD diesel truck but I'm not promoting that idea either.

People that tow camping trailers are more often using just a 1/2 ton pickup and are typically only hauling a 6-7,000 GVWR trailer. I would never recommend renting an HD truck and pulling a monster trailer for pleasure, with your family. I was thinking more on the smaller side if you were renting, just to be clear. I said "you can always rent a truck". I wasn't talking about an HD truck or somewhat fringe cases.

By the time the Scout is in people's hands, charging infrastructure will be much improved and many campgrounds are starting to make adjustments. A few more years after that, it's highly likely SSB's will be in use. If the Scout Harvester was available today, it would be a great option for many who tow and travel to remote areas. Without question. But most won't have a launch vehicle so realistically, could be 4 years before many are even sold and by then, I'm just not convinced it's a viable option. But anything that moves people out of diesel and gas guzzling trucks, I'm all for, don't get me wrong.

The more I think it through and the more I read here and elsewhere (and I do appreciate the comments/criticisms), it's definitely made me appreciate the appeal of a REX and obviously most Scout reservations are in that camp and given the sheer number of people towing out there, Scout only needs to attract a small percentage of them alone to be off to a great start.

That said, I think it has helped solidify my decision to stay BEV for my next vehicle. I don't hunt or trap or mine...just some fishing and my idea of offroad is portaging for a week or two with no gas powered anything in sight or smell or to be heard. So if my vehicle's stopping point happened to have a charger (not likely), I'd consider that a bonus and wouldn't affect my perception of whether I was truly off-road or not. If it didn't, I'd just have a plan that accommodated my available energy.

 

[elvis buys]

Fringe cases? LMAO. The fact that more people seem to be more interested in this option for this class of vehicle should refute that.

Although, from one perspective, there is some truth to that, because the overwhelming majority of today's pickup truck buyers have little or no need for a pickup truck; they're buying them for the image (even if most won't admit it). Thus, buyers who do need them for traditional truck tasks are out on the fringe.

Anybody who buys something like a Scout (or any similar vehicle) as their daily commuter vehicle is almost certainly out on the fringe of what is really prudent.

Parity to gas costs *are* meaningful considering *the other advantages of gas fillups on road trips,* where most people really don't want to add even an extra hour to their trip time, and it doesn't take anything like an hour to grab a fast-food meal.

The convenience and cost advantage of home charging for local driving is the same for BEV or EREV.

As far as the public charging infrastructure proliferating so far & wide in the next four years... making EREVs unnecessary by the time the Scout is widely sold, that won't happen for the same reason other urban conveniences aren't there either (decades later): the population density (even seasonally) isn't high enough to justify the cost.

So unless you believe that within 5 years, a 5-gal jug of electrons will have similar cost & weight as propane or gas, there will still be plenty of need for EREVs, which from my point of view provide the best of both worlds, as long as the EV-only range is substantially longer than the 30-45 miles max of most PHEVs.

And lastly, an EREV offers other advantages, like having a source of heat without using battery power. And it also has a large enough battery to run the AC for many hours.