- EV model gives 350 miles; greater battery can 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 “recent”
It’s been practically 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 will probably 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 to date, 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 made out of 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 strategy that makes them straightforward to restore your self.
Scout idea inside
However then again these vans will probably be backstopped by some modern components, together with a very new infotainment interface known as Group UX, plus a zonal structure and software-defined car 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 would add complexity or simplify, relying on the top product.
Might Scout’s standout pairing of nuts and bolts and clicky buttons, crossed with the potential of satellite-data-delivered characteristic upgrades, assist make EVs standard with a brand new group, or will it’s the McDLT of electrical SUVs?
It feels like fairly the balancing act from a expertise and engineering perspective, and that’s why Inexperienced Automobile Studies checked in with Scout Motors chief expertise officer Burkhard Huhnke final month at CES. As these fashions push forward from the idea to the prototype stage, the CTO revealed numerous particulars concerning the model, the vans, and the tech.
Scout Terra idea
Scout: Trailblazing EV range-extender structure
From an engineering standpoint, the elephant within the room is that, amongst Volkswagen Group’s core passenger car manufacturers—VW, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Bentley, plus Seat, Škoda, and Cupra—Scout is trailblazing. There isn’t a present body-on-frame SUV and there’s by no means been an EV with a variety extender.
“It’s after all a chance,” mentioned Huhnke. The CTO underscored that it’s the primary body-on-frame car within the group, the primary mannequin with the ladder-frame idea, and the primary such car with an EREV propulsion system (a plug-in sequence hybrid system, to be dubbed Harvester). “Every thing has been developed as a unit—platform—which has the chance as a versatile platform to be scaled, perhaps, sooner or later,” he mentioned.
“Our IP has been generated in-house,” mentioned Huhnke, concerning 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’t construct an engine ourselves, however the vary extender itself is so charming; you’re utilizing a BEV structure beneath and simply carrying a form of DC charging system with you.”
Huhnke didn’t give any hints about what engine, or sort of engine, could be used right here from the huge VW Group elements bin. However addressing a possible sore level—ask some former BMW i3 REx homeowners—he assured that drivers would have the “full efficiency of the system” whether or not utilizing the battery or continuously charging from the vary extender. Based mostly on cutaways proven by Scout Motors, the vary extender will probably be small, and can mount not underneath the hood however on the rear of the car, behind the rear axle and underneath the cargo ground—an strategy 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, for example, 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 restrictions 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 conserving weight underneath management—which is what the EREV model achieves.
Cramming in additional batteries, Huhnke defined, can be detrimental. “You’ll be able to improve the driving vary by including increasingly capability into the battery, and that’s growing the load drastically,” he mentioned. “Or it’s maxed out by the present area 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 not too long ago mentioned extra prospects had been ordering due to vary anxiousness—will ship an electrical driving vary of round 150 miles, then a further 350 miles with the range-extender. “So in complete, 500 miles, that must be adequate; it’s a commerce off in between the load equation and the capability of the battery.”
The one different absolutely 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, however it 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 facets of body-on-frame and unibody development, counting on a thick battery pack to supply among the structural advantages of a body. However these fashions’ curb weights soar previous 9,000 kilos.
Scout Traveler idea
Scout EVs will probably be off-roaders to the core
Scout will 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 permit 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 will probably be one other core competence.
“We had determined to have this off-road functionality, and subsequently we determined to make use of a extra typical strategy on the chassis and propulsion system,” he mentioned. “Meaning we’ve one e-beam (an electrical motor included right into a stable axle), for example, because the rear axle.”
How a lot of all of that is really being engineered by Scout Motors? Some growth is occurring inside Scout, plus “competence in-house to design, simulate, and run sturdiness testing,” defined Huhnke. “In fact we’re working along with suppliers. We can’t simply rent a complete crew; that doesn’t make sense.”
Scout Terra and Traveler ideas
Optimizing for weight, aero, sustainability
What Scout is doing lots of in-house is optimizing, through a growth path that’s been totally different than something the VW Group has made to date, Huhnke defined. Growth 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 approach that wasn’t doable earlier than with out bodily prototypes.
“Combining the total compute energy in 3D fashions with a mixed AI strategy offers us on the spot outcomes for adjustments in aerodynamics or construction,” mentioned Huhnke, including that having a brand new manufacturing facility and its larger ranges of accuracy will benefit from this high quality tuning.
On the best way 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 prime 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 observe a “conventional supplies strategy,” mentioned Huhnke, however the optimization strategy and simulation is resulting in a severe weight discount. It made selections to emphasise metal partly based mostly on carbon footprint, he mentioned. “We’re fastidiously going by way of the fabric listing and optimizing from that standpoint,” mentioned Huhnke. “In the event you discuss 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 strategy to those automobiles general, what’s beneath connecting parts will probably be probably the most 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 provides us the OTA alternative we all the time wished to have,” mentioned Huhnke. “So new options, new updates over a lifetime…we’ll preserve the automobiles recent.”
The CTO is referring to the adoption of Rivian’s zonal structure, which permits an enormous discount of the variety of separate management models across the car, and a discount of the quantity of wiring, connectors, and different related items. With software-based controls for zones, it offers way more flexibility to roll out adjustments that would retune, refine, or redefine how a core element works—the dream of the software-defined car.
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, that may make it extra superior in some basic facets 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 automobiles together with the Porsche Macan Electrical and Audi Q6 E-Tron.
Scout Traveler idea
However there are many particulars but to return. 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 car diagnostics and handle predictive upkeep with cloud-based providers, with push updates when required. It additionally plans to construct satellite tv for pc web into its vans, however Huhnke recommended that it’s nonetheless understanding 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 another EVs available on the market. Whether or not or not it’s successful depends upon value, specs, and extra, after all, however maybe extra so, whether or not truck sorts are charmed by this very unique mixture of the previous and the long run.
