Current EV owners: are you sticking with full-EV or switching to EREV Harvester Scout?

[Mr._Bill]

Charging to 100% on a regular basis is not a problem. What is hard on the EV batteries is sitting for extended periods of time near 100% or below 20% especially in high temperatures.

My Nissan Leaf shows about a 9% reduction in range, on a full charge, with a seven year old battery pack. It sits most of the time at 80% and gets charged to 100% the night before longer trips.

 

[RMK!]

Charging to 100% on a regular basis is not a problem. What is hard on the EV batteries is sitting for extended periods of time near 100% or below 20% especially in high temperatures.

My Nissan Leaf shows about a 9% reduction in range, on a full charge, with a seven year old battery pack. It sits most of the time at 80% and gets charged to 100% the night before longer trips.

Good points. The wife and I have a 240V Tesla wall charger in the garage that we share when needed. This charger adds 40 MPH of range. We also have two of the 120V chargers that we plug in almost every day. I've read info from Tesla that says keeping the vehicles plugged into low voltage power helps the Battery Management System (BMS) to do it's job of regulating battery temperature and individual battery cell health which leads to better battery performance and longevity.

These types of large complex battery systems contain new technologies and the information changes frequently. I find the FUD stories about BEV's generated to slow BEV adoption very frustrating. They are dishonest acts of desperation from a powerful but threatened energy sector and ICE vehicle related industries.

 

[KSA63]

I drive for work. Sometimes up to 400kM a day. My current vehicle is a Volvo XC40 Recharge (Full EV) that gets about 300 to 320 kM on a 90% charge in Spring, Summer and Fall with winter losing about 20%. This year I have used a DCFC only once for about 15 minutes. All other charging has been done at home using an Emporia Wall box at 240V and 38 Amps. It charges in 6 to 8 hours easily at excellent off peak energy rates.
I have little to no range anxiety and will definitely be getting an EV only Terra.

 

[jefrank]

The Scout would likely end up as my wife's primary and she isn't the type to deal with range anxiety in a good way. I'll still be driving my Lightning, most likely.

 

[MC242x]

BEV for me. I have a 2024 EV6 that I leased as an experiment for owning an entirely electric vehicle, and it definitely convinced me I don't need gas.

 

[rivianwho]

Yes, but the Harvester option has a smaller battery, and the engine kicks in at 150 miles, meaning that if one gets Harvester, it will be used alot with the smaller battery. I wish they offered the full size battery and Harvester, but there's not room for it . . . And it would be pricey. Harvester design means that on trips over 150 miles, it will always be a partial gas vehicle . . . Begging the question, Why get electric at all? With a home charger and short trips, it's a battery car . . . But a typical (for me) 180 mile round trip day will always require the gas engine to work, unless I find a charger on a 100 mile trip . . . That's pretty inconvenient!

I'm confused. Why would an BEV with a 350 mile range be a problem for a 180 mile daily

I laugh and get irritated at the same time when I still see people posting max range when we all know that is not attainable. EVERYTHING we read about all EVs is the 80% charge point. Meaning at 350 max for the Scout, then the realistic daily chargeable distance is only 280 miles. So lets talk about real world terms. I find the 80% myth ridiculous! I charge my iPhone overnight to 100% and it works just fine the next day. And I do this EVWRY single night, so why not in an EV?

EV max range depends on MANY factors (e. g. wheel size, tire tread, drive mode, ride height, temperature, driver, etc.) not relevant to other devices that use lithium batteries which is an apples to donuts argument.

First of all your iPhone and/or MacBook battery pack is not based upon a 409V or 800V architecture; however, I do have a couple 10+ year old laptops whose batteries won't hold a charge now so have to be plugged in to use them. It's CHEMISTRY not an opinion!

Also, charging an EV with a NMC chemistry is fine as long as you don't let it sit for a long time afterwards before driving it which affects the longevity of the battery pack and degradation.

That said, LFP based battery packs can be charged to 100% daily without the same degradation concerns.

Regardless, I charge my Rivian R1S nightly to 80% which gives me an estimated 235 miles in sport mode, lowest ride height, max brake Regen which leaves me with 120+ miles from my daily commute which is plenty.

So I have no range anxiety for a Scout BEV that claims 350 max miles.

 

[RC616]

Yes and no. My wife drove Chevy Volts which use the Harvester gas generator method and as her commuter car +/- 25 miles a day she loved her Volts (she had 3 of em). Once she had not added fuel for a full year and the Volt made her drive on gas to empty the tank before she could resume electric only use. The Volt did require oil changes and were in for service related issues several times but overall much better than ICE vehicles.

I originally ordered the Harvester (day after reveal) believing that is was 350 base BEV range for both and another 150 EREV. The 150 mile BEV range for the Harvester was a no go for me.

I was hoping it would be 250 range electric and basically a full charge via generator for another 250 miles for the total of 500 mile ideal range. My Tesla has 360 mile full charge (ideal) which works for most days. But 150 mile will not be adequate for me.

 

[TwoJacks]

Neither the RamCharger or Scout Harvester make sense for me since I would mainly use for longer trips, and mpg under harvester mode will likely be worse than just a conventional ICE vehicle. If I’m going to go electric I’d prefer to go all electric and get longer all ev range than the harvester.

 

[bluejaybehemoth]

Yep. I didn’t catch the smaller battery in the range extender. It makes sense though. Honestly I thought it was 350 miles regardless then additional 150 for the extender. Probably gonna switch over to full ev now. Especially if they have 800 v architecture and on the Tesla network

 

[dleepnw]

Depends on how they implement but if it does provide about 150 miles on battery only and extends it to 500 miles, im most likely in.
I'd also like to see it be able to charge the battery even while parked. For example if there is a power outage or I'm overlanding, I'd like to see it be able to charge the battery 2x times more using the engine before needing to refuel.

 

[Lakesinai]

I'm confused. Why would an BEV with a 350 mile range be a problem for a 180 mile daily


EV max range depends on MANY factors (e. g. wheel size, tire tread, drive mode, ride height, temperature, driver, etc.) not relevant to other devices that use lithium batteries which is an apples to donuts argument.

First of all your iPhone and/or MacBook battery pack is not based upon a 409V or 800V architecture; however, I do have a couple 10+ year old laptops whose batteries won't hold a charge now so have to be plugged in to use them. It's CHEMISTRY not an opinion!

Also, charging an EV with a NMC chemistry is fine as long as you don't let it sit for a long time afterwards before driving it which affects the longevity of the battery pack and degradation.

That said, LFP based battery packs can be charged to 100% daily without the same degradation concerns.

Regardless, I charge my Rivian R1S nightly to 80% which gives me an estimated 235 miles in sport mode, lowest ride height, max brake Regen which leaves me with 120+ miles from my daily commute which is plenty.

So I have no range anxiety for a Scout BEV that claims 350 max miles.

We're talking about the battery range with the Harvester add on. It's about 150 -200 miles BEV, since the engine replaces battery space (TBD). This means the Harvester will make the gas engine a necessity, even on relatively short tange trips. We're wishing the Harvester was added to the 350 range battery.

 

[Lakesinai]

Neither the RamCharger or Scout Harvester make sense for me since I would mainly use for longer trips, and mpg under harvester mode will likely be worse than just a conventional ICE vehicle. If I’m going to go electric I’d prefer to go all electric and get longer all ev range than the harvester.

Right. We're doing alot of guessing until it's built and we have the use stats (operating cost, mpg), final design (battery size, capacity, charging speed of engine) etc.

 

[TwoJacks]

Well, yeah. What else are we going to do for two years on these forums? It’s an educated guess though based on the ram charger and on the physics of carrying two engines around. Can pretty much guarantee harvester mode is going to return some pretty lousy mpg numbers.

 

[drhnbtx]

As a local daily driver, full BEV is incredible. With current charging infrastructure, the harvester makes a lot of sense for my long trips within TX that often have 80+ mph highways(those speeds are no good for range!)

 

[DaveGunter]

Well, yeah. What else are we going to do for two years on these forums? It’s an educated guess though based on the ram charger and on the physics of carrying two engines around. Can pretty much guarantee harvester mode is going to return some pretty lousy mpg numbers.

If you do the math on the specs that Ram is giving for the Ramcharger, it’s about 20 mpg when the gas engine is running.