- The Volkswagen Group’s electrical revival of an iconic American truck model, Scout Motors, has drawn many comparisons to an analogous EV truck firm: Rivian.
- The VW Group and Rivian have a three way partnership to develop software program and electrical architectures collectively.
- Regardless of this, and regardless of what you might even see on-line, a Scout isn’t a Rivian.
What an age of miracles we discover ourselves in. The web is the best instrument for disseminating info that humanity has ever created, but it surely additionally permits anyone to only immediately broadcast no matter is on their thoughts at any given second, no matter how true it’s or not. That does result in the occasional little bit of misinformation that information shops like InsideEVs should appropriate.
For the reason that latest debut of two new electrical ideas from Scout Motors, the American truck and SUV model revived by the Volkswagen Group, we have now seen quite a lot of comparisons drawn to a different EV truck firm: Rivian.
The comparisons are truthful; Scout’s two idea automobiles bear a robust resemblance to Rivian’s first two automobiles, the R1T truck and R1S SUV. And the strains between the 2 manufacturers are additional blurred by the truth that the Volkswagen Group and Rivian have just lately began working collectively.
Photograph illustration from InsideEVs.
However the latter scenario, specifically, appears to be drawing loads of confusion. Listed below are some emails, feedback and social media posts we have seen recently:
“I can not shake the thought that the Scout is not similar to a Rivian, however it’s a Rivian.”
“Effectively, now we all know why Volkswagen is teaming up with Rivian.”
“Is not the Scout a rebadged Rivian?”
“The Scout Motors EV is absolutely only a Rivian with a gasoline generator, is not it?”
“Reskinned Rivian? VW owns Scout, VW and Rivian introduced a three way partnership…”
“So how a lot is Rivian making per every Scout EV offered? It’s clear they’ll be utilizing Rivian’s zonal structure.”
And so forth. However I am right here to hopefully clear this one up as soon as and for all: Whereas Scout and Rivian have comparable designs and can in all probability compete for a similar buyer, and Scout will use the brand new electrical structure that VW is co-developing with Rivian, the 2 automobiles and types will not be the identical. They don’t use the identical platform, are constructed (or relatively, shall be constructed) in other places and may have significantly completely different worth tags.
Does it really feel like a sort of McDonald’s-McDowell’s scenario for the electrical automobile world? Sure, which might be unlucky for each manufacturers. However there is definitely room within the area for each, and no matter technological intersection exists between the 2 will in all probability profit them each. Let’s dig in.
Let’s Begin With Rivian
We’ll start with a particularly temporary historical past of one of many extra promising EV startups on the market, California-based Rivian.
Individuals neglect this immediately, however Rivian really launched approach again in 2009 (and underneath a distinct identify) with the purpose of making a hybrid, mid-engine sports activities automobile. That concept was shelved, however by 2022, Rivian was making the R1S and R1T electrical journey vehicles at a former Mitsubishi manufacturing facility in Regular, Unwell. Each automobiles boast glorious electrical vary, charming designs and legit off-road abilities. The corporate additionally makes electrical vans for fleet use, initially for Amazon alone however now out there to any fleet buyer.
Second Gen Rivian R1T and R1S
Rivian’s EVs have garnered appreciable acclaim since then. Whereas the corporate immediately has a large money pile, it’s nonetheless coping with the instability and troublesome path to long-term profitability that makes being a newcomer within the auto business such a gargantuan job. Ought to it efficiently struggle via the “valley of loss of life” that it is at the moment in, Rivian is because of launch a sequence of extra reasonably priced, mainstream EVs by the top of this decade: the smaller R2 crossover and extra compact R3 and R3X.
However Rivian has the benefit of with the ability to do issues with a clear sheet, vertically built-in strategy, one thing that conventional automakers who rely on huge networks of outdoor components suppliers battle with. This in-house strategy, as soon as pioneered by Tesla, has made Rivian right into a burgeoning software program energy participant too. The world took discover of that when Rivian and the Volkswagen Group (which has struggled mightily on the expertise entrance because it seeks a principally electrical future) inked a $5 billion deal to co-develop software program and electrical architectures collectively. That deal is giving Rivian the money it must proceed R&D and scale up operations, whereas VW is getting the sort of software program and tech experience it must be aggressive sooner or later.
What About Scout Motors?
Scout’s historical past really goes again many many years. The SUVs and vehicles have been made by the Worldwide Harvester Firm, which was principally recognized for agricultural and industrial automobiles, between 1960 and 1980. They have been easy, succesful machines that provided loads of functionality. The unique Scouts are extremely coveted by off-roading fans even immediately, as the corporate helped to pioneer that total discipline of automobiles.
Photograph by: Scout Motors
Scout Traveler and Terra Ideas
After a sophisticated sequence of gross sales and acquisitions, the VW Group ended up in possession of the Scout branding and emblems (by way of the acquisition of Worldwide Harvester’s successor firm, Navistar, to complement VW’s different industrial truck manufacturers) in 2020. As Scout Motors’ CEO Scott Keogh advised InsideEVs earlier this 12 months, that led to some discussions inside VW, which has lengthy struggled to garner the sort of mainstream, quantity success in America that it enjoys in the remainder of the world. Furthermore, today, the VW Group is shedding floor shortly in China, so it must win huge within the U.S.
That yielded a daring plan to relaunch the Scout Motors model, and never as some re-badged ID.4 or Audi Q8 E-Tron however with a wholly new platform and a brand new manufacturing facility in South Carolina to make the most of tax incentives from the Inflation Discount Act.
Scout Motors Manufacturing facility Groundbreaking 2024 Official Pictures
However They’re Each Boxy, Electrical Vans And SUVs Aimed At Off-Roaders. How Are They Totally different?
That is actually an comprehensible query, and I believe the Scout Terra truck specifically bears an uncanny and maybe uncomfortable resemblance to the R1T. We all the time knew the Scout was going to be boxy and utilitarian trying, as that is how Scouts have all the time been. For those who’re going for a boxy look whereas sustaining the aerodynamic design it’s essential construct a aggressive EV, it isn’t shocking that the top consequence appears like an present utilitarian, environment friendly electrical truck. However the two automobiles from Scout and Rivian are completely different.
The R1T vs. the Scout Terra.
Moreover predating the Scout automobiles by years (they will not even go on sale till 2027 on the earliest) the Rivian R1S and R1T use a platform, motors and software program all made in-house. The upcoming Rivian R3, R3X and R2 will use a brand new Rivian “midsize” platform as effectively that comes with the teachings and cost-savings from the R1 automobiles. A Rivian spokesperson confirmed to InsideEVs that the R2 and R3 platform is “unrelated” to the upcoming Scout mission.
As I discussed earlier, Scout’s platform is a distinct animal. The automaker wished a really off-road succesful EV, so it is crafting a body-on-frame platform from the bottom up with a strong rear axle and entrance and rear mechanical lockers—similar to an old-school rock-crawling truck would have. Rivian’s automobiles don’t use locking differentials. Additionally they do not provide strong axles.
The variations go even deeper. Maybe most notably, the Scout fashions will provide a variety extender possibility referred to as the “Harvester,” which is just a gasoline engine designed to solely recharge the electrical battery. Whereas it doesn’t energy the wheels in any respect, the engine is predicted to spice up the Scout EV’s vary from 350 miles to 500 miles. Rivian has not introduced any plans for a gasoline vary extender, and provided that it is all the time been an all-electric automaker, that appears relatively unlikely. Scout, nevertheless, has the benefit of doubtless pulling a gasoline engine from the VW Group’s expansive household.
On the battery entrance, Rivian’s automobiles use cells from Samsung SDI in South Korea. CNBC reviews that Scout’s batteries are anticipated to come back from VW’s three way partnership battery cell producer in Canada.
Photograph by: Scout Motors
Scout Terra Electrical Pickup Truck
That is not all. Moreover being in several worth lessons—Rivian’s present automobiles begin round $75,000 and attain into the $100,000 vary, whereas the Scout EVs are aiming to begin round $60,000—there are two very completely different approaches to the person expertise at work right here. Rivian’s interfaces famously (maybe infamously, based mostly on our evaluations) eschew conventional buttons for touchscreen controls, voice instructions and shortly, a clickwheel system mounted on the steering wheel to function varied capabilities.
Scout, however, purposely went huge on buttons. The Scout ideas revealed final week have some good show items, certain, but in addition a row of bodily buttons, quantity knobs and steering wheel controls. Oh, and the Terra and Traveler will provide an non-obligatory bench seat as effectively, one other old-school throwback.
Lastly, the automobiles are completely different sizes. The Scout Traveler SUV is shorter than a Rivian R1S by about 10 inches, whereas Scout’s Terra truck is a couple of foot longer than an R1T.
So The place Do Rivian And Scout Intersect?
A wonderful query, and one which’s come up just lately. And this really does communicate to that Volkswagen-Rivian tie-up that is within the works.
On the Scout idea debut, Keogh advised InsideEVs that the vehicles may use the brand new zonal structure being developed by that partnership—however solely that one, not something at the moment in use by Rivian. “It is vital to separate Rivian, the automobile firm, from the three way partnership,” Keogh mentioned. “These are two very various things. Rivian the automobile firm, we have now zero interplay with, completely nothing. However the three way partnership firm may probably [provide] the structure that’s on this automobile.”
That was confirmed on the opposite facet of issues by Rivian Chief Software program Officer Wassym Bensaid at TechCrunch’s Disrupt 2024 convention this week. This is what Bensaid needed to say:
[Scout] mentioned on the time that the automobiles would use a zonal structure — that means it could depend on only a handful of computer systems that management the capabilities of some “zones” of {the electrical} structure. And the software program in Scout’s press pictures seemed awfully just like what you could find in Rivian’s present automobiles, so Bensaid’s affirmation isn’t all that shocking. Bensaid pressured on the Disrupt stage that every model that makes use of the three way partnership’s software program will “proceed to have their very own identification,” in addition to “their very own options.”
“We’re enabling competitors,” he mentioned. Bensaid additionally famous how a lot the Scout automobiles resemble Rivian’s total design sensibility, even exterior of the software program. “That’s incredible,” he mentioned. “It’s nice validation of the Rivian product.”
And TechCrunch is appropriate that the software program proven within the Scout ideas does look very Rivian-ish. (Rivish?) Nevertheless, these automobiles are nonetheless simply ideas with manufacturing fashions at the very least three years away. Even when these automobiles share commonalities on the again finish that enable Scout to do issues Rivians can do, like over-the-air updates, it is extraordinarily seemingly each manufacturers will work to carve out their very own identities and distinctive interfaces after they really hit the market.
So What Did We Be taught Immediately, Class?
In the long run, whereas Scout and Rivian are each coming to market with comparable merchandise, designs, total vibes and doubtless audiences, they aren’t the identical model or automobile.
I believe that what this ended up being is 2 completely different EV-oriented corporations each coming to the identical conclusion about what American consumers love: huge vehicles and SUVs. In their very own methods, they took benefit of the sort of retro-truck allure that is extraordinarily in vogue proper now. Issues acquired considerably sophisticated by the software program and tech team-up behind the scenes, however given what we have reported on Scout Motors’ growth timeline, that actually did not appear to be the plan all alongside.
Furthermore, Scout’s goal debut date of 2027 can really feel like 500 years from now within the fast-moving world of recent EVs. We’re basing all of this on preliminary impressions, early official plans from each automakers and what we learn about the place each manufacturers are at in late 2024. It is fully potential that the ultimate manufacturing variations of the Scout automobiles may differ from these ideas not directly (although InsideEVs was advised they’re extraordinarily near the ultimate designs) and we won’t rule out some sort of deepened tie-up between VW, Rivian and Scout sooner or later. For now, that is simply hypothesis.
However should you assume these two adventure-ready EVs are the identical factor, look a bit of deeper.
Contact the creator: [email protected]
