Crawl

[TaconicBear]

I suspect I may have mentioned this earlier, but the events of the last few weeks have injected it back into my awareness. We took the Scout 80 which we bought 59+ years ago to Harvester in the Holler in Tennessee last month. Part of that event includes some trail rides that include some steep and rocky climbs on woods roads. About 2/3 of the ride was accomplished when the clutch's slave cylinder decided to self destruct. I let folks ahead in the caravan get some distance, got it into LL, and started in gear. Stuck with that and got up the hills and out of the woods with minimal trouble. Throughout the exercise of moving it about at the Holler, getting it on and off the trailer, and bringing it back to NYS, my "tow" truck which is a '23 Tundra TRD was very useful. And a most useful Tundra feature was CRAWL MODE. It moves the truck at <1mph, and is great for backing a trailer or flat-towed Scout into place, and also in flat-towing up and down steep slopes. You don't have to worry about the accelerator pedal and can just focus on your mirrors, monitors and steering. It can be overridden with the brakes or accelerator, but left alone it does its job and helps you through some tricky situations. I'd very much like to see SM include CRAWL on the EV Scouts.

 

[JohnnyScout]

First hunch is there will not be a transmission of any type that direct electric motor to driveshafts is the norm. I might be wrong but in theory as I see it an electric drive needs no multiplier of torque or speed although you will find similar on a handheld drill. An electric motor can run at 3600 rpm or 600 rpm or 6 rpm just by varying the voltage.

True effective torque can come into play and a motor turning at 6 rpm may not produce sufficient torque to move a 5000 # vehicle at any velocity so a transfer cases of some sort may in fact be necessary and unless Scout goes portals or wheel motors then like every other EV the electric motor and battery pack will simply replace the ICE and fuel tank in an otherwise drab and unsophisticated drivetrain - which with a granny gear will give us crawl mode

Keep in.mind an electric motor can run the same forwsrd or backwards so some stop has to be involved that prevents us from driving 90 mph on reverse

 

[JohnnyScout]

The equivalent of a GM 2 speed power glide with manual shifting would be a practical intermediary between motor and drivetrain

 

[TaconicBear]

First hunch is there will not be a transmission of any type that direct electric motor to driveshafts is the norm. I might be wrong but in theory as I see it an electric drive needs no multiplier of torque or speed although you will find similar on a handheld drill. An electric motor can run at 3600 rpm or 600 rpm or 6 rpm just by varying the voltage.

True effective torque can come into play and a motor turning at 6 rpm may not produce sufficient torque to move a 5000 # vehicle at any velocity so a transfer cases of some sort may in fact be necessary and unless Scout goes portals or wheel motors then like every other EV the electric motor and battery pack will simply replace the ICE and fuel tank in an otherwise drab and unsophisticated drivetrain - which with a granny gear will give us crawl mode

Keep in.mind an electric motor can run the same forwsrd or backwards so some stop has to be involved that prevents us from driving 90 mph on reverse

I'm aware of all that. The CRAWL would have to be a computer controlled selection that would adjust the torque to maintain the slow speed as it navigates the obstacles of rough terrain. In my case with a 1200' driveway with grades up to 12% it does a fine job of keeping control when being pushed by a trailer with a Scout loaded. I don't have to ride the brakes, and can concentrate on navigating the curves so that the trailer stays on the pavement.

 

[JohnnyScout]

What could be convenient for hard core offroaders would be walk beside mode like found with several electric bicycles. 3-6 mph. Get to a sketchy place on the trail and command the vehicle at snail pace from outside

 

[J. Sweat]

Ghost ride the Scout on sketchy trails? Whoa

 

[shnngns]

Ghost ride the Scout on sketchy trails? Whoa

Now THAT would be interesting, I might pass on that lol.

 

[TaconicBear]

What could be convenient for hard core offroaders would be walk beside mode like found with several electric bicycles. 3-6 mph. Get to a sketchy place on the trail and command the vehicle at snail pace from outside

Well, actually I've done that repeatedly. Not on sketchy trails but my own driveway. It is 1200ft long running up a mountainside and has 10% grades plus turns. Back in the 60s and 70s before we had the $$ to get it paved it was a constant battle with washouts vs. rake and shovel work to maintain a drivable surface. The final step each time was to weigh down our Scout 80 and use it to compact the surface. I'd put it in LL and adjust the hand throttle to a walk, then hop out and reach in for the steering wheel to guide the wheels to make a 1/3 or 1/2 overlap with each pass. Uphill only, never trusted it for going down even though it didn't misbehave when I was behind the wheel.