Swore I’d never buy an EV, then Scout happened

[MC242x]

I'd bet my reservation paid in full to anyone here that a reasonably-equipped BEV or harvester version of either the Terra or Traveler will be well north of $60K at launch. Even with battery prices dropping (should be well under $100 Kw/H by the time they launch in two years) there is no way these are any less than that. And politics aside, manufacturing will be more expensive in the next few years no matter what you believe about the coming changes to tariffs and trade.

Rivian has a realistic chance of bringing a RWD R2 to market next year under $50K - it's a significantly less expensive vehicle to produce than the Scout. If that happens, that's where I'll put my money for this round and give Scout another five years or so to establish themselves before I jump in.

 

[J Alynn]

I mentioned I’m in London this week. I’ll learned that the iconic black cabs at 60% EV as a whole. There are more EVs in the London area than I can begin to count. Mercedes EQB’s are a dime a dozen both as private vehicles and shuttle service. Teslas everywhere-some probably keyed
So it got me thinking what happens as EU continues adopting EV’s at a faster rate than the U.S.? Do luxury vehicles headed for the U.S. just evolve into full EV brand fleets? Do they still offer some ICE to appeal to the US?
Just had me wondering because the ratio of EVs that I’ve seen is way higher here in London than at home in PA.
Not to mention the tube and bus transportation which I’ve grown quite fond of in 3 days. Tap your Apple Pay and off you go.
Anyway-just an observation

 

[Scoutsie]

I mentioned I’m in London this week. I’ll learned that the iconic black cabs at 60% EV as a whole. There are more EVs in the London area than I can begin to count. Mercedes EQB’s are a dime a dozen both as private vehicles and shuttle service. Teslas everywhere-some probably keyed
So it got me thinking what happens as EU continues adopting EV’s at a faster rate than the U.S.? Do luxury vehicles headed for the U.S. just evolve into full EV brand fleets? Do they still offer some ICE to appeal to the US?
Just had me wondering because the ratio of EVs that I’ve seen is way higher here in London than at home in PA.
Not to mention the tube and bus transportation which I’ve grown quite fond of in 3 days. Tap your Apple Pay and off you go.
Anyway-just an observation

We can’t have nice things in the US. Take a trip to Asia and be just as upset to find out how cheap and lovely the trains are and how they adopted Apple Pay-type stuff way before we did.

The US sucks at adopting technology and conveniences that will help us. We took a minute to adopt HD as a broadcasting standard behind the rest of the world, we never adopted the metric system, so why on earth would we be leaders in adopting EVs when it can be the issue that someone can turn into soundbites and votes? It’s so mind-numbingly stupid to think that what Europe does is somehow bad for the US. It’s not the Middle Ages. Europe isn’t saying that EVs are the way to go because they protect against witchcraft. /rant

 

[J Alynn]

We can’t have nice things in the US. Take a trip to Asia and be just as upset to find out how cheap and lovely the trains are and how they adopted Apple Pay-type stuff way before we did.

The US sucks at adopting technology and conveniences that will help us. We took a minute to adopt HD as a broadcasting standard behind the rest of the world, we never adopted the metric system, so why on earth would we be leaders in adopting EVs when it can be the issue that someone can turn into soundbites and votes? It’s so mind-numbingly stupid to think that what Europe does is somehow bad for the US. It’s not the Middle Ages. Europe isn’t saying that EVs are the way to go because they protect against witchcraft. /rant

Yeah. Japanese trains put UK’s to shame 100% agree with your sentiment. Look how old London truly is and how much more advanced their thinking is. Their museums are all free as well. They have Uber boats for mass hauling people and the electric bikes are like flowers, they are everywhere.
Even the elevator in our hotel is more advanced than any I’ve seen or used in the U.S. we need to adopt tech for user sake, not profit sake

 

[bb00799]

I mentioned I’m in London this week. I’ll learned that the iconic black cabs at 60% EV as a whole. There are more EVs in the London area than I can begin to count. Mercedes EQB’s are a dime a dozen both as private vehicles and shuttle service. Teslas everywhere-some probably keyed
So it got me thinking what happens as EU continues adopting EV’s at a faster rate than the U.S.? Do luxury vehicles headed for the U.S. just evolve into full EV brand fleets? Do they still offer some ICE to appeal to the US?
Just had me wondering because the ratio of EVs that I’ve seen is way higher here in London than at home in PA.
Not to mention the tube and bus transportation which I’ve grown quite fond of in 3 days. Tap your Apple Pay and off you go.
Anyway-just an observation

Another note to add to all of this is American companies are *in general* not doing to great in Europe (example link - Ford Europe is also cutting down the Focus and Fiesta production to near nothing or nothing - Tesla is being beaten like a rented pinata and jeep is.....jeep))

I think in general that European automakers are going to do exactly what you say and have just full EV/Hybrid fleets (or mild hybrid to cut through emissions) and then American automakers will further and further lag behind.

However there is something to be said with the way Europe is setup that REALLY lends itself to a very different car then America. They often have much smaller roads, denser cities, and shorter commutes that would lend itself to a small hybrid or EV. Whereas in America I might go visit my grandparents on a whim and it will take roughly 8 hours (Southern Illinois to Door County)....or the entire time it would take to drive across Germany (In Germany I would probably just take a train......god we need more trains).

 

[J Alynn]

Another note to add to all of this is American companies are *in general* not doing to great in Europe (example link - Ford Europe is also cutting down the Focus and Fiesta production to near nothing or nothing - Tesla is being beaten like a rented pinata and jeep is.....jeep))

I think in general that European automakers are going to do exactly what you say and have just full EV/Hybrid fleets (or mild hybrid to cut through emissions) and then American automakers will further and further lag behind.

However there is something to be said with the way Europe is setup that REALLY lends itself to a very different car then America. They often have much smaller roads, denser cities, and shorter commutes that would lend itself to a small hybrid or EV. Whereas in America I might go visit my grandparents on a whim and it will take roughly 8 hours (Southern Illinois to Door County)....or the entire time it would take to drive across Germany (In Germany I would probably just take a train......god we need more trains).

Agree 100%. We played tourist today and hopped 3 different trains each way but was very simple. And to your point, I think I’ve spoken similar to you that yes-European towns/cities are designed to have everything you need within in them, if not within each “district”. And I fully understand parents being 8-mine were 9 until they moved back closer to us so you are spot on.
I think, even with it being a short visit so far my mindset has changed. Even just walking places-pushing 20K steps a day.
And Tesla is being beat hard. Just saw a wall 2 hours ago covered with “playbill's “ of Musk in (historic German ruler pose-Hope that keeps me safe with SM so I don’t get bounced)
“drop X -marks the ROT and several other rough messages. Gotta say I laughed out loud-they were catchy

 

[Chuckles]

I mentioned I’m in London this week. I’ll learned that the iconic black cabs at 60% EV as a whole. There are more EVs in the London area than I can begin to count. Mercedes EQB’s are a dime a dozen both as private vehicles and shuttle service. Teslas everywhere-some probably keyed
So it got me thinking what happens as EU continues adopting EV’s at a faster rate than the U.S.? Do luxury vehicles headed for the U.S. just evolve into full EV brand fleets? Do they still offer some ICE to appeal to the US?
Just had me wondering because the ratio of EVs that I’ve seen is way higher here in London than at home in PA.
Not to mention the tube and bus transportation which I’ve grown quite fond of in 3 days. Tap your Apple Pay and off you go.
Anyway-just an observation

Ev's are popular in London because they have been exempt from the London Congestion Charge (£15/day) and the UK's Vehicle Excise Duty. Both of these benefits are going away. You will also pay less taxes in the UK on a vehicle that emits less carbon dioxide.

 

[J Alynn]

Ev's are popular in London because they have been exempt from the London Congestion Charge (£15/day) and the UK's Vehicle Excise Duty. Both of these benefits are going away. You will also pay less taxes in the UK on a vehicle that emits less carbon dioxide.

Incentives help make positive change as long as they don’t last forever. The irony is tons of people vape so care about environment-not so much about themselves