We own EVs. Ask Us Anything.

[SpaceEVDriver]

Okay so if I did go through with my harvester purchase and let’s say I was going up to my doctor in Chicago which is 260 miles round trip. Am I just filling up the Harvester? Do I need to find a gas station with a charger and charge too? Having yo do both seems more inconvenient.

That's a great question for Scout, but I don't think they will be able to answer for another year or more. My guess is that you wouldn't need to refuel at all The inconvenience of both is part of why I never considered the Harvester.

A 260 mile round trip is easily accomplished with a BEV rated for 320-350 miles without recharging. You might run into the need to charge if it's especially cold or windy.

Making the assumption that a 260 mile trip isn't for a 15-minute checkup... If there is an L2 charger close enough, getting 10-20 kWh (10% ish) while spending a couple of hours at the doctor's could remove most or all of the inconvenience and range anxiety.

 

[Cranky Canuck]

Please, believe me when I say you are awesome for all the guidance and advice you have offered here with your experience with a fully EV household. But I am a goober and worry about worst case scenario situations.

I am basically asking if anyone has actively attempted to charge in heavy/wind driven rain and was not able to charge their vehicles. I am sure the vehicles themselves hold up to the weather fine, and even ICE vehicles could be in trouble if its pouring rain while you are dumping gas in without a rooftop overhead to protect you.

Previously my waterproof Samsung phones would tell me that my charging port was wet if my pockets were too humid or I got them soaked in rain, and I would need to thoroughly dry the USB-C port out before I could charge my phone again.

I just didnt know if there was anything similar with EVs since the chargers along interstates tend to be open roof.

We're an all-EV household and have been since 2017 and i've never experienced nor heard of heavy rain or wind driven rain impacting anyone's ability to charge. The charging equipment is designed to be weatherproof and it's meant for consumers so it's pretty dummy-proof too. Unless you're plugging in underwater I don't expect you'll have a charging issue from pouring rain.

My EVs have always lived in my driveway and my charger is on the front of my house outdoors. I did buy a good charger (Flo G5) because I wanted one made of metal (to avoid degradation from UV) and I wanted one with a silicon coated cable (for flexibility at -30) and my charger has been rock solid reliable since it was installed in 2017. My neighbour bought a cheaper, more popular charger that had a plastic housing and he had three 'warranty replacements' in four years so I feel like my decision to spend a little extra on a more rugged charger designed for Canadian winters was the right call.

There's a big difference between consumer grade electronics and automotive grade electronics so I'm not surprised your phone didn't meet your ruggedness expectations.

As for cold weather performance that cyure was asking about, I've had freezing rain make opening the charge port difficult but I just gave it a good whack and broke off the ice and it was fine. These are cars remember, not faberge eggs. Sometimes while the car was charging a bit of snow would get in there and make it so the port wouldn't want to close properly but I just had to take a second to brush it out with my gloved hand and it was fine.

One thing I can say from experience about extreme cold weather charging is that if you live in a place where it gets down to -20C or so you'll probably want a level 2 charger. At those temps most of the energy a level 1 charger can provide goes to just heating up the battery and not actually charging it. We learned this the hard way at the cottage over Christmas one year before we decided to install a level 2 there. The car was plugged in overnight and "charging" the whole time but only picked up a few percentage points of charge because almost all of the energy was being used to keep the battery warm. With a level 2 it's not a problem. Those provide enough power to both warm up the pack and charge at the same time.

 

[THil08]

We're an all-EV household and have been since 2017 and i've never experienced nor heard of heavy rain or wind driven rain impacting anyone's ability to charge. The charging equipment is designed to be weatherproof and it's meant for consumers so it's pretty dummy-proof too. Unless you're plugging in underwater I don't expect you'll have a charging issue from pouring rain.

My EVs have always lived in my driveway and my charger is on the front of my house outdoors. I did buy a good charger (Flo G5) because I wanted one made of metal (to avoid degradation from UV) and I wanted one with a silicon coated cable (for flexibility at -30) and my charger has been rock solid reliable since it was installed in 2017. My neighbour bought a cheaper, more popular charger that had a plastic housing and he had three 'warranty replacements' in four years so I feel like my decision to spend a little extra on a more rugged charger designed for Canadian winters was the right call.

There's a big difference between consumer grade electronics and automotive grade electronics so I'm not surprised your phone didn't meet your ruggedness expectations.

As for cold weather performance that cyure was asking about, I've had freezing rain make opening the charge port difficult but I just gave it a good whack and broke off the ice and it was fine. These are cars remember, not faberge eggs. Sometimes while the car was charging a bit of snow would get in there and make it so the port wouldn't want to close properly but I just had to take a second to brush it out with my gloved hand and it was fine.

One thing I can say from experience about extreme cold weather charging is that if you live in a place where it gets down to -20C or so you'll probably want a level 2 charger. At those temps most of the energy a level 1 charger can provide goes to just heating up the battery and not actually charging it. We learned this the hard way at the cottage over Christmas one year before we decided to install a level 2 there. The car was plugged in overnight and "charging" the whole time but only picked up a few percentage points of charge because almost all of the energy was being used to keep the battery warm. With a level 2 it's not a problem. Those provide enough power to both warm up the pack and charge at the same time.

And to add to this, Scouts have a built in umbrella. Lol.

 

[cyure]

We're an all-EV household and have been since 2017 and i've never experienced nor heard of heavy rain or wind driven rain impacting anyone's ability to charge. The charging equipment is designed to be weatherproof and it's meant for consumers so it's pretty dummy-proof too. Unless you're plugging in underwater I don't expect you'll have a charging issue from pouring rain.

My EVs have always lived in my driveway and my charger is on the front of my house outdoors. I did buy a good charger (Flo G5) because I wanted one made of metal (to avoid degradation from UV) and I wanted one with a silicon coated cable (for flexibility at -30) and my charger has been rock solid reliable since it was installed in 2017. My neighbour bought a cheaper, more popular charger that had a plastic housing and he had three 'warranty replacements' in four years so I feel like my decision to spend a little extra on a more rugged charger designed for Canadian winters was the right call.

There's a big difference between consumer grade electronics and automotive grade electronics so I'm not surprised your phone didn't meet your ruggedness expectations.

As for cold weather performance that cyure was asking about, I've had freezing rain make opening the charge port difficult but I just gave it a good whack and broke off the ice and it was fine. These are cars remember, not faberge eggs. Sometimes while the car was charging a bit of snow would get in there and make it so the port wouldn't want to close properly but I just had to take a second to brush it out with my gloved hand and it was fine.

One thing I can say from experience about extreme cold weather charging is that if you live in a place where it gets down to -20C or so you'll probably want a level 2 charger. At those temps most of the energy a level 1 charger can provide goes to just heating up the battery and not actually charging it. We learned this the hard way at the cottage over Christmas one year before we decided to install a level 2 there. The car was plugged in overnight and "charging" the whole time but only picked up a few percentage points of charge because almost all of the energy was being used to keep the battery warm. With a level 2 it's not a problem. Those provide enough power to both warm up the pack and charge at the same time.

Level 2 charger it is! BEV or EREV I’m going to have level 2 installed.

 

[Cranky Canuck]

And to add to this, Scouts have a built in umbrella. Lol.

View attachment 6089

The charge port door on my Ioniq 5 is similar and also opens upward but it really doesn't offer much protection. Snow and stuff still gets in there and if there's any wind the rain will too. But it's still not a big deal.

Also this is just the concept vehicle, I would expect the production version to be a bit more robust and have better weather proofing. Those sockets look like they'd get full of snow so hopefully Scout is planning better weather protection for stuff like that. I'm not worried about the charge port though, it's basically what Teslas have and it's been tried and proven.

 

[THil08]

Its the same thing like a gas cap. The amount of water my car has taken in via the gas cap is actually insane.

 

[J Alynn]

And to add to this, Scouts have a built in umbrella. Lol.

View attachment 6089

I sure hope this feature stays. Great solution to protecting and also having light right where you need it for night charging

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I think an important key to remember: Every plug is a potential EV charging station. I carry a mobile charger in each vehicle. I’ve asked permission to plug into the 120v plug at a parking lot, they shrugged, and I got 10 hours of 120v charging (10*1.4 kW = 14 kWh = 15% for the Mustang). It may not be much, but I have never been able to trickle fill my gas vehicles while I’m in a meeting…

 

[BeerParty]

Okay so if I did go through with my harvester purchase and let’s say I was going up to my doctor in Chicago which is 260 miles round trip. Am I just filling up the Harvester? Do I need to find a gas station with a charger and charge too? Having yo do both seems more inconvenient.

With a Harvester, for long trips you will only need to get gas regardless of how long your trip is. The videos of the Scout's interface included the electric drive modes. They did not go into detail about the specifics of each different mode, but the brief descriptions explained enough that we can confidently address this specific concern.

For a 260 mile trip, you would use auto mode. In auto mode, the truck will use the battery until it gets to a specific charge level remaining (they did not say what that is, but probably something like 25-35%), then engage the range extender to maintain a minimum battery charge. At this point the truck would probably seem a lot like a plug-in hybrid (engine runs when the truck is moving, turns off when going slow or stopped). But in this mode, the truck would run out of gas before depleting the battery. The advantage here is that the truck can provide full power for the entire drive. You can fill up and add the ~350 miles of range and still have full power. And, if you run out of gas while driving you will still have ~30 miles of all electric range to get to a gas station.

The other modes (not actual names, but descriptive of what the are):

• EV mode - use the battery exclusively until the battery charge level gets very low. This mode is intended for short trips where you can complete the trip exclusively on battery and then recharge when you get home. Setting this mode indicates you want to drive as far as possible using the battery. This is not what you would use for a 260 mile round trip.
• Towing mode - probably the same as the auto setting but more aggressive about maintaining a minimum level of charge in the battery. So it would likely act like a hybrid (engine will run even when stopped if necessary to maintain a minimum battery charge). This is so the truck can maintain full power for as long as possible while towing. Like auto mode, the truck would run out of gas before depleting the battery.

 

[R1TVT]

And, if you run out of gas while driving you will still have ~30 miles of all electric range to get to a gas station.

Looking at the above, what is still left undetermined at this stage is what happens next (when both energy sources are depleted). I would be surprised if we had an answer to this in the short term. Once you reach the gas station AND you have depleted your battery to below X% SOC, how long will you need to wait while running the Harvester charges your battery BEFORE you depart on your next leg? I would imagine that the SOC would need to be at least at 10% or so to get you off and running again, but even at 10% and a full tank of gas, you would likely be looking at a shorter amount of range. Too many variables at play at this early stage to speculate without all the numbers.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Looking at the above, what is still left undetermined at this stage is what happens next (when both energy sources are depleted). I would be surprised if we had an answer to this in the short term. Once you reach the gas station AND you have depleted your battery to below X% SOC, how long will you need to wait while running the Harvester charges your battery BEFORE you depart on your next leg? I would imagine that the SOC would need to be at least at 10% or so to get you off and running again, but even at 10% and a full tank of gas, you would likely be looking at a shorter amount of range. Too many variables at play at this early stage to speculate without all the numbers.

I'm skeptical that we have enough real information to make (m)any statements of fact about the harvester trims. Other than some very broad strokes, Scout's statements are still aspirational rather than definitive. And because the interactions between the Harvester and the battery will mostly be software-controlled, the reality is that Scout will be tweaking behavior even after the vehicles have been shipped. They'll find that their testing didn't cover a dozen or a thousand scenarios that real people experience all the time, so they'll send an OTA to give more consumer-friendly performance.