Scout Motors

Scout Motors still doesn’t have a single paid customer, and it doesn’t plan to build its first truck for a while, but there’s no denying the fact that the two concepts it showed off last year looked pretty darn cool. As it turns out, people love the idea of a rugged, retro-inspired off-roader that also happens to be electric. And while it will still be at least a couple more years before production Scouts end up in customer hands, the Terra pickup truck and Traveler SUV appear poised to position Scout as an incredibly popular electric automaker. Except not really.

Turns out, very few of the potential customers lined up to buy the new Scouts actually want the electric-only version. Instead, InsideEVs reports the vast majority of Scout’s pre-orders are for the version that comes with a gas-powered range extender, arguably making Scout more of a hybrid startup that dabbles in EVs. That isn’t speculation or insider information, either. It’s something Scout CEO Scott Keogh publicly told Bloomberg in a recent interview. According to Keogh, Scout has about 130,000 pre-orders, and about 80% of those are for the version with a range extender.

Considering how few people have reserved a fully electric Scout, you might think it’s only a matter of time before it offers a gas-only version. But as Keogh told Bloomberg, that probably won’t happen:

I don’t see it. And look, there’s a lot of drama now that says the world was all EV. Now the world’s going to become 100% internal combustion engine. The world is still heading electric. The technology is there, the innovation is there. We are in the early stages. Tech is only getting better; our costs are only going to go down. And we want to make sure Scout is prepared for the next 100 years, we’re not building a two-year brand.“

Rivian sticks to EVs

Rivian

Considering how many people want a range-extended Scout instead of an electric-only one, the kinds of folks who ask questions that were already answered in the presentation (that they’ve already said will be emailed to everyone after the meeting) might be wondering when Rivian plans to introduce an extended-range EV of its own. Surely, RJ wants to get in on those sweet EREV orders, right? Wrong.

On Rivian’s earnings call Tuesday, InsideEVs reports an analyst asked CEO RJ Scaringe that exact question and specifically referenced Keogh’s Bloomber**g interview when they asked it. Scaringe quickly shut that idea down, saying, “We’re not planning to offer an EREV or, effectively, a series hybrid, which would involve putting an engine into the vehicle. So that’s not in our product roadmap, or something that we’re at all contemplating.”

That shouldn’t be surprising, especially when you consider how much work it would take to add a gas engine to the EVs it’s already developed. It’s also important to remember that Scout still hasn’t started building its EREVs, much less sold any. Oh, and let’s also not forget that the plan here is to hang a four-cylinder engine behind the rear axle. Cynicism may not be cool, but let’s just say I’m extremely skeptical that any of these rear-engine Scouts will go into production in 2028 or even before 2030. Maybe ever? I’d love to be proven wrong, but we’ve got years before we’ll find out.

From Rivian’s perspective, it just doesn’t make sense to invest in a bridge technology that will soon become irrelevant. As Scaringe put it on the call, “We believe everything will be electric, everything will be software defined, and everything will have very high levels of autonomous capabilities. And so we’re very focused on continuing to lead with electrification.”