Harvester - Request to allow it to charge battery while parked & a 30-40amp/240v outlet

[dleepnw]

I live in the PNW and with the recent "bomb cyclone" we have had widespread power outages. Its been almost 3 days without power and we don't have a generator. We've been able to draw power using our Rivian R1T which is great. I did have to go to a DCFC charger to juice up once but otherwise its an awesome feature and capability of BEVs.

With that in mind, I've been thinking about Scout's Harvester and how great of an option it would be in situations like the one were in. I'd say it would be an even better option than a battery-only BEV. If I had the Traveler this week with the Harvester and had the option to keep my battery charged using the combustion engine, it would have provided a similar experience with regards to powering my home but it would have been way more convenient.

As you know, going from 10-90% in a BEV can take anywhere from 30 min to 1.5 hours, depending on how large your battery is and chargers speeds. That doesn't factor in if the charger up, is it running properly, it is busy. As you can imagine, all the DCFC in the area have been busy so it took me about 2 hours to get my charge complete with the wait time.

Had I had the Traveler with the Harvester, I could have gotten gas in a few min, returned home and continued to power my essentials.

This is assuming that the Harvester works while the vehicle is parked. Another community member mentioned this in their post. It'd be similar to that but it doesn't necessarily need to keep the battery at a fixed SOC, it just needs to be able to charge the battery so that as we discharge it to power the house, the engine keeps charging it. Simply put, you'd want to drain the gasoline more than the battery as its easier/faster to fill up gas than charge the battery. The other similar use case is when camping or overlanding. It'd be great to charge the battery during the day or overnight when parked. Of course there's the issue of the fumes from a stationary vehicle. Its going to be interesting to find out how the Harvester works.

Obviously would be amazing for emergency situations like the one we were in this week but also useful for camping/overlanding and other scenarios where you need to power devices while the vehicle is parked. Also, it'd be great if it provided more than the 1.2kW of power the outlets in the R1T provide. 9.6kW would be nice like the Cybertruck and F-150 Lightning. Also nice would be at least one outlet with 40amp/240v outlet. It'd be useful to be able to charge our other BEV with the Scout.

 

[shnngns]

There's so much unknown surrounding the Harvester option and when and how it will charge the battery. I could definitely see it recharging while parked as a good feature but feel like there could also be lawsuits and deaths and who knows what from people leaving it to run in their garage while they let it charge.

 

[Chaparral]

There's so much unknown surrounding the Harvester option and when and how it will charge the battery. I could definitely see it recharging while parked as a good feature but feel like there could also be lawsuits and deaths and who knows what from people leaving it to run in their garage while they let it charge.

I think people can simply be reminded/warned that they can't run an engine in their garage and perhaps see that warning every time they use the feature. There are a various safety considerations around generators. People have actually died from a generator that was outside but too close to an open window. The vehicle could also have a CO detector that triggers an alarm and turns off the Harvester if there is a build up carbon monoxide detected around the vehicle. There would be no more liability for Scout than for any other company that makes generators.

 

[shnngns]

I think people can simply be reminded/warned that they can't run an engine in their garage and perhaps see that warning every time they use the feature. There are a various safety considerations around generators. People have actually died from a generator that was outside but too close to an open window. The vehicle could also have a CO detector that triggers an alarm and turns off the Harvester if there is a build up carbon monoxide detected around the vehicle. There would be no more liability for Scout than for any other company that makes generators.

Yes, everyone should know this...and yet there are still people who die or get sick . A CO2 detector would be a neat feature but I also see cost going up and another potential item that would have issues

 

[J Alynn]

Yes, everyone should know this...and yet there are still people who die or get sick . A CO2 detector would be a neat feature but I also see cost going up and another potential item that would have issues

The issue with this is in a closed garage even if CO 2 sensor shuts off that build up still stay in garage and could leak into house or overwhelm a child if they went out into the garage.
McDonald’s has warnings on coffee cups because people are stupid and sue happy. I love idea but just can’t imagine legal saying a warning gets them off the hook

 

[Logan]

I would be extremely disappointed if the harvester option didn't allow it to charge the vehicle while parked, or use in "generator mode".

It was discussed some here as well.

https://scoutmotors.community.forum/threads/240v-outlet-on-traveller.1165/#post-15291

My power was out for only 27 hours during the recent storm, so I was comparatively lucky. I also have a transfer switch on the house already (it was built with one, as power outages here are frequent. All homes in the neighborhood have one). But I was wishing I had my dream scout already .

I would think that in terms of "can it run in a garage" or "what about CO concerns", they might be able to use surround view cameras to determine if the vehicle is outdoors or indoors?

My dream "generator mode" would be options to control:

• The minimum/maximum battery SOC
  • ie, turn on the harvester at 30%, but don't charge it above 80%, or something like that.
• maximum output per outlet being used
  • ie, if you want to limit a Nema 5-15 outlet to 1200w, instead of 1800w, or only make certain outlets function (like if you're in public and don't want others sneakily using the outlets shown)
• Schedule control of the output of the outlet (at least the 240v).
  • ie, if I'm trying to conserve energy in a power outage, and I want to provide output to my home through the 240v outlet for 2hrs, and then turn it off for 4 hours, and repeat that (fridges should be powered every 4 hours).
  • This is doable with a normal/manual generator, but is annoying at night, as you sleep poorly. It would be wayyy nicer to set this, and just let it go.
• Remotely start/stop output through the outlets
  • And something that can work locally without power/public internet. Power outages often result in loss of public internet, or your router/local access points are down when you want to start up the generator/power output.

 

[olallafur]

I think people can simply be reminded/warned that they can't run an engine in their garage and perhaps see that warning every time they use the feature. There are a various safety considerations around generators. People have actually died from a generator that was outside but too close to an open window. The vehicle could also have a CO detector that triggers an alarm and turns off the Harvester if there is a build up carbon monoxide detected around the vehicle. There would be no more liability for Scout than for any other company that makes generators.

A downside to CO detector shutting down the car is if you are running on gas and in a traffic jam with lots of cars. It could keep shutting the vehicle down.

 

[J Alynn]

A downside to CO detector shutting down the car is if you are running on gas and in a traffic jam with lots of cars. It could keep shutting the vehicle down.

Great point. Hadn’t thought of that. Especially if in a tunnel like NYC or Pittsburgh or DC (east coast tunnels off the top of my head)

 

[CarTechGeek]

I don't see any problem with them doing a generator and/or parked charge mode, since Ford already does the generator mode with their F150 hybrid.

 

[pwrofgrayskull]

I see no difference between the Harvester being able to run while parked and the way any other combustion engine functions. Removing the ability to charge while parked would remove a lot of the allure and versatility.

 

[Chris_Ferzo]

I live in the PNW and with the recent "bomb cyclone" we have had widespread power outages. Its been almost 3 days without power and we don't have a generator. We've been able to draw power using our Rivian R1T which is great. I did have to go to a DCFC charger to juice up once but otherwise its an awesome feature and capability of BEVs.

With that in mind, I've been thinking about Scout's Harvester and how great of an option it would be in situations like the one were in. I'd say it would be an even better option than a battery-only BEV. If I had the Traveler this week with the Harvester and had the option to keep my battery charged using the combustion engine, it would have provided a similar experience with regards to powering my home but it would have been way more convenient.

As you know, going from 10-90% in a BEV can take anywhere from 30 min to 1.5 hours, depending on how large your battery is and chargers speeds. That doesn't factor in if the charger up, is it running properly, it is busy. As you can imagine, all the DCFC in the area have been busy so it took me about 2 hours to get my charge complete with the wait time.

Had I had the Traveler with the Harvester, I could have gotten gas in a few min, returned home and continued to power my essentials.

This is assuming that the Harvester works while the vehicle is parked. Another community member mentioned this in their post. It'd be similar to that but it doesn't necessarily need to keep the battery at a fixed SOC, it just needs to be able to charge the battery so that as we discharge it to power the house, the engine keeps charging it. Simply put, you'd want to drain the gasoline more than the battery as its easier/faster to fill up gas than charge the battery.

Obviously would be amazing for emergency situations like the one we were in this week but also useful for camping/overlanding and other scenarios where you need to power devices while the vehicle is parked. Also, it'd be great if it provided more than the 1.2kW of power the outlets in the R1T provide. 9.6kW would be nice like the Cybertruck and F-150 Lightning. Also nice would be at least one outlet with 40amp/240v outlet. It'd be useful to be able to charge our other BEV with the Scout.

Infrastructure will be a issue until the volumes of this type of vehicle is more common, I live in a older more dated community, but would hope new builds will have supportive Infrastructure to accommodate these newer technology

 

[dleepnw]

I was watching this video today and the Director of UX was demoing the Modes feature of the UI. They were in Outdoor mode and he showed an option to turn on the Harvestor while in that mode. To me that indicates you will be able to charge the battery while the vehicle is parked. I hope that makes it to production!