Ideas for Scout Engineers

[midwestscout]

Hi Scout engineers,

Below are some ideas for standard or optional features:

-add rear bumper corner built-in steps to allow access to stepping up into the truck bed, similar to the Chevrolet Silverado/Colorado.
-include a digital key option to use a smartphone as a passive key for entering/locking the vehicle.
-pre-heat/pre-cool cabin remotely via smartphone app
-include 360 degree camera options on both Traveler and Terra models.
-include Apple CarPlay/Android Auto as available options.
-heated/cooled/massaging seats
-excellent sound system with subwoofer
-flex-fuel capable for harvester electric/gas powertrain models
-include a drain plug in the front trunk for ice/beverages for camping/tailgating
-ensure the load capacity on both tailgate and suv tailgates can handle 2 adults sitting on them, say at least 500lbs.
-include an option for a plain-colored interior headliner fabric, I'm not a fan of the pattern shown on the reveal vehicle.
-allow an option for full-leather seats instead of the leather/fabric combination.
-include an option for at least hands-free driving if not both hands and eyes free driving.
-rain-sensing windshield wipers
-auto high/low headlight beams
-include 7 and 4 pin towing connections
-power sunshade on the glass roof option
-solid roof option for those that don't want either the retractable or glass roofs.
-allow Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others for playing tv shows and movies when parked.
-use Google maps
-have an option to use something like OnX for off-road trail maps
-matte black exterior color option
-matte black front and rear skid plate finish options
-relocate the household power outlets on the suv from the same area where the charge port is located to just inside the rear cargo area so that they are out of the weather in case it's raining.


Thank you for listening!

 

[J Alynn]

I thought I heard on a video someone said the battery will be smaller on the harvester models. You are saying the battery size is the same regardless whether it's the full EV or harvester model?

No, battery will shrink a bit on Harvester to all space for generator but the system moving the car is not hybrid. The vehicles NEVER move by gas power. The gas ONLY runs the generator to produce more electricity/charge the battery pack

 

[midwestscout]

No, battery will shrink a bit on Harvester to all space for generator but the system moving the car is not hybrid. The vehicles NEVER move by gas power. The gas ONLY runs the generator to produce more electricity/charge the battery pack

Yeah, I understand that. I'm asking if the engineers can build the battery pack to allow for at least 100 miles of pure EV range on the harvester models when fully charged before the generator kicks on.

 

[Harris005]

I thought I heard on a video someone said the battery will be smaller on the harvester models. You are saying the battery size is the same regardless whether it's the full EV or harvester model?

I believe the batteries will be smaller. I don't think it was official from SM, but I overheard at some point to expect 150ish range on batteries and the rest of the overall 500 mile range would be from the range extender charging the batteries. Batteries are still the only power to the motors/wheels.

 

[Jamie@ScoutMotors]

Yeah, I understand that. I'm asking if the engineers can build the battery pack to allow for at least 100 miles of pure EV range on the harvester models when fully charged before the generator kicks on.

As mentioned, 150 miles of range on pure battery with the Harvester option.

 

[MountainDad]

As mentioned, 150 miles of range on pure battery with the Harvester option.

Are the range figures the targeted EPA certified numbers?

Many pure ICE vehicles can get better range than their EPA numbers, but most EVs tend to fall short.

 

[hammick]

If it has the Rivian interface most likely won't have CarPlay or AA which is fine with me. When a vehicle has great NAV like Rivian no need IMHO.

 

[Harris005]

If it has the Rivian interface most likely won't have CarPlay or AA which is fine with me. When a vehicle has great NAV like Rivian no need IMHO.

Carplay and AA are included, but it did appear to have a solid nav of its own as well. I'll be curious to see more details/teasers come out on this

 

[oldgeeksguide]

If it has the Rivian interface most likely won't have CarPlay or AA which is fine with me. When a vehicle has great NAV like Rivian no need IMHO.

The deal between VW and Rivian is about lower level computer architecture, I wouldn’t necessarily expext any Vw products to show up with higher level Rivian UI software. For Scout in particular, I would expect that they’ll take advantage of that architecture, but want their own spin on the user interface.

 

[Chaparral]

If it has the Rivian interface most likely won't have CarPlay or AA which is fine with me. When a vehicle has great NAV like Rivian no need IMHO.

I think Rivian are doing the zonal system. This is the system that reduces the number of microchips/computerized control units. That’s the computer system that runs the vehicle.

The in-car entertainment system is different.

A friend of mine just traded in his R1S after a few months because he missed CarPlay so much!

 

[Iguy]

Posted this to a new thread before reading. classic blunder. thought I'd post it here to get visibility to the SM team.

"
To the Scout Team!

Congrats on the reveal! you have created a wonderful product and a lot of thought has gone into it, that is clear! I love the design, the features, and the fact that it's an EV! and the range extender was a great idea! I had a few thoughts to share as a fellow automotive engineer...

1. it looks like there is a start/stop button. I'd highly consider removing it and using the Tesla and Silverado EV strategy of using the brake for on and closing the door for off.
2. what about the bed width? is it over 48" wide between the wheel wells?
3. I didn't see any cameras or sensors on the vehicles. USS for parking, Rain sensor for wipers, long range and short range radar, cameras, etc. Please don't do the Tesla strategy, it's terrible! use the right hardware for the situation
4. Please have a pet mode of sorts! and a camping mode
5. please have a sentry mode for the cameras
6. please have a built in dash cam
7. I noticed the suspension is listed as air springs, but in the reveal it had coil springs. My Ranger Raptor has coil springs with active shocks and I think it's great. Not sure the complexity/cost for air is worth it.
8. Large cup holders for large hydroflask style water bottles is a must.
9. Large mirrors for good visibility. It's worth it, especially for the Terra which will be towing. or a tow mirror option!?
10. Please don't get too fancy with the seats, make really good, soft and comfortable seats with good adjustability and ergonomics. Align it well with the dead pedal and steering wheel and gauge cluster. Great job on the luxury bench seat option too! I love it!

These are all things I found to be universally liked in vehicles, not necessarily specific things I want.

Thanks for reading and if you need any lead calibration engineers, senior suspension design engineers, or vehicle dynamics engineers, let me know! I have lots of experience in all those areas and am currently a lead suspension design engineer!

Thanks,
Ian"

 

[Logan]

Here is the wishlist item I joined to post/get in front of some Scout Engineers eyes .

I’d love for there to be a way to extract 240v power from the Traveler. If there is an exterior accessible 240v outlet, great! But even something like an adapter/dongle (ala the gizmo that the Hyundai Ioniq 5 uses to do V2L) that uses the bidirectional charging capability, and converts from NACS to an L14-30R would be amazing.

The specific use case I’m interested in is using the Traveler as a generator for my home during an outage. My whole neighborhood was built with manual transfer switches, as power outages in the winter are common. Being able to back out the scout, plug in the house, and set some sort of limit on the minimum battery level that is acceptable, and then have the gas engine kick on.

Having the scout idling in the driveway locked is 1000x better than dragging around a generator, hoping it doesn’t walk off in the middle of the night, or worrying about storing/maintaining gas/Propain to fuel it.

I love lots of details that you guys have gotten right. But that is one thing missing from the traveler that I’d love to see. If it doesn’t work out, I’d adapt one of the 120v/18amp outlets on the outside and do it that way. It would just restrict my options on what I can run in the outages.

Thanks .

 

[J Alynn]

Posted this to a new thread before reading. classic blunder. thought I'd post it here to get visibility to the SM team.

"
To the Scout Team!

Congrats on the reveal! you have created a wonderful product and a lot of thought has gone into it, that is clear! I love the design, the features, and the fact that it's an EV! and the range extender was a great idea! I had a few thoughts to share as a fellow automotive engineer...

1. it looks like there is a start/stop button. I'd highly consider removing it and using the Tesla and Silverado EV strategy of using the brake for on and closing the door for off.
2. what about the bed width? is it over 48" wide between the wheel wells

Not sure on exact bed width but it was wide and appears to be 48”+. We also noticed the wheel well top is lower than most typical pick up beds

1. I didn't see any cameras or sensors on the vehicles. USS for parking, Rain sensor for wipers, long range and short range radar, cameras, etc. Please don't do the Tesla strategy, it's terrible! use the right hardware for the situation

we’ve been told most of these items are planned-just not on concept

1. Please have a pet mode of sorts! and a camping mode

the Terra was demo’d at post reveal and the screen was set to pet mode. One of the designers even mentioned an option to upload your pet’s photo-whether it makes it to final I do not know

1. please have a sentry mode for the cameras
2. please have a built in dash cam

there is a dash rail for mounting camersa/go-pros so I don’t know if a built in dash cam will happen or not

1. I noticed the suspension is listed as air springs, but in the reveal it had coil springs. My Ranger Raptor has coil springs with active shocks and I think it's great. Not sure the complexity/cost for air is worth it.
2. Large cup holders for large hydroflask style water bottles is a must.

the cup holders we saw looked substantial so should fit hydros and Yeti’s. Frunk has 2 built in cup holders and discussion was the frunk tray slides a bit to serve as a front tailgate and under that is tub with drain so potential for icing drinks on the go (tailgating or picnic travel)

1. Large mirrors for good visibility. It's worth it, especially for the Terra which will be towing. or a tow mirror option!?
2. Please don't get too fancy with the seats, make really good, soft and comfortable seats with good adjustability and ergonomics. Align it well with the dead pedal and steering wheel and gauge cluster. Great job on the luxury bench seat option too! I love it!

bench seat with plaid effect in Terra was Super good looking in person. Surely an upgrade and hopefully available in both at time of sale but just super nice looking.

These are all things I found to be universally liked in vehicles, not necessarily specific things I want.

Thanks for reading and if you need any lead calibration engineers, senior suspension design engineers, or vehicle dynamics engineers, let me know! I have lots of experience in all those areas and am currently a lead suspension design engineer!

Thanks,
Ian"

 

[Scoutsie]

• it looks like there is a start/stop button. I'd highly consider removing it and using the Tesla and Silverado EV strategy of using the brake for on and closing the door for off.

I’m curious about this because I’ve never seen this in use: you pump the brake to start the car? That seems wild! I mean, I guess closing the door to stop makes sense because it’s the last thing you do, and I suppose that’s nice because you don’t accidentally leave the engine running or drain the starter battery, but also seems unintuitive to everything a driver expects to do when done driving. What is the logic for this?

• Large cup holders for large hydroflask style water bottles is a must.

Oooh, agree with this. Have a Takeya water bottle and hate that it doesn’t fit in my cup holders.

• Large mirrors for good visibility. It's worth it, especially for the Terra which will be towing. or a tow mirror option!?

Strongly agree.

• Please don't get too fancy with the seats, make really good, soft and comfortable seats with good adjustability and ergonomics. Align it well with the dead pedal and steering wheel and gauge cluster. Great job on the luxury bench seat option too! I love it!

Strongly disagree: car seats could be the things you suggest *and* fancy. If you are a person of middle age or will at some point be a person of middle age, you’re going to lose cartilage and/or possibly bone mass unless you are in some kind of amazing shape with stellar genes. That is the point at which you come to value things like massaging seats once your cartilage starts to go away and your bones are like “calcium, what’s that, your bones are now made of flour and Elmer’s glue.” Massage chair would be neat.

 

[Lowengaard]

Hi Scout engineers,

Below are some ideas for standard or optional features:

-add rear bumper corner built-in steps to allow access to stepping up into the truck bed, similar to the Chevrolet Silverado/Colorado.
-include a digital key option to use a smartphone as a passive key for entering/locking the vehicle.
-pre-heat/pre-cool cabin remotely via smartphone app
-include 360 degree camera options on both Traveler and Terra models.
-include Apple CarPlay/Android Auto as available options.
-heated/cooled/massaging seats
-excellent sound system with subwoofer
-flex-fuel capable for harvester electric/gas powertrain models
-include a drain plug in the front trunk for ice/beverages for camping/tailgating
-ensure the load capacity on both tailgate and suv tailgates can handle 2 adults sitting on them, say at least 500lbs.
-include an option for a plain-colored interior headliner fabric, I'm not a fan of the pattern shown on the reveal vehicle.
-allow an option for full-leather seats instead of the leather/fabric combination.
-include an option for at least hands-free driving if not both hands and eyes free driving.
-rain-sensing windshield wipers
-auto high/low headlight beams
-include 7 and 4 pin towing connections
-power sunshade on the glass roof option
-solid roof option for those that don't want either the retractable or glass roofs.
-allow Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others for playing tv shows and movies when parked.
-use Google maps
-have an option to use something like OnX for off-road trail maps
-matte black exterior color option
-matte black front and rear skid plate finish options
-relocate the household power outlets on the suv from the same area where the charge port is located to just inside the rear cargo area so that they are out of the weather in case it's raining.


Thank you for listening

A lot of these should just be package upgrades, such as the heated seats, auto high-low beams, and rain sensing wipers. But the flex fuel capability, tailgate load capacity, a drain plug for the trunk, and 4 pin towing connections should be standard features.

 

[Iguy]

I’m curious about this because I’ve never seen this in use: you pump the brake to start the car? That seems wild! I mean, I guess closing the door to stop makes sense because it’s the last thing you do, and I suppose that’s nice because you don’t accidentally leave the engine running or drain the starter battery, but also seems unintuitive to everything a driver expects to do when done driving. What is the logic for this?


Oooh, agree with this. Have a Takeya water bottle and hate that it doesn’t fit in my cup holders.


Strongly agree.


Strongly disagree: car seats could be the things you suggest *and* fancy. If you are a person of middle age or will at some point be a person of middle age, you’re going to lose cartilage and/or possibly bone mass unless you are in some kind of amazing shape with stellar genes. That is the point at which you come to value things like massaging seats once your cartilage starts to go away and your bones are like “calcium, what’s that, your bones are now made of flour and Elmer’s glue.” Massage chair would be neat.

Yeah, you just tap the brake to turn it on. No different than having to push the brake before pushing to start button, but just the brake turns it on. It seems a little weird if you have never used it before and just think about it, but it’s extremely intuitive and effficient.

I guess I misrepresented what I was trying to say about the seats. I 100% agree with you. I’m more saying don’t do fancy plastic inserts as they inevitably squeak. Don’t get cutesy with the design of the headrest or anything like that, make sure first and foremost the ergonomics are good, the seat is supportive, but soft and squishy. Get the fundaments right then add in the heat, AC, and massaging seats without compromising good basics. Especially with the massaging, those can create hard spots and uncomfortable seats if done wrong. I want all those features though!

 

[Lowengaard]

Have rain sensing wipers on my Golf. You might not want to pay for it, but I suspect it is a low production cost option - and VERY convenient. Kind of like saying I don't want to pay for intermittent wipers - accept they work better.

I like the concept of the Chevy step on the side of the bumper - plus you can always step on the center of the bumper where the license plate is - the Terra looked like the bumper would be fairly difficult to step on. I have a built in ladder inside the tailgate of my Ford (it slides inside the tailgate) - it is considerably worse than useless (annoying to deploy when it works - and it has been jammed most of the life of the truck anyway, just adding weight to the tailgate - not to mention a way for dirt and debris to get into the tailgate jamming the latch mechanism). I added an AMP Research drop down step on the side (spring loaded, can easily deploy and retract with my foot) - best money spent on a mod ever. It can be used with the tailgate open or closed. Chevy is a cleaner solution - but the AMP step is a bit lower which is nice. I use my truck as a truck - which means I am fairly constantly loading and unloading the bed. The step lets me do that with the tailgate closed, or helps me climb into the bed when necessary.

Just a funny thought - offer a flat bed version of the Terra. Once you use a flatbed truck, you get a bit spoiled. Saw a Gladiator mod from Australia that did it - looked awesome. You can easily put under bed boxes (since the bed is above the wheel wells). If they really wanted, they could even offer a Ute Canopy for it. FWIW, I flat bedded my Tacoma. It is nice. Hell, they could even put a slide in Bed Extender on it so it could support longer loads when necessary.

Totally agree with the extended bed.

 

[Lowengaard]

Posted this to a new thread before reading. classic blunder. thought I'd post it here to get visibility to the SM team.

"
To the Scout Team!

Congrats on the reveal! you have created a wonderful product and a lot of thought has gone into it, that is clear! I love the design, the features, and the fact that it's an EV! and the range extender was a great idea! I had a few thoughts to share as a fellow automotive engineer...

1. it looks like there is a start/stop button. I'd highly consider removing it and using the Tesla and Silverado EV strategy of using the brake for on and closing the door for off.
2. what about the bed width? is it over 48" wide between the wheel wells?
3. I didn't see any cameras or sensors on the vehicles. USS for parking, Rain sensor for wipers, long range and short range radar, cameras, etc. Please don't do the Tesla strategy, it's terrible! use the right hardware for the situation
4. Please have a pet mode of sorts! and a camping mode
5. please have a sentry mode for the cameras
6. please have a built in dash cam
7. I noticed the suspension is listed as air springs, but in the reveal it had coil springs. My Ranger Raptor has coil springs with active shocks and I think it's great. Not sure the complexity/cost for air is worth it.
8. Large cup holders for large hydroflask style water bottles is a must.
9. Large mirrors for good visibility. It's worth it, especially for the Terra which will be towing. or a tow mirror option!?
10. Please don't get too fancy with the seats, make really good, soft and comfortable seats with good adjustability and ergonomics. Align it well with the dead pedal and steering wheel and gauge cluster. Great job on the luxury bench seat option too! I love it!

These are all things I found to be universally liked in vehicles, not necessarily specific things I want.

Thanks for reading and if you need any lead calibration engineers, senior suspension design engineers, or vehicle dynamics engineers, let me know! I have lots of experience in all those areas and am currently a lead suspension design engineer!

Thanks,
Ian"

I wouldn’t do the brake for start thing, just use a regular button. No way of accidentally turning the car on with just a button.

 

[J Alynn]

A lot of these should just be package upgrades, such as the heated seats, auto high-low beams, and rain sensing wipers. But the flex fuel capability, tailgate load capacity, a drain plug for the trunk, and 4 pin towing connections should be standard features.

Should all be options. What one person wants/needs is different than another. I’d prefer what Iguy suggested so individualized options would be ideal solution

 

[Scoutsie]

Yeah, you just tap the brake to turn it on. No different than having to push the brake before pushing to start button, but just the brake turns it on. It seems a little weird if you have never used it before and just think about it, but it’s extremely intuitive and effficient.

I guess I misrepresented what I was trying to say about the seats. I 100% agree with you. I’m more saying don’t do fancy plastic inserts as they inevitably squeak. Don’t get cutesy with the design of the headrest or anything like that, make sure first and foremost the ergonomics are good, the seat is supportive, but soft and squishy. Get the fundaments right then add in the heat, AC, and massaging seats without compromising good basics. Especially with the massaging, those can create hard spots and uncomfortable seats if done wrong. I want all those features though!

I’m not totally sold on the tap-brakes-to-start thing (still wondering why someone came up with the thought to do it this way and where it originated. Was it to give you the feel of kickstarting a motorcycle?) Also thinking about the time I spent in an aircast this summer, and while I could drive as long as my left foot wasn’t engaged, would I love that my foot was needed to start the car? If I had a prosthetic, arthritis, plantar fasciitis or even just wore a really rigid shoe, would I want this? Just spitballing. Still trying to accept that this exists.

And thanks for seat clarity. Yes to a comfy seat. I don’t know if they’re making them in-house or ordering them to spec (the latter?), but humbly suggest the densest non-memory foam.

 

[Iguy]

Should all be options. What one person wants/needs is different than another. I’d prefer what Iguy suggested so individualized options would be ideal solution

The issue with this is it’s just not practical/feasible due to the complexity and cost. As an automotive engineer, I understand why manufacturers go to packages. The cost to maintain complex options is just too high and results in worse quality every time. I’m fully prepared to accept that I either won’t get some things I want due to cost or will get more things than I want. I’d love to pick and choose, but it’s highly unlikely.