Road Trip in a VW Buzz: Success or Train Wreck

[04Ram2500Hemi]

TFL just released a video road tripping the new VW Buzz, and it was a mess. The lack of range on the battery was one thing, but what’s worse is the GPS Routing Software that led them to charging stations that were down. This whole video is why a lot of us (me included) reserved the Harvester. It’s my hope that the software we get from Scout (owned by VW) is better than this! The whole video captures what every non EV owner is honestly afraid of.

 

[J Alynn]

TFL just released a video road tripping the new VW Buzz, and it was a mess. The lack of range on the battery was one thing, but what’s worse is the GPS Routing Software that led them to charging stations that were down. This whole video is why a lot of us (me included) reserved the Harvester. It’s my hope that the software we get from Scout (owned by VW) is better than this! The whole video captures what every non EV owner is honestly afraid of.

Should probably hide this video that way it doesn’t scare folks off. Need robust sales and orders to be sure Scout is a success. Having people remember scout is umbrella under VW just gives outsiders more ammunition to shoot at Scout “perceived failures”. Just my opinion

 

[Jamie@ScoutMotors]

We won't be using the same software. Charging stations that are down is a separate issue.

 

[04Ram2500Hemi]

@Jamie@ScoutMotors I appreciate you chiming in. Using different software is good to hear. Obviously you can’t do anything about charging stations that are down. What you can do is offer realistic range and reliable software. That’s what you can control.

This video highlights a lot of my concerns, and why I swore I’d never own an EV. That said, here I sit with a reservation for a Scout Traveler with the Harvester option. The EV world is not who needs convincing if Scout can be successful, its customers like me. I’m cautiously optimistic, and hope that Scout can deliver. I want to take delivery of my reservation. Whether myself and others like me take delivery depends on Scout. We’re standing on Scouts door, eagerly waiting to see what’s delivered. We’re waiting…

 

[Jamie@ScoutMotors]

Totally hear you. I would also point out that we will offer the NACS charger right from the start of production, giving everyone access to the Tesla charging network. There are some great insights from EV owners here in this forum with real world examples, I would check those out as well. The other advantage we have is time over the next couple years as technology improves, more charging stations get installed and software continues to evolve and improve as well. Good for us as a company. Bad for all of us wanting their Scout soon.

 

[KarlT]

Great points made. Driving an EV on daily basis is easy. It’s the road trips that are a problem, especially out west where things are far apart and separate by emptiness.

 

[Chaz26]

I think the nervousness around charging and road tripping is the biggest issue for people thinking about moving from ICE to EVs. That being said, if the Scout was released today and was based on the specs given I personally wouldn't be worried about taking it on a road trip. Even if you are conservative and assume instead of the 350 range you only get somewhere between 250-300 miles, that's still going to be 3-4 hours of driving minimum before a first stop. With Tesla network available I'd expect to be able to trip across the country pretty successfully. Worst case would be limited to 250 kW charging speeds with Tesla (based on no v4 available at this time, but by the time of release I'm sure they will be more common). There's always plug share to check on all stations based on reviews, so hopefully there wouldn't be any issues with entire stations being down unexpectedly.

 

[Scoutsie]

Mind you, I don’t know this channel or its several siblings and I don’t know how reliable or credible these guys are, but something about this rubs me the wrong way. They chose to do this review during a blizzard. It’s known that this van doesn’t have great range. It’s known that VW doesn’t have the best software, hence the deal with Rivian. It’s known that charging station infrastructure certainly can stand to be improved. I don’t think they showed anything that wasn’t already known. This isn’t the indictment of EVs that the commenters for this video think it is. These are problems that are being addressed or problems that can be addressed.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

With more than 50,000 miles of EV driving experience, 75% of which has been on road trips of >500 miles each way, if the Scout were available today, and I needed to replace my Lightning or Mustang, an all-electric Scout would be one of our top options.

My road trip videos, if I made them, would be boring: Charge to 100% the night before; drive for 2-3 hours, charge while eating lunch; drive for 2-3 hours, charge while eating dinner; drive for 2-3 hours;... more cycles if necessary, depending on the distance I plan to drive; plug in at the hotel, sleep. Do it again the next day.


I'm not sure what these click-bait influencers do to create the drama, but it's certainly entertaining.

 

[Chaz26]

With more than 50,000 miles of EV driving experience, 75% of which has been on road trips of >500 miles each way, if the Scout were available today, and I needed to replace my Lightning or Mustang, an all-electric Scout would be one of our top options.

My road trip videos, if I made them, would be boring: Charge to 100% the night before; drive for 2-3 hours, charge while eating lunch; drive for 2-3 hours, charge while eating dinner; drive for 2-3 hours;... more cycles if necessary, depending on the distance I plan to drive; plug in at the hotel, sleep. Do it again the next day.


I'm not sure what these click-bait influencers do to create the drama, but it's certainly entertaining.

This is pretty much how my road trips go. Worst case is no charger at my destination so I have to do a quick top up beforehand so it's ready to go with a higher state of charge but that's about it.

Aside from youtube channels, very few people are attempting to road trip with virtually no food/rest stops and swap drivers out to continually be on the road for 1,000+ miles. That's when you see how much faster gas vs EV is, but if you stop for lunch and dinner breaks on your trip, then it's pretty much the same amount of time.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

This is pretty much how my road trips go. Worst case is no charger at my destination so I have to do a quick top up beforehand so it's ready to go with a higher state of charge but that's about it.

Aside from youtube channels, very few people are attempting to road trip with virtually no food/rest stops and swap drivers out to continually be on the road for 1,000+ miles. That's when you see how much faster gas vs EV is, but if you stop for lunch and dinner breaks on your trip, then it's pretty much the same amount of time.

Exactly.

As you saw in my other thread, I just got home from >3,300 miles road trip and didn't have any drama. It's weird to me that this is still a talking point, but I guess I need to acknowledge that living the experience and being told about it are two very different things.

 

[R1TVT]

Hard to watch, but glad I don't live my life in fear based on sensationalized YT'er / Influencer Videos.

 

[Chaz26]

Also, I have watched through some of that YouTube video now (but skipped some of it just for transparency). It's obviously designed to be bad, first up, he said the hotel had chargers but it was just Tesla Superchargers (surely you would check to make sure it's the right type before booking on that basis). For a Scout this won't be an issue anyways since they will be able to use Tesla chargers. Also, if you are stopping overnight at low percentage, it's better to charge up the night before while the battery is still warm and get faster charging speeds rather than having to go straight to a charger when everything is cold since it won't charge as fast. Also, surely you would do a little planning and check that it is going to be the fastest chargers possible for where you need to stop.

I know the Scout will be much better than the ID Buzz since it will have more range and faster charging speeds, but I'm confident if I'd been given a ID Buzz to do that same trip on the same day, I would have got there a lot quicker than they did.

 

[R1TVT]

It's obviously designed to be bad, first up, he said the hotel had chargers but it was just Tesla Superchargers (surely you would check to make sure it's the right type before booking on that basis).

No doubt, then he ironically checked PlugShare when the EA station was down...

PlugShare would have shown him that his hotel destination had Tesla Superchargers. LOL

 

[LastDayScout]

With more than 50,000 miles of EV driving experience, 75% of which has been on road trips of >500 miles each way, if the Scout were available today, and I needed to replace my Lightning or Mustang, an all-electric Scout would be one of our top options.

My road trip videos, if I made them, would be boring: Charge to 100% the night before; drive for 2-3 hours, charge while eating lunch; drive for 2-3 hours, charge while eating dinner; drive for 2-3 hours;... more cycles if necessary, depending on the distance I plan to drive; plug in at the hotel, sleep. Do it again the next day.


I'm not sure what these click-bait influencers do to create the drama, but it's certainly entertaining.

This is the best synopsis I have seen yet of how to live with EV. Daily is easy and the comments above concisely explain road trips.

 

[J Alynn]

Also, I have watched through some of that YouTube video now (but skipped some of it just for transparency). It's obviously designed to be bad, first up, he said the hotel had chargers but it was just Tesla Superchargers (surely you would check to make sure it's the right type before booking on that basis). For a Scout this won't be an issue anyways since they will be able to use Tesla chargers. Also, if you are stopping overnight at low percentage, it's better to charge up the night before while the battery is still warm and get faster charging speeds rather than having to go straight to a charger when everything is cold since it won't charge as fast. Also, surely you would do a little planning and check that it is going to be the fastest chargers possible for where you need to stop.

I know the Scout will be much better than the ID Buzz since it will have more range and faster charging speeds, but I'm confident if I'd been given a ID Buzz to do that same trip on the same day, I would have got there a lot quicker than they did.

That’s what they should do is give 3 or 4 groups of veteran EV drivers a course. Stagger them by a day so they don’t piggy back and show how it pans out with common sense driving and planning. Even if you give them an hour to plan the first day or two. Have it be a 4 day adventure. I’m sure there are 4 of you on here with experience that would jump at that chance. Find a mixed route with flat and mountain (reasonable) and on a route that is part of a rural/urban path to show both conditions for a cross cut of the country

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

That’s what they should do is give 3 or 4 groups of veteran EV drivers a course. Stagger them by a day so they don’t piggy back and show how it pans out with common sense driving and planning. Even if you give them an hour to plan the first day or two. Have it be a 4 day adventure. I’m sure there are 4 of you on here with experience that would jump at that chance. Find a mixed route with flat and mountain (reasonable) and on a route that is part of a rural/urban path to show both conditions for a cross cut of the country

I'd do it, but I'm terrible at remembering to do video and am terrible at video production, so they'd have to send someone who enjoys operating a camera along to capture it. But I'm telling you, it would be boring.

Northern Oregon (Portland) to Northern Arizona (near Flagstaff) is a great mix of urban and rural, mountainous and flat terrain, high speed freeway and low speed towns, etc. We did the trip in two days with our Lightning. I'd have loved the luxury of a four day trip.

 

[TreeKiller]

I still remember my buddy who was the first EV owner I knew just trying to get his brand new 2012 Nissan Leaf from Phoenix to Tucson and back in one day. That's 98 miles in each direction. He had nothing but problems, GPS kept taking him to charging stations that were people's houses or not functional. He ended up emptying the battery and having to get towed all the way back home which was at that time a complimentary service Nissan provided. That was a different time, and obviously even today's Leaf is not comparable to the Buzz or future Scouts. But this video definitely gives me flashbacks to his story and epitomizes my fears as someone who has never owned an EV.

Also, I am one of the people who goes on road trips with a destination in mind and I just want to get there. I want to stop as infrequently and as briefly as possible.

Which is why I reserved a Traveler Harvester.

 

[04Ram2500Hemi]

Mind you, I don’t know this channel or its several siblings and I don’t know how reliable or credible these guys are, but something about this rubs me the wrong way. They chose to do this review during a blizzard. It’s known that this van doesn’t have great range. It’s known that VW doesn’t have the best software, hence the deal with Rivian. It’s known that charging station infrastructure certainly can stand to be improved. I don’t think they showed anything that wasn’t already known. This isn’t the indictment of EVs that the commenters for this video think it is. These are problems that are being addressed or problems that can be addressed.

TFL is pretty legit. A couple of years ago they threw a camper on the bed of a Ford Lightning and took it to Alaska. Roman can be a little dramatic, but I don’t think his frustrations weren’t understandable with the charging issues he had.

Northern Lightning Amps To Alaska

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[04Ram2500Hemi]

Totally hear you. I would also point out that we will offer the NACS charger right from the start of production, giving everyone access to the Tesla charging network. There are some great insights from EV owners here in this forum with real world examples, I would check those out as well. The other advantage we have is time over the next couple years as technology improves, more charging stations get installed and software continues to evolve and improve as well. Good for us as a company. Bad for all of us wanting their Scout soon.

Knowing that we will have access to Tesla’s charging system is good info. That may have been something I’ve missed along the way.