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Road Trip in a VW Buzz: Success or Train Wreck

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Chuckles said:
The VW/Rivian agreement is about software and electrical architecture. Using charging stations would probably cost extra money. Since Scout will be able to access Tesla superchargers, is the Rivian network even necessary?
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Not necessary - just likely they will open more and more, and they have some awesome locations and share some DNA with Scout being oriented toward the outdoors and adventure and trucks. I was simply alluding to the fact that with an agreement already in place, and since there are going to be cont'd discussions between both teams, that type of extension to the agreement would make perfect sense - particularly if Rivian starts opening things up.
 
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Chuckles said:
The VW/Rivian agreement is about software and electrical architecture. Using charging stations would probably cost extra money. Since Scout will be able to access Tesla superchargers, is the Rivian network even necessary?
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The “necessary” question might be a regional thing I suppose? There are still many parts of the country that have very sparse or non-existent charging opportunities so any new charging stations opening up could be a welcomed addition.
 
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TFL pretty much always sets these things up to fail for drama and YT views.

That said, the VWs range is too short for a expensive EV in 2024/25.
 
There are many factors that led to the end result. Which is why I opted for the Harvester option. Not because I'm afraid of a bad situation, but because foresight always results in better hindsight. For instance, we left Lake Tahoe a few years back around 4:30pm. Bright and sunny but with storm clouds approaching. As we left town, and only a few miles onto highway 80, traffic came to a standstill. And there we sat. At times we might inch forward. Sometimes a car length. Many cars pulled over who ran out of gas. The conditions were miserable. It was freezing cold, it was nighttime, and it was dumping snow. The man number of people that were stranded, were standing outside their cars with their children asking for help. I had no room in my truck. CHP was nowhere to be found. Cal Trans nowhere to be found. It was a complete and utter Cluster Beep. It took us 7 hours to make what I can normally do in 1.5 hours.

But I had the foresight to fill up my tank (albeit at higher prices) because I don't like to take a chance. And the Harvester gives me peace of mind in a world where things can change drastically. It also allows to roam in places where there is nobody around for miles. Where we go dirt bike riding, are sometimes very remote places. No charging stations, and some gas stations are 45 minutes away.
 
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I have been doing more and more research about charging electric vehicles and also watching out of spec reviews. I’m so happy that Scout chose to have NACS from the start rather than have CCS. Also looking at IONNA charging, I can’t wait to see more of those pop up around the US since they carry both CCS and NACS.
 
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TigerEyeJazz said:
I have been doing more and more research about charging electric vehicles and also watching out of spec reviews. I’m so happy that Scout chose to have NACS from the start rather than have CCS. Also looking at IONNA charging, I can’t wait to see more of those pop up around the US since they carry both CCS and NACS.
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The really strange thing to me is that only Tesla's made for the U.S. market use NACS.
 
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Moates442 said:
The really strange thing to me is that only Tesla's made for the U.S. market use NACS.
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Remember a lot of brand will be updating their charge ports. I.e. Hyundai/Kia/Genesis already have shown off Ioniq 5, GV70 EV and EV9 with NACS standard now. At the first steps, switching to NACS was Adapters for current CCS models but CCS will be phased out with new generation or refreshes.
 
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My Audi A7 TDI navigation has always been a source of amusement… when car was still new it often got the car close to a destination but not quite there. Presumably VAG started out with an already outdated map database…

And VAG used a 3G cellular connection with no way to upgrade the hardware, and required software updates to be done at dealer.

Unfortunate to hear things at VAG have not improved in last ten years in that regard.
 
Scout_iii said:
My Audi A7 TDI navigation has always been a source of amusement… when car was still new it often got the car close to a destination but not quite there. Presumably VAG started out with an already outdated map database…

And VAG used a 3G cellular connection with no way to upgrade the hardware, and required software updates to be done at dealer.

Unfortunate to hear things at VAG have not improved in last ten years in that regard.
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I had an acquaintance years ago that worked at Mapquest (for those who remember that early GPS tech)
At the time the system couldn’t give you directions to the corporate office 🤣. Not because they were hiding but an issue with the map coding. That sums up my big picture outlook of new tech in cars and the risk of two wrong characters in a line of code.
 
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Moates442 said:
There are many factors that led to the end result. Which is why I opted for the Harvester option. Not because I'm afraid of a bad situation, but because foresight always results in better hindsight. For instance, we left Lake Tahoe a few years back around 4:30pm. Bright and sunny but with storm clouds approaching. As we left town, and only a few miles onto highway 80, traffic came to a standstill. And there we sat. At times we might inch forward. Sometimes a car length. Many cars pulled over who ran out of gas. The conditions were miserable. It was freezing cold, it was nighttime, and it was dumping snow. The man number of people that were stranded, were standing outside their cars with their children asking for help. I had no room in my truck. CHP was nowhere to be found. Cal Trans nowhere to be found. It was a complete and utter Cluster Beep. It took us 7 hours to make what I can normally do in 1.5 hours.

But I had the foresight to fill up my tank (albeit at higher prices) because I don't like to take a chance. And the Harvester gives me peace of mind in a world where things can change drastically. It also allows to roam in places where there is nobody around for miles. Where we go dirt bike riding, are sometimes very remote places. No charging stations, and some gas stations are 45 minutes away.
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Keep in mind in that scenario you described you would have been fine in an EV since you were sitting virtually still. That said, I get your point was about being prepared and that is great. My wife’s a planner and while I joke about it, we nearly never have travel issues so I prefer over-planning to performance hiccups
 
Scout_iii said:
My Audi A7 TDI navigation has always been a source of amusement… when car was still new it often got the car close to a destination but not quite there. Presumably VAG started out with an already outdated map database…

And VAG used a 3G cellular connection with no way to upgrade the hardware, and required software updates to be done at dealer.

Unfortunate to hear things at VAG have not improved in last ten years in that regard.
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Any cars that use cell tech have an issue with sunsetting. Early GM cars with Onstar were 2G and won't work anymore without new hardware. It will happen to 4G someday too.
 
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Chuckles said:
Any cars that use cell tech have an issue with sunsetting. Early GM cars with Onstar were 2G and won't work anymore without new hardware. It will happen to 4G someday too.
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I read an article earlier this year about fairly late model Lexus models that were having that same problem inoperable hardware due to cellular networks being retired. All that hardware being made useless. I don't know why they did not/ or would not make it upgradable.
 
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