The Road to Scout Production - All the latest updates in one place...

[Dana]

There should be cold weather testing, high altitude testing, and high heat- desert - testing, so there ideally should be Colorado, Michigan and Arizona based test vehicles running around.

Cold weather testing is happening in Sweden and Alaska.

 

[Northwest Passage]

Cold weather testing is not the exact same thing as heavy snow testing; feet of snow, inches on the windshield, salt on the body, and very importantly- salt inside the vehicle because it is tracked on boots, melts, salty water covers the floor, and interior rust ensues.... Try a drive in a Western New York winter!

 

[J Alynn]

Cold weather testing is not the exact same thing as heavy snow testing; feet of snow, inches on the windshield, salt on the body, and very importantly- salt inside the vehicle because it is tracked on boots, melts, salty water covers the floor, and interior rust ensues.... Try a drive in a Western New York winter!

I’m sure they are putting it through the extremes.

 

[Northwest Passage]

I’m sure they are putting it through the extremes.

If they do, it will more than other EV manufacturers have even considered.

 

[TaconicBear]

I’m sure they are putting it through the extremes.

Sorry, but the extremes are not enough. In fact, the extremes might not be as necessary, because very few vehicles will be subjected to the extreme weather and environmental conditions. What Northwest Passage and I are asking for is testing in the realities that many potential drivers of a newly designed vehicle (or feature) will face. He mentions the secondary effects on the interior; we expect SM will avoid the sort of hidden spaces collecting water, dirt, and corrosive debris that were integral to the Scout 80/800 design. We know that there will be a radar sensor on the EV Scout -- every modern vehicles has one. Sonar proximity sensors, too, for parking. Anyone living in New York is subject to "lake effect' snows, which typically come as heavy wet flakes with blizzard intensity. That stuff plasters itself to vertical surfaces -- especially the front of moving vehicles. The same sort of sticky snow plagues drivers within ±100miles of the coast in New England, NY, and NJ. And wherever it snows and starts to melt on the roads, the slush of sand, snow, and salt splashes up and does the same thing (corrosively, too). The Toyota service manager tells me that every owner they service has complained for the last 5 years, and there's no evidence that Toyota has even heard them. Snow isn't just snow; that's why the Inuktitut language has something close to 50 words to describe arctic conditions. NOTE: they didn't even cover the area Northern Passage and I are concerned about.

 

[Northwest Passage]

TaconicBear is right. There are "extremes" of cold and heat, but also of snow and type of precipitation. I awoke the day after Thanksgiving in Western New York (along the Lake Erie shoreline) to over a foot of snow. My Mach E couldn't take it due to its low ground clearance, and ground clearance is one of the major reasons I am going with a Scout. Vertical surfaces become impacted by wet/heavy "lake effect" snow, especially if you consider the impact of driving into it.
The grille-installed (horrible idea/no snow testing by Hyundai) on my wife's Kona somehow gets packed with snow; it makes its way through the small hatch seams at I assume 65 mph when she is driving. When I open it to charge, it is full of snow. A few times the hatch froze closed and it was, due to the release mechanism, nearly impossible to open. Moisture in the charger is another potential problem- the system will not allow a charge in this case.
This is a long diatribe to argue that heavy snow conditions, not just cold, should provide a testing ground. Come to Buffalo, Silver Creek, Dunkirk, or Mayville New York or any other communities just east of the Great Lakes in winter for a month. As noted, we also over-salt everything, so there is a potential for rust (ie the old Scouts) both outside (wheel wells), and inside from snow-salt tracked in.
Finally, I think that as we foresee increasing weather extremes, Scout should anticipate these changes and market accordingly- "Scout can take the heat, cold, and snow..." Sorry, climate change deniers.

 

[J Alynn]

I’m sure after you buy yours you can swing by the VW dealer to add undercoating

 

[J Alynn]

TaconicBear is right. There are "extremes" of cold and heat, but also of snow and type of precipitation. I awoke the day after Thanksgiving in Western New York (along the Lake Erie shoreline) to over a foot of snow. My Mach E couldn't take it due to its low ground clearance, and ground clearance is one of the major reasons I am going with a Scout. Vertical surfaces become impacted by wet/heavy "lake effect" snow, especially if you consider the impact of driving into it.
The grille-installed (horrible idea/no snow testing by Hyundai) on my wife's Kona somehow gets packed with snow; it makes its way through the small hatch seams at I assume 65 mph when she is driving. When I open it to charge, it is full of snow. A few times the hatch froze closed and it was, due to the release mechanism, nearly impossible to open. Moisture in the charger is another potential problem- the system will not allow a charge in this case.
This is a long diatribe to argue that heavy snow conditions, not just cold, should provide a testing ground. Come to Buffalo, Silver Creek, Dunkirk, or Mayville New York or any other communities just east of the Great Lakes in winter for a month. As noted, we also over-salt everything, so there is a potential for rust (ie the old Scouts) both outside (wheel wells), and inside from snow-salt tracked in.
Finally, I think that as we foresee increasing weather extremes, Scout should anticipate these changes and market accordingly- "Scout can take the heat, cold, and snow..." Sorry, climate change deniers.

I spent time living in Corning NY. I get it

 

[cyure]

I’m sure after you buy yours you can swing by the VE dealer to add undercoating

Ha!

 

[Tyler88]

Damn…he worked on Jeep, Wagoneer, Dodge?? All the vehicles I would not consider buying. I have high hopes for the modern Scout… so I hope he has a major paradigm shift in his design philosophy! Bro, I wish you all the best in your new role….don’t disappoint me! Don’t make me regret waiting four years and setting aside $50k USD only to go back to BMW or Audi!

Interior design on new Jeep, Wagoneer, Dodge, and Rams if you have been in a relatively recent one are good it is just everything else that is not good. I am just thinking of current Wrangler interior look wise is good just lack of options is bad but that is not up to the interior designer.

 

[TaconicBear]

We just completed a round of Winter testing and the vehicles performed better than our teams expected. These mules were not driven on public streets and thus why you haven't seen any spy photos yet. Either way, they are covered in camouflage and some really ugly bodywork... LOL.

Thanks for the feedback. Now please do me (and a few others) a favour. Ask if any of the mules had radar or sonar detection systems on them. And if the answer is affirmative, ask for insight on their ability to shed impacted snow, slush, and ice.

 

[bb00799]

Interior design on new Jeep, Wagoneer, Dodge, and Rams if you have been in a relatively recent one are good it is just everything else that is not good. I am just thinking of current Wrangler interior look wise is good just lack of options is bad but that is not up to the interior designer.

Agreed! I was going to say, the interior designs of the new Jeeps, Wagoneer, and Rams are the ONLY high spots of those cars for me lol

 

[Northwest Passage]

We just completed a round of Winter testing and the vehicles performed better than our teams expected. These mules were not driven on public streets and thus why you haven't seen any spy photos yet. Either way, they are covered in camouflage and some really ugly bodywork... LOL.

Any thought to providing an option to warm the battery pack (and perhaps the cabin) with the Harvester ICE, either ambiently or intentionally, to boost the electric range on very cold days? Perhaps this option could include an option to start the ICE before engaging the electric motor as a "warm up"? With a much higher range, the pure EV models would not need this extra heating, but with only 150 miles on the EREV (on warm days), it would be worthwhile to extend it. The Chevy Volt (ahead of its time) had a similar design; the ICE started first to warm the cabin (and I assume battery) automatically on cold days. A heat pump is another option, but obviously adds weight and cost. In short, a cold weather/extreme snow package would be worthwhile.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

But testing where? When do we get spy pictures of the mules hauling?

Almost every "spy" photo of a mule, test rig, you've ever seen, the manufacturer wanted you to see.

Otherwise they stay at the proving grounds, or get body swapped altogether. Just another JK going down the road, or whatever.

 

[dreamweaver]

Almost every "spy" photo of a mule, test rig, you've ever seen, the manufacturer wanted you to see.

Otherwise they stay at the proving grounds, or get body swapped altogether. Just another JK going down the road, or whatever.

When I lived in Michigan you could't throw a stone without hitting some kind of mule or prototype, they were everywhere. I lived in Novi and worked in Dearborn.