As folks who live and breathe powersports machines, we don't often talk about the trucks and SUVs we're required to use all that often. Everything from trailering dirt bikes to Oregon for a hunt, tossing a backcountry snowmobile into a bed, or hauling a full-size UTV out into the middle of nowhere for some off-road desert fun requires a truck or SUV. And you need something that'll do the damn job and do it well.
As such, towing and payload capacities are wildly important to us all. Those, however, aren't great action items to talk about when you start conversing about all-electric trucks and SUVs, though you'd expect better given all the torque and horsepower figures bandied about.
Right now, EV trucks just aren't capable of towing or hauling much of anything without sacrificing a metric ton of range. Any additional weight just saps batteries, and if you add the rather cumbersome airflow around those items, that increased drag compounds the problem. I wish it weren't so, but it's the reality of our current battery chemistries.
Which is why I was hopeful that Scout Motors'—the revived truck nameplate with backing from VW—range-extended EV truck would be better in those arenas. It wouldn't matter if the batteries depleted faster, as the range extender motor would kick in and replenish those killed electrons. Unfortunately, Scout's CEO said that it'd actually have worse towing capacity than the strict EV version.
Well, shit.
Speaking with Jay Leno last year, and reported on by our old friends at The Drive, Scout's CEO Scott Keough told the legendary car collector that the Terra and Traveler range extender models would have half the towing capacity of the pure battery electric versions. And, as you can imagine, everyone lost their collective minds.
Now, that was a year ago, and you'd be shocked to learn that things have, supposedly changed. Why? Well, because Scout Motors misunderstood the market it was entering. Indeed, for a long time, the brand thought that while it was going to offer a range extender version of its models, fewer people would want that over a strict BEV. That wasn't the case at all, and the actual division between the two in terms of pre-orders is way more people wanted the range extender version than the BEV. Like something along the lines of 85/15.
That split, along with the internet complaining about the model's halved towing capacity—around 5,000 pounds compared to the BEV's 10,000 pounds—likely caused Scout to go back and look for some solutions, which Keough now says they're working on. What those can be, however, is unclear, as even upping it slightly would be a tall task.
"I think we have the tool kit without a doubt," said Keough at an industry event and speaking about the backlash on the towing capacity, adding, "And we’ve got some solutions on that front, nothing I’m announcing now." But, again, how do you solve for that sort of problem when you're likely real far along in the design and engineering process?
But, honestly, while 10,000 pounds is fine, it isn't the best. And when you couple it with a BEV's range issues when you throw stuff into the back or hook up a trailer, those capacities mean nothing except short jaunts only. You can't tow across the United States. Trust me, I tried with a Rivian and failed spectacularly.
I really want EV trucks to succeed, but the battery chemistry at present just isn't there for them to be a viable option for towing or payload needs. So while it's good that Scout's engineers are looking into the problem and supposedly coming up with solutions, it still won't matter when it comes to actually doing something with the truck other than short trips into the woods or deserts.
