🚙 Scout's EREVs Are Super Popular

Welcome back to Critical Materials, your go-to source for the biggest news driving the future of transportation.

In today’s email:

⛽ Scout’s reservation list is absolutely dominated by EREVs.

🤖 Why a Waymo illegally passed a school bus.

💹 Volvo’s sales might be down overall, but its EVs are up.

– Today’s newsletter was written by Rob Stumpf.

When Scout Motors was revived by Volkswagen back in 2022, it was pitched as a bold, blue-collar answer to EVs. And what better way to pitch an EV in America, after all? Throw some batteries at the reboot of a red-white-and-blue off-road icon and you get big torque coupled with big vibes.

Things don’t always work out as planned, though. As Scout CEO Scott Keogh revealed, it turns out that those most interested in Scout aren’t opting for the battery-electric version of the truck. Instead, a whopping 87% of the company’s 160,000 reservation holders have their hearts set on the extended-range EV version that uses a gas engine generator as a backup, the CEO said at an Automotive Press Association event, per The Detroit News.

So as Scout continues to stack up preorders, interest in the range-extended models is clear. Last time we spoke with Scout a couple of months ago, the company quoted about 150,000 reservations, 85% of which were for the gas-extended option.

Scout originally planned to go all-in on EVs. The VW subsidiary then made the wild pitch to add a gasoline generator which has proven to be the most important decision it could have made—or at least that’s how the latest reservation stats make it out to be.

Consumers, especially ones that have never owned an EV before or live in an area with limited DC fast charging, are likely intrigued with the idea that the battery in the upcoming Scout Terra pickup and Traveler SUV can be recharged by a gasoline generator. That helps calm range anxiety, while still giving consumers many of the benefits of the electric powertrain (like instant torque).

Production of both trucks is slated to begin in 2027, assuming lawsuits from VW dealers don’t complicate the launch.

Waymo is yet again under the microscope of the National Transportation Safety Board after another one of its autonomous robotaxis blew past a school bus with its lights activated in Texas.

A school bus’ flashing lights serve as an indication that the school bus has students actively boarding or disembarking. State law in Texas prohibits vehicles from passing a stopped school bus with these lights activated.

This follows a string of similar incidents that have caught the attention of federal regulators. What’s perhaps most interesting about this latest one, which was first reported by Reuters, is why it happened.

From the NTSB report:

That all sounds right, right? The school bus turned on its lights and extended the stop arms, and that’s when the Waymo did exactly what it was supposed to do when it encountered the school bus: it stopped.

However, NTSB investigators say that a remote agent overrode the Waymo’s decision to stop by flagging the event as a false-positive. That’s when the AV continued to pass the stopped bus.

It all puts a spotlight on the hot-button topic of remote human assistants and their role in robotaxi businesses. It’s also not the only probe Waymo is facing.

The NTSB and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are investigating a January incident in California in which a Waymo vehicle struck a child near an elementary school.

The last few months for Volvo are looking a bit down. Overall sales volume fell 10% in the three months through February—which isn’t great considering its profits also plunged 68% last quarter—and the brand has had some extra contributing factors to slower sales, like the extended Lunar New Years slowdown in China.

Despite that, Volvo does have a bit of good news to share. It turns out that sales of fully-electric cars increased by double-digits across the brand during the same period. Not only that, but they now make up a sizable portion of all deliveries.

Reuters shares the numbers:

Volvo anticipates that EV sales will continue to climb despite the broader global electric car market slowdown. In fact, the automaker shared that it is planning to increase the production of its upcoming EX60 SUV which is due to start production this spring.

All that said, total electrified sales (which include plug-in hybrids) were down 2%.

Here are more stories worth reading, from InsideEVs and around the web:

Last but not least, our question of the day:

Mild hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and extended-range EVs all have their audiences. Which one makes the most sense for you, and why?

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