Scout is working toward building its first vehicles in South Carolina, and the company just dropped another nugget of information about them.
We’re still a couple years off from the first Scout Traveler SUV and Scout Terra pickups actually hitting American streets. Nevertheless, conversation is still swirling about how they’ll come together at the Volkswagen Group subsidiary’s $2 billion Blythewood, South Carolina plant in calendar year 2027. Specifically, folks are interested in the “Harvester” range extender system: a gasoline engine that will supply power to the otherwise all-electric vehicle to alleviate range anxiety for prospective owners. Now, VW Group’s Chief Financial Officer shared that the engine the company will use is sourced from Mexico.
Throughout its development, Scout conceptualized the return of an iconic American SUV as a pure EV, but has since brought in the extended-range option for people who want that extra buffer. And so many people want it, in fact, that it’s become the most popular option for both the Scout Traveler and Terra over the full-electric version. The automaker’s approach is similar to other range-extended EVs of the past: use the gasoline engine strictly as a generator feeding electricity into the battery (and onto the wheels), rather than drive the vehicle directly. BMW took that approach with the i3 as did Chevrolet with the Volt, while Ram is going that route with its “Ramcharger” plug-in hybrid.
Volkswagen Group’s CFO, Arno Antlitz, disclosed more specific details for the forthcoming Scout range extenders during the company’s first-quarter earnings call (as reported by Automotive News). The company’s Silao, Mexico plant, which has been in operation since 2013 and supplies two notable engines: the EA888 and EA211. The former is iconic for its presence in everything from the Tiguan to the Golf GTI and the Golf R. The EA211 doesn’t see any play in U.S.-market cars, but the smaller displacement powerplant does feature in VW’s products outside North America, like the Polo.
Scout Motors CEO, Scott Keogh, previously spoke of the range extender as a “good, high-output, four-cylinder, small engine.” Antlitz added that the engine will not be turbocharged, so that may omit the EA888 from contention. With the gas generator onboard, Scout says Harvester-branded models should manage up to about 500 miles of driving range between pure EV conditions and relying on the range extender. While the EA211 is available in three-cylinder configuration, this latest nugget most likely narrows things down to either a 1.2-liter or 1.4-liter version of that engine.
We still lack most of those technical details, of course, and this more or less confirms what folks originally guessed at when Scout first debuted its upcoming models last year. When the Harvester models finally do arrive, they’ll have that gas engine sitting behind the rear axle — let’s not forget the other Volkswagen Group car that made such a configuration iconic — where Keogh said it’s “so far away you don’t hear it, you don’t feel it”. In other words, even with the range extender, the new Scouts are still an EV-first prospect, just not with the ostensible downside of only having a battery to sustain your travel.
Construction on the new Scout Motors plant began last year (, including new railway lines and an exit off nearby Interstate 77, all of which should wrap up by late next year. From there, the first production units will actually roll out in calendar year 2027, if all goes to plan, with the 1,100-acre plant creating over 4,000 permanent jobs building up to 200,000 vehicles annually.
