DAILY: Scout Reservations, Rivian R2 Pricing and BEVs Beat Gas Guzzlers On Price | 09 Mar 2026

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Welcome back to EV news daily.

Today, scout reservations,

Rivian R2 pricing, and Bev's speed gas guzzlers on pricing.

Plus, stay tuned. Later in the show, I'll tell you why.

Ford Boss Jim Farley says today's BEV technology falls short.

Over on our podcast today, EVV news China.

We are talking about flash charging versus swapping.

The Zika 009 refresh and conflict slowing down

delivery of Chinese EVs overseas.

Let's get into its scout motors.

Voltsvagan's US off-road spin-off now counts more than 160,000 refundable.

Reservations $100 down for its latter frame traveler SUV.

And it's terror pickup.

They also confirmed previous media reports,

which at the time were fiercely denied

that the cars would be with customers later than hoped.

According to Reuters, on the 4th of March last week,

CEO Scott Keo was speaking at an automotive press association event in Detroit

and confirmed to those present that he expects the products to be in customers' hands in 2028.

Well, the total reservation number has grown by 30,000 since October 2025.

That works out at roughly seven and a half thousand reservations a month.

The catch sits in the small print.

The reservations are non-binding and fully refundable.

The bigger shift sits in the powertrain mix.

87% of reservation holders,

that's about 139,000 people,

have chosen the gas-assisted extended range hybrid,

by the pure BEV battery electric vehicle version.

They're calling it the harvester version.

The range extender with a gas engine not up front,

I think they're going to put that under the bed somewhere.

Look, the placing doesn't so much matter.

More as the data point, 80% favoring,

87% and ERA variant.

Now last October, it was 80%.

So as time goes on and more people put reservations down,

that percentage is going up.

Given it was 80% split last October,

you'd probably guess that nearly all of the reservations between then and now

have been for the ERA version.

Well, that outcome lands well above what the CEO previously expected,

he'd penciled in a 60-40 split in favor of ERAV.

Scout also plans to launch the extended range hybrids first,

so the Reservation Book now backs the program's opening move.

Scouts will build the terror and the travel up

that a new planting blithewood South Carolina.

Mr. Kioh now points to first customer deliveries in 2028.

Recent media reports attribute the delays to technical challenges

and suggest the engineering effort for a rugged ladder frame platform

with dual power trains is heavier and harder

than Scout first assumed and implied.

Now, if I may add a little bit of editorial opinion to this story myself,

as an EV person, as a huge advocate for pure bevs,

I know I'll annoy some people by saying this.

Why even make the bed version?

If 87% of your customers want the ERAV version, just make that one.

And it wouldn't be for me, and I'm sure many people listening,

it wouldn't be for them.

And there's also a portion of the audience because they email and tell me

that don't want me talking about ERAVs or plug-in hybrids,

anything that burns gas.

I can't do that because I have to reflect the globally the industry.

And that does at the moment include things with a plug socket on the side.

And so, and I wouldn't want to tightly ignore huge portions of what

real people say they actually want.

Maybe just do ERAV for now.

Anyway, moving on, Rivian has removed the $45,000 number

from the website of the Rivian R2 product page.

Well, we get pricing in three days time on the 12th of March,

so we'll find out for once and for all,

the old layout put that line beside the reserve button

and a coming 2026 tag.

Well, here we are in 2026 and the updated page now just has a countdown

clock and 45,000s being removed.

That doesn't mean they're not going to hit 45,000,

at least for the base version of the truck.

Well, the edit matches Rivian's launch plan,

the R2 compact SUV.

Coming as it's higher priced,

dual motor variant to begin with a launch spec edition

won't be 45,000 pounds.

Maybe it'll be 58 or $60,000.

I don't know.

Rivian still plans the single motor base R2

after the first wave of deliveries.

That keeps their March 2024 promise alive.

But no, not for this week and not for launch.

Maybe not for this year.

Rivian set the 45,000 dollar starting price

at the original R2 reveal,

pitching it as a mass market gateway

at half the average transaction price of the R1 vehicles.

Next comes the detail.

In three days time at South by Southwest,

Rivian will update the R2 in terms of trims,

pricing, colors and complete tech specs.

That will be Rivian's most details,

R2 update in the last two years.

Avan's a leasing company in Europe

have published their 2026 car cost index

finding the BEV's battery electric vehicles

now undercut the like for like same models

in terms of gas cobblers on total cost of ownership.

Avan's says BEV's have shifted from niche to mainstream.

It bases the claim on monthly costs

over a four-year lease rather than incentives.

Avan's calls Western and Northern European countries

the cost leaders where they operate for electrification.

Where leasing a BEV costs less than leasing.

A gas cobbler.

Southern Europe still trails,

but Avan sees more markets,

where BEV's now match or beat total cost of ownership

for the alternatives.

Its site Spain and Portugal's places

where financial case for BEV's is hard to ignore.

The picture varies by segment.

In the subcompact class, BEV's count as cost competitive

in 17 of the 30 countries that Avan's tracks.

Avan's defines cost competitive as a BEV total cost of ownership

within 5% of comparable ice models.

In the compact segment, BEV's hold a TCO advantage of 19

out of the 30 markets they survey,

broadly in line with last year.

In the D segment, an SUV larger class,

BEV's win 16 out of 30 times,

improving versus last year's index.

On specific models, Avan says the BMW i4 for instance

delivers a lower total cost of ownership

than leasing a BMW 3 series

in 20 of the 30 European countries.

All right, let's talk global public EV charging infrastructure.

It will reach 9 million public plugs

world wide by the end of the year,

up from 7.1 million public plugs at the end of last year.

This a 33.2% year on year growth.

The build-outs doesn't move equally though.

The market splits into three trends.

China grows faster, Europe grows more slowly.

They predict that the US will lose some momentum as well.

The result concentrates supply the top eight countries,

almost 90% of all global public charging.

China sets the pace.

It has 4.759 million public charges,

67% of the global total.

Other leading countries, South Korea,

United States, Netherlands and Germany.

And inside Europe, Germany and the Netherlands were separated

by about 2,000 public plugs last year.

Germany wants to add 40,000 new public charges a year,

putting it on track to overtake the Netherlands this year

and take fourth place globally by installed base.

Okay, moving on now, electric vehicles and how we charge them

are being impacted by the wider global affairs

just because you might not live in a country that is

directly involved in Trump's attacks on Iran.

Doesn't mean you're not going to be affected.

Here in the UK, household energy suppliers

have either pulled or reprised the fixed tariffs

that we have for our home domestic supply.

You can be on a variable tariff here,

which changes or you can be on a fixed tariff

and that could be maybe 12 months.

So your electricity supply says we guarantee

that we will provide you energy gas electricity

at this price and you can fix in.

Many people do because they like that security.

Imagine if the petrol pumps said,

we will guarantee this price per liter or gallon

for the next 12 months.

Do you want to opt in?

I think many people will be like,

yes, please.

So the great thing about driving an EV is you can fix your costs,

which you can't do if you drive a combustion car.

Well, because of the Iran crisis,

wholesale gas markets are driving higher,

not gas as in petrol gas,

but the gas that we use to drive the turbines

that we generate electricity with on a national scale here.

Fixed deals fell from 38 on the day of the attack starting

at the end of February to 17 fixed deals

by last Wednesday and prices moved with them.

The cheapest typical dual fuel offer,

and this is obviously they pick an amount

that the average person or family might use.

So we just, we look at the kind of average house here.

So your bill will not be this,

but they pick out £1,599.

That's $9,920 a year.

That's gone from £1,500 to £1,640 for the average UK household.

And those fixed tariffs are ending

because UK wholesale gas prices have spiked 75% up in the last few days,

disrupting the previous consensus that costs would stay relatively calm this year.

Suppliers now face two unknowns where gas prices head next

and how many customers will rush into fixing for a deal.

Good energy scrapped the launch of a new tariff,

which was meant to launch.

It's chief executive describing it as risk management.

EV tariffs haven't escaped the wobble.

EDF pours their EV tariffs, citing rapid swings in global energy pricing,

offering a reduced set of products for now.

Eon froze their EV tariff and then later brought it back.

The market shock traces back to the Middle East where disruption has to

the straight of hall moves, almost made it impossible

and damaged Qatar's gas infrastructure.

This is reduced gas flows,

splive LNG, things like that through the straits.

The UK buys a very small share, by the way, of its gas from the Middle East,

but it does pay the global price because it competes on a global scale

for liquefied natural gas cargo.

Gas-fired plants generates just under a third of UK electricity.

So it is significant for us even as renewables are going higher

as a share on the grid.

That patent feels familiar.

The situation mirrors 2021's energy crunch when gas prices rose sharply,

after both lockdowns and Russia launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

I said this many times in the past,

that renewables get over the fact that some people might want renewables for

green, I-dollar, or geological reasons.

And that's actually fine, by the way.

We should be having renewables on our grid

for national domestic energy security,

unless you are the Middle East,

or maybe listening in Texas,

or somewhere that has a supply of oil or maybe gas.

Otherwise, I mean, we're the windiest country in Europe.

The fact that we are not completely surrounded by wind turbines

continues to blow my mind,

because then that just wouldn't affect you.

The world could go about its business,

and you personally wouldn't be affected next time you want to go and run

one of your errands.

The reason why, moving to EV,

can decoupled you to an extent from that?

We're now coming into spring here in the Northern Hemisphere.

Sun shines out today.

Little bit.

And so, my solar panels and battery are just going to start to become

much more useful.

Again, any excess electricity,

I don't send it back to the grid.

I've got an export meter.

It just goes into the car,

and I am completely at sovereign in terms of my energy generation,

and use for many months of the year.

This isn't about saving the planet,

but it can be if you want.

It's about removing yourself from the whims of dictators,

and the next time Trump burps something to do with global affairs.

You don't need to lose any sleep about how much it's going to cost you.

Let's take a break, we'll come back and talk.

Canadian cell production,

and Stellantis investing in EV fans.

Stick around.

I'll be back in a moment.

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Welcome back to the podcast.

Next star energy has switched on Canada's first commercial scale EV battery cell plant

in Windsor, Ontario.

The joint venture between Stellantis and LG built the site from scratch in three years.

The plant covers 4.23 million square feet.

Production formally started in November.

We've kind of pre-production lines.

So they've turned out about a million cells now.

It's up to speed.

Next star will first feed Stellantis brands of North America.

Next star also wants to sell beyond car makers.

It aims to become a battery platform supplier across multiple energy sectors

and has begun developing cells and battery packs for stationary energy storage as well.

Stellantis has a 50 million pound investment going into its Ellsmear port.

Production assembly line here in the United Kingdom.

From next year, it wants to build new Volvo Avoxel Vivaros and mid-size zero-mission vans there.

Ellsmear port makes 14,500 small EV vans a year,

employs almost 1,000 people, producing zero-mission versions of the Voxel combo,

Citroen Balingo, Persiopartner, and Fiat Dobleau.

This site previously built the Voxel Astra.

Stellantis says the only plant in its global network that makes only electric vehicles.

All right, the Metropolitan Police in London just seized 52 illegal electric bikes over two days

using checkpoints that intercept riders in areas where pedestrians are highly at risk.

One checkpoint in Halston led to 14 electric mopeds and three others being seized.

One rider ignored the police instructions to stop and following a pursuit was charged.

Officers also found people riding illegal e-bikes, one with a combat knife and was arrested.

They detained a second suspect, wanted on recalls of prison,

linked to aggravated burglaries.

The next day, the focus shifted to the west end.

Officers seized 38 illegal e-bikes in five hours.

Met police say, will keep pushing ahead in stopping unlawful e-bikes on London's roads

and unlawful e-scooters as well, as people use them for phone snatches,

burglary, and broader street crime as well.

We do have strict laws here on the top speed of e-bikes, but many low-lifes have worked out.

You can use them to get through the traffic and you can still buy.

I mean, it's very easy.

It's very legal to buy these kind of fat tire high-speed e-bikes.

It's just illegal to ride them, and it's hard to justify putting police resources into

cracking down on something that can be seen as kind of like a victimless crime,

but met police are indeed doing that.

And finally, Fordboss Jim Farley says to those BEV technology,

full-shot from mainstream pickup or youth buyers who want to tow and haul.

He was talking in Australia because Ford have returned to Formula One by sponsoring the Red Bull team,

and range and efficiency dropped too sharply.

He says to Australian media, and of course, in Australia, a big-yout culture.

He calls a big-battery-bev-yout, a really bad-tower,

and says customers who tow serious weight should not choose a pure BEV.

Jim Farley points to energy density limits that make battery packs too heavy

and too expensive to deliver work-capable towing and the range that you buyers want in Australia.

Mr Farley says the long-term answer is a new wave of battery chemistry,

but he does not expect near-term breakthroughs.

He groups solid-state batteries and fuel cells as technology that remains part of the future.

Ford's recent actions match his caution.

It shelved the F-150 Lightning and wrote down $19.5 billion for their various EV programs cancelled

or pushed back. The firm has funneled more capital into hybrids.

Mr Farley signals battery electric euths will stay niche and falled in the near-term,

especially for hard-working fleets, he says, until battery chemistry and the costs improve.

But the market doesn't necessarily agree with Ford, BYD, with the Shark 6,

new one coming out soon, by the way. Towing three and a half tons, carrying a ton of payload,

all the specs that matter to euth buyers, very equivalent to the kind of market-leading gas

guzzling euths and great wall motor, great wall of launch, a pickup in Australia as well,

so is the South Korean KGM, the Musso EV. That's more of a monococ SUV platform rather than body-on-frame

euths. For now, buyers want towing, range and pricing to be the most important things when you

buying a euthrug batteries are still effectively compromised, but the technology timetable in both the

short and medium-term shows that we won't have to wait long until that's relegated to the

history books. And that's your podcast for today, thanks to our premium partners,

National Car Charging on the US mainland, and a low-hot charge in Hawaii. And test EV,

Avaloo's trusted partner for independent EV battery health testing in Australia and New Zealand.

Have a good in cinema, and remember, there's no such thing as a self-charging hybrid.

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