Andrew J. Hawkins

All cars lose value as soon as you drive them off the lot, but EVs in particular have been know to depreciate more than usual. YouTuber and Out of Specs reviewer Kyle Conner found this out recently when he tried to trade in his Tesla Model S Plaid, for which he paid a whopping $140,940 two years ago, only to find out Tesla’s offer was just $46,400. That’s $94,450 in value obliterated in 24 months. On top of that, the Model S is “falling apart,” Conner noted.

Think again, says The Autopian’s Jason Torchinsky, who has a highly detailed breakdown of the new Terra and Traveler EVs designs, as well as a thorough debunking of the sentiment that they’re just Rivian clones. I’ve personally read over a dozen comments on our own story accusing Scout of copying Rivian’s R1 designs. Like, you do know this company existed over 50 years before Rivian was even a glimmer in RJ Scaringe’s eye, right?

Tesla exceeded expectations by delivering a great third quarter earnings report, but selling more cars wasn’t the reason. As noticed by Sherwood, the real winner was the company’s home energy and storage business, which spiked by nearly 50 percent year over year. And it was significantly more profitable too, with gross margins nearly double that for its automotive business. Maybe Tesla should double down on renewable energy, and not robots?

Scout’s Terra and Traveler EVs will come with the Tesla charging port, also known as NACS, right out of the factory. Unlike other EV makers, the company won’t have to bumble through an CCS-to-NACS adapter phase with customers. Both Scout EVs will come with an 800-volt architecture, so charging should be very fast. And as you can see, it will have plenty of 120-volt plugs too!