Did you know that the VW Microbus is scheduled to come back to the United States? According to VW.com, “It’s official: The VW Bus is back, and it’s electric.” It’s called the ID Buzz and it’s fully electric.
Driven by popular demand, Volkswagen announced today it is planning on selling a production version of the award-winning I.D. Buzz concept electric vehicle in 2022 for the United States, Europe and China.1
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VW Bus coming back to the United States by 2022
Image © VW.com
The design looks to seat up to 6 or 7 passengers.
Image © VW.com
Although it’s still a prototype design, that could very well change.
Image © VW.com
This is what the proposed design looks like so far. What do you think of it?
Image © VW.com
It’s designed to be multi-functional inside, so you can setup a table in the middle.
Image © VW.com
I’m sure there will be a camper version.
Image © VW.com
What do you think? Would you consider getting one?
Image © VW.com
It’s going to be an all-electric powertrain, no gas.
Image © VW.com
You would plug it in to charge it, much like a phone, or one of those Teslas.
Image © VW.com
Would surely make a nice family vehicle.
Image © VW.com
The microbus comeback!
Image © VW.com
I certainly wouldn’t mind getting to have one.
Image © VW.com
And who knows, maybe it will even have that self-driving feature.
Image © VW.com
The old one, and the proposed new one. Which do you prefer?
Image © VW.com
Camping mode.
Image © VW.com
Passenger swivel seat.
Image © VW.com
Large display and control screen.
Image © VW.com
Since the motors are down in the powertrain by the wheels, there’s space for a front trunk.
Image © VW.com
You can see the motors and batteries below.
Image © VW.com
Hey, these could make great business vehicles, too.
Image © VW.com
The classic VW microbus is coming back!
Image © VW.com
It would be pretty cool to install a pop-top tent on one of these, wouldn’t it?
Image © VW.com
There’s one to look at as an example with an awning, too. Aww, look at that shaggy doggy.
Image © VW.com
A perfect little van-based camper!
Image © VW.com
TEST DRIVE: Fully Charged gets to review and test the new Volkswagen Microbus (ID Buzz)
VIDEO: Retro Volkswagen bus unveil event
A little VW bus history
The first VW Bus sold in the United States in 1950 had all of 30 hp. The I.D. Buzz concept sports 369 hp from electric motors on each axle that also provide all wheel drive and the 111 kWh battery pack in the floor of the MEB chassis provide nearly 300 miles of estimated range. Using a VW fast-charge system, it can recharge about 80 percent of its energy capacity in 30 minutes at 150 kW.1
So what do you think so far?
Is this vehicle seriously about to be released?
The I.D. Buzz is the second EV concept that VW has revealed for production, along with the original I.D. concept slated to enter production around 2019 as a 2020 model1
Are you going to get one?
Learn more at Volkswagen.
Our big thanks to Peter Christiansen for sharing!🙏
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Sources
- “It’s official: The VW Bus is back, and it’s electric.” Accessed May 27, 2019. http://newsroom.vw.com/vehicles/future-cars/official-the-vw-bus-is-back-and-its-electric/.
- “How I.D. Buzz takes Volkswagen back to the future.” Accessed May 27, 2019. http://newsroom.vw.com/vehicles/concept-cars/how-i-d-buzz-takes-volkswagen-back-to-the-future/.
- “Hippy Van is Back: Volkswagen Re-Releasing Its Electric Version.” Accessed May 27, 2019. https://themindcircle.com/volkswagen-hippy-van-new-electric-version/.
- “Retro Volkswagen bus gets electric touch.” Accessed May 27, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R8FqEgLfO8.
- “VW ID Buzz | Fully Charged.” Accessed May 27, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQut6ks3nSY.
Alex
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Great they are not just bringing it here but likely build it here. Though in the pics they make it look much larger than it’ll be or those people are 4’8″ high, and smaller than the old bus yet shown larger.
But we really need this style EV more than any other than pickups.
Though on both they are easy, both the VW bus and S-10, other older lighter, smaller pickups are easy to convert to EV for well under $10k with used EV battery modules.
Electric vehicles typically have significantly more interior room. Mind, there’s no combustion engine, drive shaft, etc. taking up space, the electric motors take up very little space and the battery is built into the floor… While features like skylights makes the space feel bigger than it is…
Manufacturers have also gotten better at minimizing the frame and weight of the vehicle since the original…
Great points except the last one. The old VW bus weighed about 2k lbs.
Vs the new one is around 4k lbs, hardly lighter.
And the old buses would carry 2k lbs.
One cleaned up for aero with Tesla modules under the floor could easily be a 400 mile EV for $15k. Use a Tesla rear end, drive and it’ll be a fast one too. ;^) With Teslas becoming common their crashed car parts will become some really cool EVs with staggering performance while getting 100mpg equivalent. ;^)
Where did you get those number from? There’s nothing in this that should weigh that much, except maybe the battery.
While used Tesla batteries are usually down to 80%-90% capacity so wouldn’t have the same range, especially if this does weigh more.
James, I got it from designing, building, driving EVs for 26 yrs and presently sell recycled EV lithium modules, building custom EVs for a living from VWs, S-10s, Vettes and from scratch. And 40 yrs in RE, battery storage, 50 yrs in electronics professionally.
Other than that, not much. ;^) You?
I’m talking about the weight and payload capacity, where did you get those numbers for the new VW model? This is still only a concept and they only have a prototype for demonstration that won’t be the same as the production model. Far as I can find VW hasn’t released any official specs for the production model besides an estimate on the range… Or were you just extrapolating from the Tesla weight for a guess-estimate for what the new VW will weigh?
If you guess-estimated, then did you factor the weight of the battery vs the rest of the vehicle and subtracted the weight of the engine from the original for an apples to apples comparison of the weight? …
I already know about the cheap used EV battery market, lots of people use them for DIY power walls and DIY EV vehicle conversions. The newer 2170 cells have been a marked improvement in performance, capacity, and weight and hopefully they will even be further improved by 2022…
Considering Tesla finished acquiring the San Diego-based ultracapacitor and battery company Maxwell, with its promising dry electrode technology, for over $200 million earlier this year and are expressing interest in a new battery technology developed by CCDC Army Research Laboratory (ARL) that are reporting that the chemistry may achieve 460 Wh/Kg, either way promising a big improvement compared to Tesla’s present batteries… it seems that there’s a chance that may be the case…
That sounds super cool!
Interesting! Thanks, Jerry!
I’ll keep the older one, thankz. Everything that was iconic AND easy to ID has been stripped away, as they did with the Beetle. I looked at a new Beetle, cried, nope, never again. There are hundreds of VW busses in fields, back yards, back lots of repair places, dig one out and rehab and make it yours. And where do you find charging stations for these, and are they spaced at the 300+/- mile marks around the US and Canada etc? And if Agent Orange keeps up his trade attacks on the entire rest of the world VW may very well NOT make it– or any OTHER VW here!!! The old VW Beetles were made in Mexico for a good long while, may still be for all I know. I have a 2015 Passat, so far car with under 50k on it has blown the computer, at less than 30k,; has lost the wiring harness and coil packs; has had several recallz inc the most recent two for a pozsible steering column problem that could kill you, and a Takada airbag issue, ditto. And not to forget the “Liar Cars” VW put out!!! No, thanks. Cured.
I’m guessing you’ve forgot how much work a VW bus needed! It always needed fixing of the motor, trans, clutch, carb , valve adjustments, etc.
And the pollution a fueled cooled engine makes. While I love the simplicity, volume, efficiency of the design, body , the motors sucked.
I’d love to find some to make into EVs but anything worth restoring is gone or high priced in the SE. There is a direct cargo ship between Mexico and Tampa, only 400 miles away by sea, so maybe I should look down there.
Lunch Boxes making a comeback. When I was younger a few friends had those. They are cool. I call them lunch boxes. 🙂 Awesome to know.
change the name to Wohlhabendwagon cuz it ain’t for the volks anymore
I used to be the very proud owner of a 1967 VW Van, very much like the one in the photos. Loved that car but it was always a challenge to keep it running well. I’ve been watching the progress of this new EV van project with some interest as that’s the type of car I want to purchase next. What I haven’t seen is any suggestion of a price for this vehicle. Anyone have source? I’m hoping it will have a sub-40K base price, but i bet it will be much more. Time will tell.