VW Rolls Down Electric Avenue With A Battery-Powered Microbus
Source: Wired, Jack Stewart
Photo: VW Microbus
VOLKSWAGEN HARBORS ELECTRIC aspirations, and it wants the world to know. Furthermore, it would prefer if the world forgot all about Dieselgate—you know, when the company sold 11 million cars all over the world designed to cheat emissions tests and pollute far beyond legal limits. Now, however, it’s moving away from dirty diesel, and getting into batteries, with plans to introduce 30 new electric models by 2025.
To get the good will flowing, the German automaker has created three concept cars that make clear the range of its ambition. This trip, dubbed the ID family, includes a hatchback, a crossover SUV, and, most excitingly, an electric resurrection of VW’s famed microbus. This month, the company brought all three to the hippie haven of Venice Beach, California.
We took the new bus, called the Buzz, up and down Abbot Kinney Boulevard, which you can watch in the video above. The two tone yellow paintwork was a hit, the small, rectangular, steering wheel was odd to use, and people liked the front seats that turn around to face backwards. The Buzz is due to go on sale in 2022.
Before that comes the production version of the ID Crozz, the crossover, coming to dealer lots in 2020. The third leg of the stool, the ID, will arrive in 2019, but isn’t destined for American shores.
Wondering where you’ll charge your all-electric hippie-mobile? The good news is that as part of its Dieselgate settlement with US regulators, Volkswagen is investing billions in electric car charging networks around the country. So when these cars do come to market, they’ll not only look pretty (funky), they’ll be useful, too.