Volkswagen’s Electric ID Buzz Has Landed and Looks Well Worth the Wait
VW’s all-electric people carrier has finally been revealed. It’s bursting with tech, can power your home, and even remembers how you drive.
YES, IT'S FINALLY here. After years of glimpses and half reveals, Volkswagen has taken the covers off the production version of its all-electric ID Buzz. And like all the EVs we like most here at WIRED, it's got character—bags of it. Probably a lot more than can be squeezed into its microbus proportions.
With a flat front, long wheelbase, short overhangs, and a styling that pleasingly echoes the hippie bus of old, the ID Buzz is a world way from VW's more recent, not entirely successful, forays in EV van territory. Despite the VW T1, or “Bulli,” looks, this multipurpose vehicle is actually based on the same platform as the ID.3 electric hatchback. This means the ID Buzz has a 201-bhp, 150-kW electric motor driving the rear wheels. The on-board battery is 77 kWh, and while there isn't a confirmed range for the ID Buzz yet, we can expect around 250 miles.
Production of the ID Buzz begins later this year, with first deliveries due in the autumn in Europe. For those obsessives waiting for the all-electric ID Buzz California camper van, that likely won't be surfacing until 2025 at the earliest. For now, the people-carrying Buzz will have to do.
Despite a length of 4,712 millimeters (186 inches), the long wheelbase combined with the motor at the rear means the Buzz has an impressive turning radius of just over 11 meters (36 feet)—about the same as a Golf. And, perhaps most important of all when it comes to things that drain EV batteries, VW's multipurpose vehicle quite improbably has the drag coefficient of a car. The ID Buzz's drag stats come in at 0.285 (0.29 for the Cargo), which should reduce energy consumption and increase range.
And at the highest specification level, the ID Buzz will have more than 30 assist systems on board, including “Car2X” communication. The Buzz will download data via the cloud from nearby Volkswagens and supposedly learn of hazards or traffic nearby. And a “memory function” will let you teach your van tricky maneuvers such as parking on your steep drive or negotiating the parking lot at work. You do it once, then the Buzz does it each time after that, recalling your precise inputs on the steering and pedals.
No, there aren't any confirmed prices yet, and, yes, it does have wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
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