The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is a
battery electric minivan
Minivan (sometimes called simply as van) is a North American car classification for vehicles designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row(s), with reconfigurable seats in two or three rows. The equivalent classification in Europe is ...
produced by German manufacturer
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
. Based on the dedicated battery electric
MEB platform
The Volkswagen Group MEB platform (german: Modularer E-Antriebs-Baukasten; English: ''modular electric-drive toolkit'') is a modular car platform for electric cars developed by the Volkswagen Group and its subsidiaries.Julian RendellSkoda electri ...
, it is the first production electric minivan from Volkswagen and part of the
Volkswagen ID. series
The Volkswagen ID. series is a family of battery electric cars from Volkswagen (VW), built on the MEB platform (German: ''Modularer E-Antriebs-Baukasten;'' English'': modular electric-drive toolkit'') that is developed by the Volkswagen Group f ...
.
The design of the ID. Buzz is inspired by the
Volkswagen Type 2 (T1)
The Volkswagen Type 2, known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus, or, informally, as the Bus (US), Camper (UK) or Bulli (Germany), is a forward control light commercial vehicle introduced in 1950 by the Ge ...
Microbus.
The vehicle was first shown as a
concept car
A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...
at the
2017 North American International Auto Show. The production vehicle was unveiled in March 2022 with production starting in June, and European deliveries in the second half of the year with two models: a five-seater under the name ID. Buzz, and a cargo van as the ID. Buzz Cargo.
U.S. availability is slated for 2024 in a long-wheelbase version.
[ This version will also be used for the California campervan variant of the ID. Buzz.
Also a reference to the sound of electricity, the name "Buzz" was derived from the word ''bus'', as the original Volkswagen Type 2/Microbus is commonly known simply as the "Volkswagen Bus".
]
Overview
Responding to positive feedback and strong consumer interest for the ID. Buzz Concept shown at Detroit and Geneva in 2017, CEO Herbert Diess
Herbert Diess (born 24 October 1958) is an Austrian businessman, the current chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen Group, as well as the chairman of the board of management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand.
Career
BMW
In ...
announced in August that VW would put the vehicle into production and begin selling it in 2022.
The production version of the ID. Buzz debuted on 9 March 2022. It is one of nine new Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
brand models based on the MEB platform. The ID. Buzz will be available in Europe the second half of 2022, and the US in 2024. Pre-orders in Europe began in May. Series production started in June, with an annual capacity of 130,000 units. The first deliveries are scheduled for fall 2022;[ the first ID. Buzz off the production line was a Cargo model, delivered to Wolfgang Kempe GmbH in ]Isernhagen
Isernhagen ( Eastphalian: ''Isernhogen'') is a municipality in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the north-east of Hanover. According to the average income per capita it is the most affluent municipality in Low ...
on 15 November 2022.
The ID. Buzz is produced by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV; german: Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge , abbreviated ''VWN'' ) is a German marque of light commercial vehicles, owned by Volkswagen Group. It is headquartered in Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany. Originally p ...
in Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
;[ because prior ID. series vehicles have been built at the ]Volkswagen Zwickau-Mosel Plant
The Volkswagen Zwickau-Mosel Plant (german: Volkswagenwerk Zwickau) is an automobile factory, which was founded on 26 September 1990 in today's Zwickau district of Mosel and together with the Chemnitz plant and the Transparent Factory belongs to ...
, the Hanover factory needed to be retooled to accommodate EV assembly. Although the Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant
The Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant (or Chattanooga Operations LLC) is an American automobile assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The plant was formally announced in July 2008 and was formally inaugurated in May 2011.
Production b ...
began building the MEB-based ID.4 in 2021 for the US market, Volkswagen Group of America CEO Scott Keogh
Scott may refer to:
Places Canada
* Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec
* Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380
* Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saskat ...
stated in January 2022 that bringing production of US ID. Buzz models to Chattanooga is unlikely.
In Europe, it will launch in two configurations, a five-seater passenger van, and a cargo van; initially, a short-wheelbase version with rear-wheel drive will be available. A long-wheelbase version will debut in 2023, and will be the only version for sale in the US when it goes on sale in 2024.
Design
According to product lead Jeffrey Lear, the styling of the ID. Buzz was chosen to "be modern and fresh and exciting for folks who may not have even been around uring the 1960s and 70s while retaining cues to the original Type 2 (T1)/Microbus, including the prominent front-mounted logo and (optional) two-tone paint.
The designer of the ID.Buzz is Klaus Zyciora
Klaus Zyciora ( né Bischoff; born 13 December 1961) is a German automotive designer. He served as the Head of Volkswagen Group Design from April 2020 till January 2023.
Early life
Zyciora was born on December 13, 1961 in Hamburg, Germany.
Car ...
, Head of Volkswagen Group Design.
Dimensions
At , the wheelbase of the ID. Buzz (SWB) is similar to that of the current Volkswagen Transporter (T6)
The Volkswagen Transporter T6 is the sixth generation of the Volkswagen Transporter vans. It is the successor to the T5 Transporter. The Transporter line is the mid-size van offered by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, between the larger Crafter ...
; it is wider than the T6 and features a turning circle of , which is approximately the same as a Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
.
Interior
The SWB/RWD passenger version is equipped with five seats; behind the rear bench seat, there is of cargo area.[ Three rows of seating will be made available later; for the SWB model, each row will have two seats for a total capacity of six, while on the long-wheelbase (LWB) model, the middle row will accommodate three for a total capacity of seven.][ With the second row folded down on the five-passenger SWB/RWD model, cargo capacity increases to .][ The ID. Buzz Cargo has two or three seats in the first row only with a fixed partition; behind the partition, the Cargo version has a capacity of .][
Seating surfaces use recycled plastics. There is no leather option.][
The vehicle's instruments are displayed on a screen.][ In-car entertainment and climate controls are provided on a second centrally-positioned screen; the standard infotainment screen is , with a screen as an option.][ The vehicle is equipped with up to eight USB ports.][
]
Driving assistance features
Both the ID. Buzz and ID. Buzz Cargo are equipped with the 'Car2X' local warning system to identify hazards in real-time, using signals from transportation infrastructure and other vehicles; in addition, both are equipped with a collision avoidance system (CAS) branded 'Front Assist', which provides automated emergency braking. The passenger version is equipped with 'Lane Assist', which is another CAS designed to keep the vehicle in its travel lane.
Optional assistance features include 'Travel Assist with swarm data', which automates some driving tasks, including lane changes, and 'Memory Function', allowing the vehicle to park itself on a previously saved route.[
]
Versions
Cargo
The ID. Buzz Cargo is based on the short wheelbase version with a minimal number of seats and no rear window. The rear of the vehicle, which is separated from the cab by a bulkhead partition, has of volume and can carry up to two EUR-pallet
The EUR-pallet, also known as Euro-pallet or EPAL-pallet, is the standard European pallet as specified by the UIC pallet working group and the UIC 435-2 leaflet. Pallets conforming to the standardization are eligible for the European Pallet Poo ...
s. Depending on the configuration, the cab can accommodate two (two individual bucket seat
A bucket seat is a car seat contoured to hold one person, distinct from a flat bench seat designed to fit multiple people. In its simplest form it is a rounded seat for one person with high sides, but may have curved sides that partially enclose ...
s) or three (a double bench and a separate bucket for the driver) people.
It has dual sliding side doors and an option between a liftgate (with a window) or dual wing doors (without windows) for the rear. With the liftgate, cargo area length is ; with the wing doors, cargo length is . Interior height and maximum interior width are , respectively.[ ]Gross vehicle weight rating
Vehicle weight is a measurement of wheeled motor vehicles; either an actual measured weight of the vehicle under defined conditions or a gross weight rating for its weight carrying capacity.
Curb or kerb weight
Curb weight (U.S. English) or kerb ...
is and the empty kerb weight is , depending on trim, giving a payload of . Combined energy consumption is 2.93 mi/kWh (), giving an estimated range of with the 77 kW-hr battery on the WLTP cycle.[
]
Powertrain
The initial short-wheelbase (SWB) version is equipped with rear-axle APP 310
The Volkswagen Group MEB platform (german: Modularer E-Antriebs-Baukasten; English: ''modular electric-drive toolkit'') is a modular car platform for electric cars developed by the Volkswagen Group and its subsidiaries.Julian RendellSkoda electri ...
motor with an output of and .
The coefficient of drag is 0.285 for the SWB passenger version and 0.29 for the Cargo.
The SWB/RWD version has an 81 kW-hr battery, of which 77 kW-hr are usable; the estimated driving range is . The vehicle can accept power at a rate of up to 11 kW using an AC source, or 170 kW at a DC fast-charging station; at the latter rate, the 81/77 kW-hr battery will charge from 5% to 80% in 30 minutes. It will be capable of bidirectional V2X supply, supplying power to the electrical grid or a household as needed, although this feature is not expected to be implemented for the US model. A future software update is planned to allow Plug & Charge functionality, where the vehicle will authenticate itself at a compatible DC fast-charging station via the ISO 15118
ISO 15118 ''Road vehicles -- Vehicle to grid communication interface'' is a proposed international standard defining a vehicle to grid (V2G) communication interface for bi-directional charging/discharging of electric vehicles. The standard provid ...
standard.
Future development
ID. California
In December 2021, Volkswagen confirmed the ID. Buzz would be used as the basis for a future motorhome version, tentatively named ID. California. VW currently market a T6-based campervan in Europe as the Volkswagen California
The Volkswagen California is a campervan based on the mid-sized Transporter panel van, developed by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV) and sold since 2003. It is the first campervan designed and built in-house by VWCV Special Business Unit, a ...
.
Autonomous driving
According to the chief executive of VW Autonomy, Alex Hitzinger, the ID. Buzz minivan is the basis of Volkswagen's self-driving automobile, and could be used for VW's ride-pooling service branded MOIA, competing with Uber
Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), packa ...
. MOIA launched in April 2019, serving Hamburg, Germany, after a 2018 trial with a small fleet of battery electric Multivan T6 vehicles. The autonomous features are part of the "I.D. Pilot" mode, which is anticipated to become available in 2025.[
In 2021, late prototype versions of the production ID. Buzz were fitted with autonomous vehicle hardware and software from ]Argo AI
Argo AI was an autonomous driving technology company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was co-founded in 2016 by Bryan Salesky and Peter Rander, veterans of the Google and Uber automated driving programs. Argo AI was an inde ...
for testing on public roads in Munich and at the company's private test track near the Munich airport. Previously in 2019, VW had invested US$2.6 billion in Argo as part of a partnership with Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
to develop autonomous vehicles. On 26 October 2022, with Argo announcing its closure, VW said it would pursue automation technology with Bosch and Horizon Robotics instead.
Concept versions
Concept car descriptions in 2017 indicated the electric microbus could be produced in two versions: a high-end all-wheel-drive version with one motor each on the front and rear axles and an battery pack
A battery pack is a set of any number of (preferably) identical batteries or individual battery cells. They may be configured in a series, parallel or a mixture of both to deliver the desired voltage, capacity, or power density. The term battery ...
, and a less-expensive rear-wheel-drive version with an battery pack.
Cargo variant
The I.D. Buzz Cargo (stylized as the ID. BUZZ CARGO) debuted at the 2018 IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hannover as a support vehicle for the Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak Hillclimb
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile Hillclimbing, hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA. The track measures and has over 156 turns, climbing ...
racer. The Cargo has a maximum estimated cargo capacity of and uses the simplified rear-drive powertrain.
The Cargo prototype was shown in October 2019 at Nike stores in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...
; Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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; and New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
with retro livery branded "Blue Ribbon Sports", the predecessor company to athletic apparel manufacturer Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services. The company is headquartered ne ...
The concept vehicle was first shown as a prototype at the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, then shown again at Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
in March. Members of the automotive press were invited to drive the concept during Monterey Car Week Monterey Car Week is a week in August in which a number of car-related events are held in and around Monterey, California.
Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is held on the final Sunday of Monterey Car Week. It i ...
later that year, in August, where it was also announced that a production vehicle based on this prototype will be launched.
See also
* Volkswagen ID. series
The Volkswagen ID. series is a family of battery electric cars from Volkswagen (VW), built on the MEB platform (German: ''Modularer E-Antriebs-Baukasten;'' English'': modular electric-drive toolkit'') that is developed by the Volkswagen Group f ...
* Volkswagen Microbus/Bulli concept vehicles
References
External links
Official website
(US)
*
{{Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
ID.Buzz
Cars introduced in 2022
Production electric cars
Rear-wheel-drive vehicles
Minivans
Electric vans
Euro NCAP large MPVs
Electric concept cars
I.D. Buzz