Volkswagen has announced that it will be launching three different high-volume electric battery vehicles based upon a common architecture over the next five years. The company has now released images of concepts for all three vehicles.
One of the new vehicles is the Volkswagen ID Buzz, a modern, all-electric version of the Volkswagen Microbus, taking much inspiration from the classic 60s vehicle. The multipurpose vehicle seats up to seven people.
Volkswagen brand head Herbert Diess said at last week’s launch of the new Volkswagen Polo subcompact, that “emotional cars” are of high importance for the Volkswagen brand.
“Emotional cars are very important for the brand. We are selling loads of Beetles still, particularly in US markets,” says Diess. “But we will also have the Microbus that we showed, which we have recently decided we will build.”
The microbus concept has gotten undergone several revisions since initially being started as the New Microbus back in 2001. Volkswagen design chief Klaus Bischoff has said that the proportions and shape of previous designs of mysterious were compromised by a need to include a combustion engine. However, the electric car set up allows for much greater flexibility, with a thin battery pack being included under the floor pan powering the motors at the rear, or with one each at both the front and rear.
Not much is known about the technical specs for the ID Buzz yet, only that it will have a 110 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, a 15-kW (200 horsepower) electric motor to power each set of wheels, and an overall power output of 275 kW (370 horsepower).
The first electric vehicle based on the MEB platform, the 5-door hatchback Volkswagen ID will not be released until at least 2019, and a production version of the Buzz may not be available until 2022.
