Volkswagen finally gives us an iconic design that combines the practicality of a minivan with styling harking back to one of its biggest success stories. Is the ID. Buzz a worthy successor to the Microbus? Let’s find out.

And how about that color palette! Finally, VW is back with fun two-tone Candy White colors mixed with eye-popping combinations like Pomelo Yellow, Energic Orange and Cabana Blue. If your taste runs more mellow, no worries you’ll also find more mellow choices like Blue Charcoal.

VW’s old Microbus makes so much sense to bring back as an EV since just like the old rear-engine, air-cooled Buses, the ID. Buzz’s electric motors allow for a flat floor and extra utility.

For families, the Buzz is the grooviest option available in the U.S. minivan market right now.

• A shoutout goes to Tom Bush VW for providing the ID. Buzz featured in this review.
• Post your ID. Buzz questions or comments here.

Better yet, you’ll never need to sweat getting to the kid’s soccer game on time because you’ll never need to stop for gas, since you can start every day with a full charge by just unplugging, assuming you have a garage or driveway.

VW’s modern day Bus is much more practical than the old air-cooled classics, getting an EPA-estimated combined 80 MPGe, which is a formula the EPA uses to estimate distances you can on electricity as compared to gas.

Electric motors are way more efficient than those old air-cooled engines ever were.

All the electronics and safety features families have come to expect are available. In fact it’s got so many features packed in, I’m hard pressed to think of much of anything that’s not available.

The AWD version can tow up to 3,500 pounds with a manually-retractable hitch, which is completely hidden when not in use.

For you van lifers that have been dreaming of an EV solution, here it is. No surprise, but aftermarket companies are starting to customize the ID. Buzz, with at least one from Tonke Campers even adding a pop-up roof tent, just like some of the old Microbuses had.

Hopefully VW will take notice and offer a factory camper edition at some point as it has with past Micobuses.

The ID. Buzz has also been racking up awards, winning everything from MotorWeek’s Drivers’ Choice Award for best EV to the North American Utility Vehicle of the Year at the Detroit Auto Show.

VW’s EV minivan excels at its primary mission as a family hauler. It’s got tons of storage and can even haul 4x8s with the second and third row seats folded down. That’s something most pickups can’t even do without the boards sticking up above the tailgate.

When it comes to those family road trips to the beach, camping or whatever; the ID. Buzz has a range of 234 miles for the RWD configuration or 231 for the AWD models.

Although, I’m guessing if you’ve got all three rows filled with kids and their gear, you’ll probably want to grab a charge after about 150 miles.

When you do stop for a snack break and a charge, the ID.Buzz can suck down the electrons at a peak speed of 200 kW, allowing it go from a 10 to 80% charge in 26 minutes in ideal conditions.

At home it can add up to 11 kW per hour, so even if you get back with an almost empty battery you’ll still have a full charge by morning, assuming you install a 60-amp charger. If you’ve got questions about home charging, see this video.

For a minivan, the ID. Buzz handles great. Acceleration is probably stronger than in any minivan you’ve ever experienced. The AWD ID. Buzz can get from 0-60 mph in a VW-rated 5.5 seconds, which is faster than some of the V8s that boomers will remember from their youth.

For those long road trips the ID. Buzz comes with adaptive cruise control and lane keeping.

The ID. Buzz starts at $59,995. Our nicely optioned 1^st Edition topped out at just over $68,000.

The Buzz’s closest U.S. competitor is the Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid. Its base price starts at $52,750 but can also climb above $60,000.

The ID. Buzz is a wonderful option for families. It brings a splash of fun to a segment that had gotten a bit boring over the years. Watch the video at the top of this post for additional details and a road test.

2025 ID. Buzz Specifications

¹2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz Pro S, Pro S Plus or 1st Edition EPA-estimated total range is 234 miles. Actual mileage and range will vary and depend on several factors including driving and charging habits, accessory use, temperature and topography, battery age, load, and vehicle condition. Battery capacity decreases with time and use. See owner’s manual for details.

²Maximum tow rating when equipped with battery-and-motor system and factory-installed towing hitch. Vehicle load, other accessories, and options may reduce maximum towing capacity. See vehicle Owner’s Manual for details.

³2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz Pro S Plus With 4MOTION or 1st Edition With 4MOTION EPA-estimated total range is 231 miles. Actual mileage and range will vary and depend on several factors including driving and charging habits, accessory use, temperature and topography, battery age, load, and vehicle condition. Battery capacity decreases with time and use. See owner’s manual for details.

The post VW ID. Buzz EV Road Test: More Smiles Per kW appeared first on EV Rider.

The long waits are just about over. Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz and ID. 7 are expected to go on sale later this year here in the U.S. EV Rider got up close looks at both at the 2024 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.

2024 is the year that Volkswagen’s U.S. lineup gets a full slate of EVs in three of the automotive industry’s biggest segments. 

First up, the ID. Buzz is finally scheduled to begin U.S. deliveries later this year. Volkswagen brought the U.S. version of the ID. Buzz to The Amelia where it garnered plenty of interest. 

Jim Reynolds is the general manager at Jacksonville, FL’s Tom Bush VW, where they’re already accepting preorders. “So what this [U.S. spec ID. Buzz] will be is a little longer wheelbase and then tailored for the American market.” Jim says to look for the U.S. version to have things like captain’s chairs in the middle or bench seating and generally more room to stretch out or haul things than the European short-wheelbase version.

The ID. Buzz is expected to be the first consumer full-EV minivan available in the states and is expected to be available with a choice of 282-hp single-motor rear-wheel-drive setup or a 330-hp dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain. 

The official battery size and EPA range ratings weren’t available at the time of this post’s publication but it will probably have at least 260 miles of range.  

While U.S. preorders are now being accepted it’s a little too soon to say exactly when deliveries will begin. “We’ve got our fingers crossed. [Deliveries will] probably begin by the end of the year. So fall, winter, or something like that,” Jim said.

ID. 7 Will Be VW’s 1st EV Sedan

Volkswagen is also going after the heart of the sedan market with its new ID. 7. It’s likely to start somewhere around $50,000, according to Car and Driver. It will challenge EVs like the BMW i4, Hyundai Ioniq 6 and of course the current benchmark, Tesla’s Model 3. 

“This segment is going to heat up. Cars have sort of been overlooked for all these years, and Tesla’s done a good job in that market. But if you notice, BMW’s really penetrating that market well, and we needed a a sedan to compete in that market as well,” Jim said.

Final pricing, range, trim levels and specific details for the ID. 7 hadn’t been released at the time of this video’s publishing but were expected at any moment since like the ID. Buzz, the ID. 7 is expected to go on sale in the U.S. before year’s end.  

Jim sums up what he thinks the ID. 7’s greatest strengths will be. “I think it’s the looks. The car looks amazing, when the batteries, of course, are so low. The car handles like a dream.”

He adds that VW will be bringing the heat when it comes to marketing, volume and dealer support. “Being the biggest car company in the world, Volkswagen is going to do everything they can. They’re going to throw all their tools at it in terms of battery capability, price point, supply; all those kind of things. So I think we’re gonna have a good shot at it.”

Fluffy’s Review Of The VW ID. Buzz

Back to the ID. Buzz, one of the most famous U.S. celebrities that’s already driven the EV minivan is comedian Gabriel Iglesias, who is commonly known as “Fluffy.”  

For his hot take on the ID. Buzz, watch this episode of EV Rider and if you enjoy it please subscribe to the EV Rider YouTube channel.

The post VW Shows Off U.S. Spec ID. Buzz, ID. 7 At Amelia Concours appeared first on EV Rider.

There have been quite a few headlines lately implying that the EV movement is in trouble. Is it? Let’s take a look at the facts. 

First, here’s a small sampling of some of the recent headlines out there: 

 “Mustang Mach-E is in trouble” – Motor Biscuit

“Ford just shut down EV production” –  Charge Drive

“Slowdown in electric car sales is a symptom of a much uglier problem” – Business Insider 

“Even Tesla knows EV Sales Are In Trouble” – Jalopnik

Based on those headlines and others you might think EVs are doomed to be a blip in history but let’s look at the actual sales numbers. 

Starting with Tesla, America’s biggest producer of EVs delivered a record-setting 1.8 million EVs in 2023. That’s a 38% year-over-year increase, according to the automaker. The flip side: its profits dropped 22% as it aggressively cut prices.  

Next, let’s look at Ford, which has taken a beating on some media outlets over its EV performance.  

Sales of its Mustang Mach-E were up 3.3% year over year to 40,771 units. An interesting footnote, its electric pony outsold the gasoline Mustang in December despite Ford giving the gas-powered Mustangs a redesign. 

Meanwhile, F-150 Lightning sales increased by 54.7% year over year. Ford sold 24,165 EV pickups in 2023, according to Ford Authority, and set a new record for EV sales in the 4th quarter of 2023.

BMW saw its U.S. EV sales surge 65% year over year, selling 14,374 EVs. 

BMW plug-in hybrids U.S. sales accounted for 25,318 vehicles. Taken together, plug-ins and EVs accounted for almost 20% of BMW’s U.S. sales in 2023, according to BMW of North America. 

Over at Volkswagen, its ID.4 sales shot up 84.2.% year-over-year in the U.S. to 37,789, the company said. 

Total deliveries at Rivian were up 147% year over year to 50,122. Rivian produced a total of 57,232 EVs, up 135% from 2022, according to InsideEVs. 

Final numbers for 2023 are still coming in as the automakers work on their annual reports but there’s no question the EV industry as a whole easily achieved another year of record growth record. 

As the time of this story’s publishing, Cox Automotive was forecasting that final numbers will put EVs at about 8% of all U.S. vehicle sales in 2023. 

In many cases the supply of EVs has finally caught up with demand, meaning it’s now often possible to find a selection of EVs on dealer lots without dealer markups or perhaps even with discounts. From a consumer perspective, that’s good and necessary for EVs to move beyond early adopters to mainstream automotive buyers. 

There will be peaks and valleys in growth, profit, loss, and supply chains as the auto industry works through the challenges of transitioning to EVs but none of detracts from the actual numbers that show EVs are continuing to rapidly gain market share.

The post Growth Of EVs: The Real Story appeared first on EV Rider.

Converting classic cars into EVs has been picking up steam with everything from classic Ford Mustangs and MGBs to old favorites like Volkswagen Beetles and Buses having their engines and gas tanks swapped for motors and batteries. 

Mark Gilbert’s 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle generates plenty of attention wherever he goes thanks to his EV conversion, which he estimates took him about a 100-days of labor over the course of more than two years. 

And it’s still not done. But that’s really more because Mark likes to tinker. For example, he started out by putting the batteries in the trunk before deciding to move them behind the rear seats. 

Then he decided he wanted to turn his EV into what he calls a “Florida Swamp Buggy.” 

Mark did the work himself, buying most of the components from Texas-based EV conversion company Hawkeye Innovations, LLC.  

“I retired about five years ago and I was an aircraft mechanic, but I didn’t have a strong electrical background,” he said, adding he watched lots of YouTube how-to videos, including a bunch by Jehu Garcia, who is closely associated with EV West, a Californian a EV conversion company. Garcia converted his 1957 Volkswagen Samba Bus to EV. 

Mark’s Beetle has five Tesla Model S modules that make up his 27kWh battery pack. They power a Netgain Hyper9 Motor. 

The brains of the conversion is a System Control Module (SCM) from Hawkeye, which Mark says the company will customize for just about any automotive application. 

Beetles are among the easiest cars to convert to EVs because they have so few electrical components to start with as compared to modern cars. So Mark didn’t have to worry about powering things like the steering, air conditioning, radio or windows. But for those that do want modern amenities, Mark says Hawkeye can wire up a SCM to power all sorts of accessories. 

Since the video was originally produced, he’s also added a milk jug and motorized flapper that creates a rumble sound effect that’s become a viral sensation

Perhaps one of the most unique pieces of the conversion is the motorcycle throttle. Mark put in a switch that allows him to either drive with a traditional foot pedal, or the throttle. Using the throttle is much more precise and allows for faster acceleration. 

Mark estimates his Super Beetle’s acceleration is about three times as fast as VW’s old air cooled engine. 

There’s a lot more detail, including a road test of Mark’s Super Beetle in the video at the top of this post. If you enjoy the video please give it a like and subscribe to the EV Rider YouTube channel so I can bring you more adventures in EV motoring. 

The post EV Swap: ’74 VW Super Beetle Becomes ‘FL Swamp Buggy’ appeared first on EV Rider.

It’s looking like Volkswagen’s famed Beetle might be returning as an EV.

VW is showing off a digital version of an electric Beetle in a new computer animated superhero movie called “Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir” that will be debuting on Netflix and in movie theaters. Perhaps the bigger news is a real-life, presumably electric Beetle has been spotted in Paris by a French YouTube channel called Paris Videostars.

The Bug in Paris has traditional Beetle styling cues. VW has hinted for years that it might bring back the Beetle as an EV. Way back in 2012 Volkswagen showed off a Beetle EV concept at the Detroit Auto Show called the E-Bugster.

The gasoline Beetle ended production in 2019 after three generations that stretches all the way back to the 1930s.

An electric Beetle would likely feature a rear motor to mimic its internal conbustion engine (ICE) roots along with a front trunk.

“From the very beginning of the incredible adventure of the film, the collaboration with Volkswagen appeared to us as a natural fit. Our two brands have many values in common. Transmitting the values of a better world is also our responsibility as producers,” said film producers Aton Soumache and Emmanuel Jacomet in a news release.

The movie poster includes VW’s current real-life EV lineup in addition to the digital Beetle.

“Miraculous: Lady Bug & Cat Noir, The Movie” comes out in theaters globally starting July 5. Netflix subscribers can also watch the animated superhero movie on the streaming platform starting July 28, 2023.

As for an electric Beetle, we’ll have to wait and see whether Volkswagen commits to producing it – and if so – what sort of range, battery, motor and price point it will have.

Personally, I’m rooting for a VW Beetle EV convertible.

The post VW Beetle EV Movie Car Spotted In Paris appeared first on EV Rider.

Gabriel Iglesias, the comedian also known as Fluffy, graciously stopped by as a guest on EV Rider to review VW’s ID Buzz as we kick off our multi-episode coverage of the 2023 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. 

The California-based comedian is a huge fan of Volkswagen’s original air-cooled bus. Top Speed reports he owns more than 80 of them so it only makes sense he would come to Florida to see Volkswagen’s historic display of buses with the upcoming 2024 ID Buzz as the centerpiece.

“I took it out on the highway,” Gabriel told EV Rider. “It rides great. It is definitely not the old-school traditional Volkswagen Bus that will leave you on the side of the 405 Freeway. This thing actually gets you there. And get’s you there pretty fast.”

Although VW’s air cooled were commonly referred to as the “Bus,” they were officially known as the Type 2 Transporter or Microbus. It’s also been called the Kombi.

You’ll find Gabriel’s full review of the ID Buzz in the video at the top of this post. His thoughts on VW’s EV reinvention of the classic Bus are sure to leave you smiling. 

Volkswagen’s first all-electric production van is expected to go on sale later this year in the U.S.  

It’s already on sale in Europe. Pricing had not been announced for the U.S. edition at the time of this post’s publication, but it’s expected to arrive with an estimated range of 300 miles and a 111 kWh battery pack along with bright and airy color combinations that will remind EV Riders of the famous air-cooled Type 2 Transporters.  

Other historic buses on display at The Amelia included a customized Type 2 Transporter that was dubbed the Half-Track Fox. Two axles were added to help get skiers and waitstaff up into German mountain resorts. 

You’ll find a look at several of the classic buses, including the Half-Track Fox, in the video. 

If you enjoy the video in this post, please give it a like and subscribe to my YouTube channel so I can bring you more adventures in EV motoring. 

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