Skip to main content

BUDD-e

See All Stories
Site default logo image

Volkswagen might make an Electric Microbus that actually looks like iconic VW Microbus

Autodesk VRED Professional 2017 SP1

Volkswagen today is teasing some images of a new version of its electric minibus platform that it will reveal at the N. American Car Show in Detroit next month (if not sooner at CES). I know these are just a renderings of a preproduction model, but I have to say this gets me way more excited than last year’s EV Bus concept, the BUDD-E, which is apparently going to get built in 2020.

In the images above and 2 more below, you’ll see some iconic VW bus lines and logo mixed with some of those gaudy BUDD-E  accents. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

VW’s all-electric minibus concept BUDD-e won ‘2016 Concept Truck of the Year’

VW BUDD-e

The Annual North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards gave the ‘2016 Concept Truck of the Year’ award to Volkswagen for the BUDD-e all-electric minibus concept. BUDD-e is a bit polarizing. While most EV enthusiasts would be happy to see a “microbus” with a 100 kWh battery pack, the design of the vehicle generally hasn’t been well-received and reminds of people of the ‘weirdmobile’ stigma attached to EVs, but the panel of automotive journalists acting as judges for the award disagreed.

Either way, it’s interesting to see an all-electric vehicle win the award for ‘Concept Truck of the Year’. That must be a first.
Expand
Expanding
Close

VW is actually going to make that UGGL-E Electric VW bus for 2020-ish

IMG_20160106_165232

Britain’s Car Magazine reports that Volkswagen’s BUDD-E electric vehicle has got the green light to go into production for 2020.

Volkswagen’s all-electric BUDD-e concept will make the jump into serial production, CAR understands. The VW BUDD-e concept, first seen at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), is an ultramodern take on the VW ‘Microbus’ theme, built upon Volkswagen’s upcoming MEB modular electric platform. Dr Volkmar Tanneberger, head of electronic development and the driving force behind the BUDD-e concept, told CAR magazine’s Ben Barry: ‘[The] basic idea is to develop a modular toolkit and take this flat battery idea into serial production, one motor on the front, one on the rear. The California [camper van] and Transporter [panel van and minibus line] will continue separately as combustion engines.’ ‘You will see a car that looks a lot like this, on the MEB platform, reach production. I can’t say exactly when, but 2020 or thereabouts,’ says Tanneberger.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this.  On one hand, the more electric vehicle options the better and we all know that the electrical vehicle market is lacking in van options. Also, it is clear from the popularity of the  amazing eSamba project that there is a huge market for electric VW Busses.


Expand
Expanding
Close

VW unveils its all-electric microbus concept: BUDD-e with a massive 101 kWh battery for 373 miles of range [Gallery]

At CES in Las Vegas last night, Volkswagen unveiled its latest all-electric concept vehicle: BUDD-e, a battery-powered microbus. BUDD-e is the first vehicle designed on Volkswagen’s new electric platform called MEB, which is short for Modular Electric Toolkit.

BUDD-e is still an early concept, but the company says that the technology it’s showcasing should give a good idea of VW’s electric vehicles in 2019.
Expand
Expanding
Close