TheSamba.com :: View topic - New EV Bus announced this morning

Mon Jan 09, 2017 7:40 am

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-08...ium=social

New EV bay, includes an autopilot. Said to have 270 mile range

Mon Jan 09, 2017 8:02 am

years and years of concept busses. "hey! remember the VW bus?!?!"
they should shit, or get off the pot. Not that I have really liked any of the concept vehicles, or would buy one.

Mon Jan 09, 2017 8:09 am

It's just another attempt to distract the public from their ongoing emissions-rigging scandal.
They'll never build it.

Mon Jan 09, 2017 8:23 am

did everyone forget to take their positivity / smile pills this morning?

Mon Jan 09, 2017 8:31 am

SGKent wrote: did everyone forget to take their positivity / smile pills this morning?

Nope, and I'll add that even if they DO build them, they will not be available in the US.
They been makin westies right along this whole time. I got to see and sit in one in Berlin a couple years back, they are REALLY nice. Not for sale to USA.

Mon Jan 09, 2017 8:32 am

I was just about to post a link to the article I found...a little different than the one in Bloomberg so here goes:

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2017/01/volkswa...rg20170109

I like the look but didn't realize it was an EV...neat idea but still a bit infeasible given the scarcity of charging stations. Maybe this (and more EVs in general) will spur demand.

- Doug :-)

Mon Jan 09, 2017 8:43 am

Ugh. The only tangible thing that will come over all this hype is another 6 months of:

1.) people texting me "have you seen this?"
2.) people reposting this over and over and over again on my Facebook
3.) multiple threads here started by people with the title "just saw this"
4.) no actual production car.

Mon Jan 09, 2017 8:49 am

and people telling you that vw is making busses again. No, they are positive they are.

Mon Jan 09, 2017 9:44 am

Quote: As for when you’ll see the I.D. Buzz on the street, Volkswagen isn’t confirming anything, but says a vehicle using its modular electric platform will be in production by 2020, and it hopes to be making 1 million a year on it by 2025, so there’s certainly a chance at least a few of them will look like this and be looking at you. FNN

Mon Jan 09, 2017 9:44 am

From the article: "This isn’t the first modern microbus concept Volkswagen has released, but they never cease to delight the hippies at heart."
I don't think the hippies are delighted. :roll: And I must say that unless it gets round headlights, it will never look right.

I would actually really like an EV Type 2... in the back of my mind, I have the dream of converting a pickup to be EV, as it is ideally suited to the task with all that storage space under the bed.

Edit: typo :P

Mon Jan 09, 2017 9:55 am

jtauxe wrote: From the article: "This isn’t the first modern microbus concept Volkswagen has released, but they never cease to delight the hippies at heart."
I don't think the hippies are delighted. :roll: And I must say that unless it gets round headlights, it will never look right.

I would actually really like an EV Type 2... in the back of my mind, I have the cream of converting a pickup to be EV, as it is ideally suited to the task with all that storage space under the bed.

dare to cream

Mon Jan 09, 2017 10:00 am

Just the picture should knock a 100 million or so off the 4.7 billion they have to use for green vehicle research.

Mon Jan 09, 2017 10:01 am

Malokin Martin wrote: Ugh. The only tangible thing that will come over all this hype is another 6 months of:

1.) people texting me "have you seen this?"
2.) people reposting this over and over and over again on my Facebook
3.) multiple threads here started by people with the title "just saw this"
4.) no actual production car.

^ Exactly!

Mon Jan 09, 2017 10:03 am

Looks like the F.B.I just arrested a vw executive for the so called dieselgate fiasco. Wonder if they knew beforehand and if this is their version of a distraction. That being said maybe they will get it right on the next concept they roll out in a few years that thing is fugly!

Mon Jan 09, 2017 11:26 am

Yet another futile attempt of VW to use their past with a nostalgic, modern update of a glory days vehicle. It's like going to most dealerships here in Phoenix and seeing restored 50's and 60's bugs and buses on the floor. Really? :? Ironic in that VW and the dealers couldn't get away from the air cooled cars fast enough in the 70's and 80's in the USA. Couple that with them abandoning any support or parts for the air cooled cars that made their company. For that reason alone, I'd never buy a new VW.

Their last attempt at resurrecting the "new" bug on a golf chassis really demonstrated the modern day VW. What a turd those "new" bugs turned out to be. I rented a brand new 2013 beetle on a trip. What a total POS it was.

Mon Jan 09, 2017 11:59 am

actually it is an interesting concept. They have built one chassis they will use on all their EV vehicles. The only difference will be the body and interior that goes on the chassis. Google is on the way to release their self-driving (autonomous) electric Chrysler minivan. VW isn't going to step aside and let Google and Chrysler own the whole market segment.

Last night we saw on CBS a test of autonomous swarming military drones dropped from aircraft - they coordinate an attack as a flock like in the movie The Birds or the most recent Star Trek. Autonomous devices are here and nothing except themselves will stop them. The auto manufacturers are all rushing to bring self driving electric cars to the highways - VW included. I differ with those who think this is a stunt. Hydrogen cars have been around since the 1970's, electric since the early 1900's. This isn't about EV's or hydrogen - it is about autonomous vehicles that can be people movers.

Mon Jan 09, 2017 12:00 pm

That's what VWOA HQ is like in Herndon, VA. I was there for a pitch once and stepped off an elevator to see a black '63 Beetle right there, looking like it was right off the assembly line.

I did love my '98 New Beetle, and was one of the folks who wrote to VW to convince them to produce the Concept 1. Up to the day I sold it the car was so fun to drive...but it was not very reliable and at the time it was sold had a non-functioning radiator fan and needed more brake work than the car was worth.

I wish the new bus were a plug-in series hybrid...extended range would be essential in a vehicle you want to use for caravaning.

Cue the Facebook links of "Doug, did you see THIS??" ;-)

- Doug

Mon Jan 09, 2017 1:07 pm

My 98 New Beetle was a big piece of crap. That's why I dumped it and got a 1971 Super Beetle.

This new bus? No thanks. I'll keep my 77 Westy.

Mon Jan 09, 2017 1:21 pm

Well nobody said you had to sell the '77 Westy ;-)

My experience was the same as yours, though...dump the new VW and focus on the old ones for better reliability. My '73 Fastback (bought for $300 in '97 with only 45K original miles), which I've had longer than the '98 New Beetle, is still reliable - with the original FI, now 70K miles, and after being hit and restored back to attractive driver status 3 times.

Given that the 25 year limit for old cars continues to march on, what new options for importation from South America might exist and up to what point. For example, my understanding is that the vehicle has to meet the US emissions and safety regulations for the year it was built...but does that only apply to vehicles up to 25 years old?

- Doug :-)

Mon Jan 09, 2017 2:08 pm

if that is a new VW bus, I've got some bad news for you:
Toyota already built the Previa many many years ago.
This new concept vehicle looks like a Previa in the first
trimester of pregnancy.