VW confirms plans for ID California electric camper van

Have I missed something?
I was expecting a few more details!

Looks nice though.
 
Autonomous driving buzz? Given VW's track record what could go wrong. Does look cute though.
 
An excellent presentation by VW, on the surface. Does not stand up to detailed inspection. They say CO2 neutral, not true in my opinion. All that electricity has to come from somewhere and renewables will not provide it. They say emission free, not true in my opinion, brake dust, tyre dust (both worse than diesel particulates) and more of them as the vehicle is heavier. Then emissions from, again, electricity production and then add on top the "off shore" emissions of battery and electric motor materials mining and manufacture. The internal fabrics from recycled water bottle, great idea but what happens to all that fabric, and it's fibres, at end of life? Land fill followed by fiber leaching into the water courses and subsequent breakdown into micro plastics? A recent US study suggests that in its lifetime and ev only saves about 4Kg of CO2 compared to an ICE vehicle - need to see more data on this however. Well done VW, very professional but far too many details glossed over.
 
The cargo version has a payload of 600kg & 100kg roof load. Seems a little lightweight.


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I like it, think it looks great :cool: would have liked a bit more info about the vehicle, don’t even think range was mentioned, unless I missed that.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Sad
Wildcamper said:
An excellent presentation by VW, on the surface. Does not stand up to detailed inspection. They say CO2 neutral, not true in my opinion. All that electricity has to come from somewhere and renewables will not provide it. They say emission free, not true in my opinion, brake dust, tyre dust (both worse than diesel particulates) and more of them as the vehicle is heavier. Then emissions from, again, electricity production and then add on top the "off shore" emissions of battery and electric motor materials mining and manufacture. The internal fabrics from recycled water bottle, great idea but what happens to all that fabric, and it's fibres, at end of life? Land fill followed by fiber leaching into the water courses and subsequent breakdown into micro plastics? A recent US study suggests that in its lifetime and ev only saves about 4Kg of CO2 compared to an ICE vehicle - need to see more data on this however. Well done VW, very professional but far too many details glossed over.
Click to expand...
Debbie Downer Alert. Seriously they do qualify at one point that its CO2 neutral 'locally' (carefully avoiding all the remote energy gen costs). I still don't like the front seating position as its well into the cabin eating into that valuable internal living space.
 
Wildcamper said:
An excellent presentation by VW, on the surface. Does not stand up to detailed inspection. They say CO2 neutral, not true in my opinion. All that electricity has to come from somewhere and renewables will not provide it. They say emission free, not true in my opinion, brake dust, tyre dust (both worse than diesel particulates) and more of them as the vehicle is heavier. Then emissions from, again, electricity production and then add on top the "off shore" emissions of battery and electric motor materials mining and manufacture. The internal fabrics from recycled water bottle, great idea but what happens to all that fabric, and it's fibres, at end of life? Land fill followed by fiber leaching into the water courses and subsequent breakdown into micro plastics? A recent US study suggests that in its lifetime and ev only saves about 4Kg of CO2 compared to an ICE vehicle - need to see more data on this however. Well done VW, very professional but far too many details glossed over.
Click to expand...
You're really not a fan of electric vehicles, are you? Everyone has his own idea about this; for me they may come, there will always be improvements. Don't forget that the engines that burn fossil fuels were also greatly improved over the years, didn't they? ;)
 
I like electric cars, they are great to drive - much better than ICE. But as with anything they have plus and minus points. The plus hype is just that hype. Try looking at a complete, or as complete as you can get, picture and make your own informed opinion. Some think EVs will save the world - they won't. They do have a clear role to play in reducing inner city pollution, but that pollution is simple moved somewhere else - someone has to "pay"! Whatever one does nothing is "free". Have a balanced debate and make informed decisions - put all the positives and negative together and don't just choose the ones that one happens to like - applies to both sides of the discussion.
 
I have just screenshot these ‘cargo area’ dimensions from their video announcement. Not sure how this compares to a T6.1

C72C14E2-AA88-4A7D-9781-EA7E7CAD1AF5.png
 
I watched the live stream. Quite short on the details but the interior seemed disappointing. No swivel seats and unclear whether the rear seats even are on rails but doesn't look like it from some photos I've just seen on Auto Express. Really limits the versatility of it and nothing like the lounge concept they originally presented - just an estate car really albeit with a bit more headroom.
 
Wildcamper said:
I like electric cars, they are great to drive - much better than ICE. But as with anything they have plus and minus points. The plus hype is just that hype. Try looking at a complete, or as complete as you can get, picture and make your own informed opinion. Some think EVs will save the world - they won't. They do have a clear role to play in reducing inner city pollution, but that pollution is simple moved somewhere else - someone has to "pay"! Whatever one does nothing is "free". Have a balanced debate and make informed decisions - put all the positives and negative together and don't just choose the ones that one happens to like - applies to both sides of the discussion.
Click to expand...
I try to understand what you explain: first you are rather against I think and now you are all pro and putting toghether positives and negatives and so, ok. For me it is clear: burning fossil fuels should have stopped long time ago but they didn't really 'felt the need', didn't 'they'? We should have stood much further by now but this is just the start. Oh, and I didn't watch the introduction movie on youtube or any where else. My thoughts are formed elsewhere and before the live stream about the ID Buzz. I'm not much of a hype man. Also, I would be crazy to thing ev's will save the world! It's so much more, but I guess this would bring us to far away from the fact that the ev's are not good enouch as a start for some....
By thinking positively about every step that is taken to make the world a healthier place, evolution may go faster and better instead of the many antagonisms such as 'american studies'.
Don't get me wrong: there must be opposition, but understanding for what is and what will come and learning to look to the future too.
Anyway we ordered a diesel coast because there are simply none ev campervans like the california. Our next one after the T6.1 coast will be a ev campervan, that is for sure. Or even the next one, we're only waiting from August 2020 maybe someday we will be able to convert our order to the new ID Buzz california :D
 
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California219 said:
I watched the live stream. Quite short on the details but the interior seemed disappointing. No swivel seats and unclear whether the rear seats even are on rails but doesn't look like it from some photos I've just seen on Auto Express. Really limits the versatility of it and nothing like the lounge concept they originally presented - just an estate car really albeit with a bit more headroom.
Click to expand...
The short wheelbase as revealed on Wednesday was disappointing in terms of interior versatility, but everything else looks great to me. The longer wheel base version will almost certainly be the one to watch, it will have the flat floor like the cargo version and probably utilise the new T7 Multivan rails that are a big improvement on the T5 & T6 rail system.
 
Anyone clock how far the top of his head was from the roof, when sitting on that rear seat…?
 
Digger said:


An ID Buzz campervan
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Good to see some progress but…Useless without sleeping capacity in the roof, considering that it seats 4 (although can’t see any seatbelts in the rear?). No camping heater.

Would rather have a gas hob + gas camping heater. Induction hob limits choice of pans etc..ie will not work with Ridgemonkey.

Only positive for me is the manual non aluminium roof.
 
Can't wait to spend my holiday trying to find a Ev charging point.
Saying this as I charge on my fourth attempt . Either in use or closed for repair.
Having said that it's a 75kw fast charger on a Pub carpark, oh no the Pub's closed☹️
Love my EV when charging from home but every long journey is problematic, filled with frustration and delays.
It's not particularly cheap 79p Kw, £47 to cover approx 200 miles.
If charged from home 12p kw, £7.20
Given most EV camper charging will take place away from home base it soon becomes very expensive given the likely efficiency of a fully loaded camper.
 
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