this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2024
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Electric Vehicles

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The Volkswagen ID. Buzz will start at $59,995 (arstechnica.com)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I don't agree with this article. 60k for this is way too much. Ev makers really need to work on pricing.

If it feels like many years since you first saw Volkswagen's retro electric microbus, the ID. Buzz, you're not wrong. It's surprisingly aptly named; I can't think of another car during the past decade that has aroused so much interest among people who don't usually care about four-wheeled transport. Nearly eight years after the concept made its debut, the Buzz is on sale in Europe and has been for a year. Now it's time for America to get its turn, with deliveries starting later this year.

We drove the Euro-spec Buzz almost two years ago, but it's fair to say the version that's coming to the US is a better proposition. The Buzz we drove had a shorter wheelbase, a smaller-capacity battery, and seats only for five, and if you sat in the back, there was no ventilation, and the windows couldn't be opened.

The US market will only receive the longer-wheelbase Buzz, which adds about 10 inches (250 mm) between the axles. This adds room for a third row of seats, making it a proper seven-seater. It should be a bit more humane sitting in the back, as there are air vents—we're waiting to drive it to find out if any windows open back there.

The three-row Buzz also carries a bigger (91 kWh) battery pack, but there's no getting around that retro shape's big bluff frontal area, and the EPA range estimate for the rear-wheel drive Buzz is just 234 miles (377 km), a number we're sure will disappoint many who've been patiently waiting for the electric minibus. All-wheel drive drops the range by 3 miles (5 km).

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Depends on where you live, in my country trains and busses are horribly expensive. But yes, cars are overpriced.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

how many fares would the price of a car cover? 60k to me sounds like it might as well be infinite rides.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Interesting question.

Out of curiosity I looked up what an Uber trip to town(14mi) costs: $31 so $62 round trip.

That works out to ~968; let’s say 1000 trips.

For me, I make ~4 trips per week = 250 weeks = 4.8 years

Of course there are so many variables left out of this like gas, insurance, maintenance, time spent coordinating transportation, trips other than just “to town”.

My car cost half this one so I would only get ~2.5 years worth of trips to town.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The time saved is the biggest factor for me. Our infrastructure blows so it would be significantly longer to go out and do stuff with public transport vs just using my car. When I visited Japan car time vs train time was comparable with like 2 to 5 minute difference depending on where you were going. That alone would have me taking the train significantly more often.