I have to admit, this concept EV design from the German company Electric Brands punches so many of my car-design buttons: friendly face, modularity, maximum space utilisation, extreme utility, all that. I really like it. There is just one issue I have with this remarkable concept they’re calling the eBussy, though: they really should have had someone pop that name into Urban Dictionary before making the big announcement.
Yes, the unfortunate (or maybe fortunate? I guess that depends on their goals for this thing) similarity of the name eBussy to a well-known slang term is the main reason this thing is trending on Twitter, which is a shame because the concept has so many good qualities as well.
Design-wise, this thing feels an awful lot like a Volkswagen Type 2 transporter platform, right down to the available variations. Here, look at this — the diagrams for the VW are up top:
The baseline design is essentially a VW Type 2 pickup, complete with that under-bed storage locker. It makes a lot of sense, though — the old bus design, effectively a box on wheels, is hard to improve on when it comes to space utilisation.
The basic box-on-wheels design/cab with a flatbed design has proven to be remarkably flexible, and it looks like the plan is for the eBussy to take full advantage of all the possible options:
The eBussy doesn’t have the VW’s rear-mounted flat-four, instead of relying on hub-mounted electric motors that only make 20 horsepower, but are also capable of an insane 334 kg-feet of torque. I’m not sure I can think of a vehicle outside of an airport tug that has that kind of spread between HP and torque.
The base eBussy has a small 10 kWh battery pack that’s allegedly good for 200 km of range, with an option to upgrade to a 30 kWh pack for about 604 km.
Electric Brands also mentions on their site that the eBussy has integrated solar panels and “It generates a daily range of up to 200 km via its integrated solar modules and recuperating drives.” but I’ve learned to take solar panel charging with a big grain of salt.
It appears that the battery packs are stored in the under-bed lockers for the pick-up versions, and in a large, slide-out tray at the rear for the bus/van versions, which would suggest interior packaging very similar to an old VW bus.
Speaking of the interior packaging, it looks like a lot of thought has been put into seating and cargo configurations and folding options:
The instrument panel has also been well-considered, with the drive-by-wire system allowing for rapid-swap left- and right-hand drive configurations.
I assume there’s a solution for the pedals, too? You can see all this in their little promo video here:
The camper version looks especially appealing and suggests that this may not just be intended as a city car/local delivery vehicle as well since if you want to go camping, you have to travel a bit.
There’s a lot to like here, absolutely, even with the questionable name. My real question is, of course, how real is this. So far we’ve just seen a lot of fun renderings, but no evidence anything physical actually exists.
The suggested prices start at just over $US18,000 ($25,137) and go up to $US33,300 ($46,503) or so for the AWD camper version, which feels extremely cheap to me.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m very hopeful about all of this, and if they can pull it off, VW may find their announced I.D. Buzz has some competition — but I’d still like to know more about how likely this is to be real.
I’m very much hoping it is!