Inspired by Microbus: Volkswagen Budd-e Concept

Volkswagen Budd-e Concept 

 Volkswagen is opening a gateway to the future at the CES 2016 in Las Vegas. The time machine: a zero-emission vehicle - the avant-garde BUDD-e minivan. The first model based on an equally new and progressive Volkswagen technology matrix for electric vehicles. The van's range: up to 233 miles (USA / EPA estimated real-world driving range) or 533 kilometers (Europe / NEDC). And BUDD-e also has charisma with its iconic design. A Volkswagen that breathes the brand's history, while simultaneously setting its sights on the immediate future with precise clarity. And it is as networked as possible, making BUDD-e a mobile interface between the world on board and the outside world. 

Volkswagen Budd-e Concept 

The car in the Internet of Things. With access to your home - Smart Home - or your workplace. Equipped with next generation Infotainment to turn travel into an interactive experience. BUDD-e offers a completely new method of operation and information processing. Everything is more intuitive than ever before. Touch and gesture control merge seamlessly; switches and buttons are a thing of the past; individual displays blend into large infotainment panels; analog mirrors are replaced by digital screens. The matrix of these new, interactive infotainment and operating systems gently launches passengers aboard the Volkswagen concept car forward - to the end of the decade.

Volkswagen Budd-e Concept 

The present meets the future. Volkswagen demonstrates how much travel will have changed by the time we are in or around the year 2019 at the CES on board the BUDD-e. Four friends will set off on an imaginary journey in the car from San Francisco to Nevada to go to a legendary American festival on what is to be an interactive journey into the world of tomorrow. A world that will most probably have become the world of the present in January 2016 in Las Vegas with the technologies of the future presented in the BUDD-e. These technologies include Volkswagen's new conceptual matrix for electric vehicles: the Modular Electric Drive Kit (MEB), with which it may, for the first time, become possible for the pure electrical range of large series models to match that of today's gasoline-powered cars by the end of the decade. In parallel to this, the time it takes to charge the batteries should have been cut to about 30 minutes (80 percent capacity) by then. This would mark the breakthrough of electric cars.

Volkswagen Budd-e Concept 

MEB - The new architecture for Volkswagen's electric vehicles

With the BUDD-e Volkswagen has developed a minivan that is more thoroughly networked with its surroundings, as part of the Internet, than any car before - the most communicative car of its time. Many of this Volkswagen's features are different. It was the first concept car developed by the Volkswagen Group to be designed on the basis of the new Modular Electric Drive Kit (MEB). This architecture heralds a fundamental change in electric cars and thus for the car in general, because the MEB throws all fossil fuel ballast of the present overboard, having been designed specifically for electric cars. And this means that the body design, the interior design, the package and the drive characteristics of the electrically powered Volkswagen will change significantly. Advantages of the MEB at a glance:

Spacious interiors and the smallest possible traffic footprint, to make handling as easy as possible around the world.
Great agility; powerful acceleration combined with maneuverability.
Interiors designed for optimal use with a positive feeling for space thanks to the new vehicle architecture.
Maximum functionality and networking thanks to new display and control concepts.
The greatest possible degree of occupant safety.
A new, recognizable and distinct design identity thanks to new proportion and styling possibilities - each MEB vehicle will be recognizable as such.
Cost-effective access to e-mobility, accompanied by long ranges to match today's gasoline-powered cars, so that the car can be used as the primary car in the household.
Drive system data - the first MEB concept car

The Volkswagen BUDD-e being presented at the CES 2016 in Las Vegas is, as outlined, the first Volkswagen to have the DNA of the new MEB. The MEB results in a drivetrain architecture that is specifically tailored to the use of compact electric motors and high-performance batteries. The flat and space-saving battery with an energy content of 92.4 kWh is integrated into almost the entire vehicle floor of the BUDD-e. It powers two electric motors, which drive both of the axles.

The front electric motor produces 100 kW (200 Nm), while the rear motor produces 125 kW (290 Nm); resulting in a mechanical system power of 225 kW.
This results in a total range of up to 233 miles (USA / EPA estimated real-world driving range) or 533 kilometers (Europe / NEDC) when the battery is fully charged, putting the BUDD-e on a level playing field with today's gasoline-powered cars.
The battery can either be charged by plugging it into a power socket or by inductive charging. At a charging power of 150 kW (DC), the battery is 80 percent charged after about 30 minutes.

The concept car's all-wheel-drive system gives the BUDD-e a top speed of 112 mph/180 km, and it can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 6.9 seconds.