My Truck...

[Aaronp18]

The ID buzz was a dumb idea.

Should never have been a full electric, it’s an ideal family travel vehicle but EVs suck for road trips.

PHEV perhaps.

Tis why they are half the price they started at MSRP. The won’t even be making them in the US anymore.

They dropped it in the US for 2026, May bring it back for 2027 with likely a new drivetrain if they’re smart.

[Cousin Strawberry]

The only ferry I'm taking is to Victoria.

20 - 25 minutes.

Don't need a sleeper van.

What am I?

Shaggy?

That's plenty of time for a nap and to tuck into some Scooby snax Donny

[Cousin Strawberry]

The ID buzz was a dumb idea.

Should never have been a full electric, it’s an ideal family travel vehicle but EVs suck for road trips.

PHEV perhaps.

Tis why they are half the price they started at MSRP. The won’t even be making them in the US anymore.

They dropped it in the US for 2026, May bring it back for 2027 with likely a new drivetrain if they’re smart.

They should've put a full hybrid drivetrain in there I agree but it's pretty groovy no?

I'd pack one of those good inverter gennies in a hitch box

[Carl Yagro]

Always loved the VW Bus. A groovy classic for sure.

It was a great idea to bring it back, but poor execution. It's revered as the ultimate road trip vehicle, it should have hybrid and PHEV drivetrains.

[Aaronp18]

Love the VW bus, classic, has a 1972 bay window but that just got too rusty to restore. So stuck to the bug and got that done finally!

Would still love a 67 or earlier split window.

The concept was great, I may have misrepresented my viewpoint, it’s just being all electric that was the fail! The design is there but it needed to be the ultimate roadie vehicle. EVs are not that.

[Meds]

I may have misrepresented my viewpoint, it’s just being all electric that was the fail! The design is there but it needed to be the ultimate roadie vehicle. EVs are not that.

Ummm….

Should never have been a full electric, it’s an ideal family travel vehicle but EVs suck for road trips.

PHEV perhaps.

If that’s misrepresenting then I apologize for every comment I’ve ever made here as they must all have been too vague.

[Aaronp18]

Simply meant it’s not that I actually don’t like the design and bringing back the bus, just not as an EV.

[Carl Yagro]

Saw one on the street today, it's truly a beautifully aesthetic, modern design of the classic... unlike the mistake that was the new Beetle, IMO.

As a city EV, I prefer the utility of this over a Tesla or any jacked-up SUV. However, the overall value isn't there for the sticker price.

Bringing it back is not the issue, it's the implementation of it that's the problem because buyers have a completely different expectation than what this actually delivers.

[Aaronp18]

Right now would probably be a good time to bring back the Beetle, entry level, inexpensive starter vehicle like it originally was.

I’d give it multiple options for engines and make it better looking than the original redesign (there’s tons of renderings out there that look great). Bring back the fun and delete all the standard options that drive up price these days.

Back to Donny’s new whip, personally I’d get the M5 Touring or the RS6 Avant. But I know your penchant for SUVs and the BMW XM cranks out 739 hp and is a plug in hybrid to appease your island neighbours

[Per]

Love the VW bus, classic, has a 1972 bay window but that just got too rusty to restore. So stuck to the bug and got that done finally!

Would still love a 67 or earlier split window.

The concept was great, I may have misrepresented my viewpoint, it’s just being all electric that was the fail! The design is there but it needed to be the ultimate roadie vehicle. EVs are not that.

EVs are the road forward though. Give it five years and they will be better than fossil cars in every aspect.
The new Volvo EX60 can go 810 km on a fully charged battery, BYD has just released a car that should be able to do 1500 km.

Just like computers, battery technology is improving exponentially. And charging too.
China has just started launching a new kind of charging station that can give you 1500 kW!
Now, most if not all current EVs can't handle that kind of speed, but they keep raising the bar.

My Skoda Enyaq iv 80X has a an 82 kWh battery that can charge at 125 kW. Most charging stations have fast chargers that can handle 300 or 350 kW, so charging from 10-80% takes roughly 27 minutes. If I'm on a road trip I usually try to time the charging so it coincides with a meal break.

Now with cars that can charge at 300 kW or more that time is cut in half. With that Chinese 1500 kW station charging the battery will take 2-3 minutes for most cars, if they can handle that wattage. And with batteries that can take you 800 km or more, you really won't stop to charge on the road that often. My car will take me roughly 400 km in the summer and 300 km in the winter before I need to charge. That's enough for me in most cases. I may have to charge on the road perhaps 5-10 times a year or so. And charging stations are everywhere. All the old gas stations have them, plus most fast food franchises, hotels and shopping malls.

One of the greatest things about having an EV imho is that I never have to go to the gas station. I just plug it in at home and it charges while I sleep. I never have to worry about should I get gas before going home or the first thing in the morning.

New car sales in both Norway and Denmark are now more than 90% pre EV. Sweden is sadly lagging behind, but we are now at more than 40% + some 23% PHEV. In the long run PHEVs is an evolutionary dead end, as they still emit CO2 and need two sets of engines, a gas tank and a battery. As EVS become more and more powerful and battery prices start to drop the PHEV will never be able to compete. But I see that they serve a purpose as a transition phase, especially in places where there is still a lack of charging stations. My previous car was a PHEV, but I found it more convenient to go fully electric.

[Meds]

Works in small countries that have developed power infrastructure.

Cold weather cuts the range almost in half.

Batteries have roughly a 10 year shelf life. Then what? Cost of replacement is insane. Access to Maintenance on EVs is stupidly restrictive.

No more “do it yourself”.

To keep up with battery demands we will need to start mining in space.

[Per]

Works in small countries that have developed power infrastructure.

If you have electricity where you live it shouldn't be a problem. Just install a charger at your farm.
If you drive more than 400 km on a daily basis I can see it may be a problem if there are no other charging opportunities anywhere.
But some of the newer Chinese vehicles can go more than 1000 km on a full charge, and the specs get wilder for every year that passes.

Also, since when is China considered a small country?
EVs make up 53% of their new car sales.
And they are the biggest car market there is now, passing the USA more than a decade ago.

Cold weather cuts the range almost in half.

For an older EV without a heat pump, perhaps. If you live in a cold climate, as I do, you have to make sure your EV has a heat pump. The heat pump makes sure to keep the battery (as well as the driver and passengers) at the optimal working temperature.
I have not experienced a loss of more than 30% of range, but sure, I haven't been driving in -20 with my EV yet. And if you haven't noticed, ICE vehicles use up a lot more fuel in winter as well, and sometimes refuse to start when temperatures get below -20 unless you install a block heater. With my new Skoda, I just use an app to start the heat pump 15 minutes before I want to leave and arrive at a toasty warm car that's ready to go, regardless of where I am parked. I don't even have to scrape the windows anymore!
The Norwegians have a really harsh climate and they are going all in. In january this year they sold total of 7 traditional petrol cars vehicles in Norway but 2084 EVs.
https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/just-s ... last-month

Batteries have roughly a 10 year shelf life. Then what? Cost of replacement is insane. Access to Maintenance on EVs is stupidly restrictive.

You shouldn't store batteries on a shelf. They fare much better if you use them.
The batteries of an EV typically last 15-20 years whereas a typical ICE car has an estimated life of 12-15 years, so where is the problem?
I guess you may be confused by the fact that most EVs come with a 10 year warranty for the battery. But that is just the warranty.
They typically last much longer, which of course is why the manufacturers are comfortable offering a ten year warranty.
https://www.evconnect.com/blog/how-long ... tery-last/

No more “do it yourself”.

Yeah, that died 20 years ago when cars became mobile computers. For a real DIY car, it can't be from this millennium.

To keep up with battery demands we will need to start mining in space.

Bullshit! Ever heard of recycling? Also, the batteries used right now need a lot of rare earth , lithium and whatnot, but there are hundreds if not thousands of ongoing projects working on better batteries. The current lithium-ion ones are not what we will use ten years from now. The Chinese are already releasing some solid state battery cars. Those will last even longer than the current ones.

But yeah, I know. Big Oil is spending a fortune on spreading lies and desinformation about EVs. Petrol and diesel sales are already dropping sharply in Europe, and they are beginning to get scared that this may cut into their vast profits. But on the bright side the air quality in European cities has improved noticably over the past few years. Even if EVs and PHEVs still only make up 20% of the fleet, that's a 15-20% drop in exhaust! You can tell the difference. The buses here in my hometown are from BYD. There used to be a foul stench of diesel when I walked past the central bus station on my way to work. It's all gone now.
https://observer.com/2025/05/how-electr ... city-life/

[JelloPuddingPop]

LOL, I was going to reply to Mëds' misinformation there - but I see, as usual, Per does a better job.

There are a lot of EVs up North here - in fact my closest neighbour has a Tesla, and drives it all year long. Even in -45C. Says he still gets 60-70% battery life compared to summer temps, and he parks it outside.

For me, the only real limitation is towing. I drive a truck, and tow with it quite a bit - taking in my Kubota for servicing, snowmobiles etc. The EV trucks just don't have the range necessary, which is really surprising.

[Per]

The main benefit of an EV though is how cheap it is to drive!

My eldest daughter lives 360 km away. In the summer I get roughly 400-420 km out of my battery, so no need to stop to recharge. I charge at home, then use their charger before heading back.

I'll use rough estimate Canadian prices, but Swedish are similar.

My Skoda needs 2kWh for 10 kms, so 360/10x2x2xCAD 0.15 = CAD 22
It's a SUV, so a similar petrol car would probably need 8 litres of gas /100 km.
Thus it would be be 360/100x2x8xCAD 1.60 = CAD 92

Thus a roundtrip to my daughter saves me CAD 70 compared to what I'd pay with an ICE vehicle. Just that one roundtrip!

And then add up the total money saved on every single errand, every trip to the store over a year - that's a shitload of money.
Sure, slightly more expensive to buy, but then there is less maintenance as well (fewer moving parts in the engine), and the tax rate is lower.
Insurance is slightly higher, but all in all, the lifetime cost of owning an EV compared to an ICE vehicle is pretty enticing.

And prices are still dropping. Five years from now EVs will probably be cheaper than fossil driven cars even before you calculate the cost of driving.

A Skoda Enyaq iv 80X Sportline, as the one I drive, is allowed to tow 1200 kg (braked) or 750 kg (unbraked).
It may not be enough if you need to tow heavy machinery, but it works for me.

[JelloPuddingPop]

A Skoda Enyaq iv 80X Sportline, as the one I drive, is allowed to tow 1200 kg (braked) or 750 kg (unbraked).
It may not be enough if you need to tow heavy machinery, but it works for me.

Its mostly the hit on the range it creates - as an example the F-150 Lightning has an optional extended range of 515km, (386km standard) - but when towing 50% of capacity, 5000lbs (2256kg) (maximum 10000lbs (4535kg)) - which is fine for most applications - the range drops around 60%. Couple that with added drop off in winter, and its untenable.

Other than that though, for standard commuter use etc., they are a no-brainer. Wonderful to drive, great tech/comfort features, quiet etc.