In engineering terms the ID. Buzz and ID. Buzz Cargo are based on the Volkswagen Group’s Modular Electric Drive Matrix (MEB). The MEB system is made up in the ID. Buzz of the electric motor (permanent-magnet synchronous motor, PSM for short), a power electronics unit, an automatic single-speed gearbox, the twelve modules of the lithium-ion high-voltage battery arranged in space-saving manner in the vehicle floor and various additional components integrated within the vehicle’s front end. The battery has a net energy capacity of 77 kWh (82 kWh gross). The flow of high-voltage energy between the motor and the battery is managed by the power electronics unit, converting in the process the direct current (DC) stored in the battery into alternating current (AC). The on-board electronics are in parallel supplied with 12V via a so-called DC/DC converter. The new ID. Buzz is one of the most progressive vehicles of its class. This fact is reflected par excellence in the range of the driver assist systems. Many of the systems are included as standard. For example, Car2X (utilises swarm data to enable warnings to be given of dangers in the immediate vicinity), Front Assist with pedestrian and cyclist monitoring (surrounding area monitoring system with emergency braking function), PreCrash occupant protection (including tensioning of safety belts in an emergency), and, in the case of the ID. Buzz Pro, Dynamic Road Sign Display and Lane Assist. Available as options are the two newest systems: Travel Assist with swarm data utilisation and assisted lane changing, and Park Assist Plus with memory function for automated parking. The two new systems in detail:
The ID. Buzz and ID. Buzz Cargo are supplied on a carbon-neutral basis. What is meant by that is the compensation of emissions arising from production in the German Hannover plant, the manufacture of all modules in Volkswagen Group Components factories, and the transportation up to the point of handover to customers all over Europe. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has set itself the objective in Europe of reducing the carbon footprint of all vehicles across their entire life cycle by 40 per cent by 2030 compared with 2018. The ID. Buzz plays a key role in this. In essence, the electric drive system of the ID. Buzz and ID. Buzz Cargo works CO2-free on the road. The carbon footprint is especially small if the battery is charged using renewable energy. In addition, Volkswagen is utilising a package of extremely innovative materials and processes that make both versions of the ID. Buzz one of the world’s most sustainable model lines. The array of such measures starts with completely forgoing any use of leather in favour of using materials of non-animal origin. The steering wheel rim is, for example, made of a synthetic material that looks as high in quality as leather and provides a similar feel. The materials used for some seat covers, floor coverings and for the roof liner of the ID. Buzz include materials created from recycled products. There is, for example, a fabric made of so-called SEAQUAL® yarn, the fibres of which consist c. 10 per cent of collected ocean plastics and c. 90 per cent of PES (recycled PET bottles). The seat covers with the name ArtVelours ‘ECO’ also consist 71 per cent of recycled materials.
On the road, the ID. Buzz can be charged at DC fast-charging stations with charging power of up to 170 kW. In this case, the battery is charged up from 5 to 80 per cent in c. 30 minutes. For anyone wanting to go, for instance, from or Amsterdam to Paris (c. 520 km) one charging stop as a coffee break is therefore sufficient to arrive at the destination city with a good remaining range. Thanks to the new ‘Plug & Charge’ function, charging cards and apps for authentication at the station are becoming increasingly superfluous for this: in their place, the billing data is exchanged at compatible DC charging stations via the vehicle’s charging plug. It works in detail as follows: as soon as the charging cable is plugged in, encrypted, secure communication based on what is known as the ISO-15118 standard begins between the ID. Buzz and the charging station. The lithium-ion high-voltage battery is charged via a connection point on the rear nearside of the vehicle. If this is done connected to a wall box at home or at work, or when out and about connected to a public charging station with AC charging power of 11 kW, the battery is completely powered back up again (0 to 100 per cent) in 7 hours 30 minutes. Volkswagen offers its own 11-kW wall box range made up of the ID. Charger, ID. Charger Connect (extra features such as LAN/WiFi control via app) and ID. Charger Pro (like ID. Charger Connect, plus certified energy meter). With the new ID. Charger Travel – a kind of mobile wall box – it is possible to charge the ID. Buzz using the maximum permitted power, depending on the relevant mains, when out and about too.
Park Assist Plus is a well-known Volkswagen system. Literally at the press of a button, it facilitates automatic parking into parallel or perpendicular parking spaces. If desired, the ID. Buzz can also weave its way back out of parallel parking spaces. The driver merely has to monitor what’s going on, but no longer has to personally steer, brake or accelerate. The new Park Assist Plus with memory function goes one step further: with this system the driver is able to save individual parking manoeuvres, which thereafter the vehicle executes automatically – for example, driving into the garage or into a carport. It works like this: the parking process must be manually carried out once by the driver at a speed of under 40 km/h; even changes of direction are possible. In appropriately enabled mode, Park Assist Plus remembers the route taken, which can be up to 50 metres long. At the end of this learning phase, the driver presses a button to save it. All done! Five different parking manoeuvres can be saved in the system. Until now the optional Travel Assist used solely the infrared sensors, radar sensors and camera sensors, plus the navigation data for its assisted forwards and sideways guidance. As soon as the driver enables Travel Assist via a button on the multifunction steering wheel and sets a desired speed, the Volkswagen is able to keep to that speed, to react automatically to any speed limits and to vehicles ahead of it and, within its system’s limits, to follow the lane of its own accord (adaptive lane guidance). If swarm data is available, the ID. Buzz is able via Travel Assist to stay in its lane even when there is only one lane boundary present. To do this, Travel Assist with swarm data utilisation retrieves the data from other vehicles in the near vicinity anonymously transferred to a back-end system (server) in order to integrate this into the lane guidance. The utilisation of swarm data also makes assisted lane changing possible for the first time on the motorway: here at speeds of 90 km/h or above Travel Assist offers the driver an automated lane change on the digital cockpit display if the vehicle’s relevant surrounding area is clear.
Wheels are available for the ID. Buzz Pro in sizes 18-, 19-, 20- and 21-inch. The maximum wheel size for the ID. Buzz Cargo is 20 inches. The wheel rims are fitted with tyres optimised for roll resistance. The front tyres are always narrower than the rear ones, thus adding to the vehicle’s agility. The ID. Buzz is slowed down at the front via disc brakes with a diameter of up to 382 mm (depending on wheel rim size); at the back both versions have wear-resistant drum brakes. The new ID. Buzz is launching as a five-seater MPV and two- or three-seater van (Cargo). Both versions of the ID. Buzz are 4,712 mm long. At 2,989 mm, they have a long wheelbase. To put that in context: with the same wheelbase, a current T6.1 is in total 192 mm longer. Optimum use is made of the space between the very compact axles. Depending on specification, the ID. Buzz and ID. Buzz Cargo are between 1,927 and 1,951 mm in height (T6.1: 1,985 mm). In width they measure 1,985 mm excluding wing mirrors. The new model range is thus 81 mm wider than a T6.1. Including wing mirrors both ID. Buzz models are 2,212 mm wide. Via the recuperation intensity of the electric drive system, it is possible for the ID. Buzz to be slowed down without any intervention of the axle brakes. In the process the kinetic energy gets transformed into electric energy and fed into the battery. In automatic mode ‘D’ (Drive) the ID. Buzz sails along as soon as the driver lifts their foot off the drive pedal – the electric motor runs freely and offers no resistance. In this case the vehicle’s rolling increases the range. In automatic mode ‘B’ (Brake) – which like ‘D’ is also enabled via a small lever on the steering column – the ID. Buzz slows down as soon as the driver eases off the drive pedal. The recuperation effect is now so great that the normal brakes are hardly used any more.
