Posted on 07/31/2020 11:02:53 AM PDT by Red Badger
Electric. Modular. And pretty much whatever you want it to be.
Some days I dream about driving a zippy two-seater. Others, I long for a camping-friendly family van. And every once in a while, I wish I had a pickup truck that could handle the freight of a Home Depot run. So like most suburban stereotypes, that means I’ve settled for a high-horsepower crossover, a vehicle that does all of these jobs with mediocrity.
But what if there was another way? What if you could buy a car that transformed from car to van to truck, à la Inspector Gadget? That’s the promise of the eBussy, a vehicle that looks something like a VW bus crossed with a USB charger, by the German vehicle manufacturer Electric Brands. Starting at $18,500 and topping out at $33,000, it’s a completely customizable modular electric vehicle. You can configure its seats and storage space when you buy it. Or you can swap out those details later by hand, when you bring it home. The eBussy launches in the U.K. next year, assuming that Electric Brands, which has only built scooters to date, can pull it off.
The eBussy offers two styles of chassis—one typical, and one with a higher profile for off-roading—and 10 different body styles. By mixing and matching options, you can create a two-seater or a four-seater with a bench or individual seating and battery capacity that can vary from 125 miles to 370 miles. The actual vehicle you build can be a pickup truck or a cargo truck or a van or a Jeep-like open-air vehicle or a camper complete with a bed, fridge, TV, freshwater tank, and sink. You can add a solar roof to charge out in the wild, and on every model, you can actually go so far as to slide the steering wheel from one side of the car to the other, because the drive system is fly-by-wire (or controlled by computers rather than mechanical inputs—just like on commercial jets).
Each of these configurations changes your purchase price, but even after you buy the design, you aren’t stuck with it permanently. According to the company, you can change it yourself (details TBD). But you’d need to own multiple components, such as cargo room or seating, to swap them out.
“The eBussy was developed according to the ‘Lego principle’ . . . you can adapt your eBussy easily and quickly and as often as you want to your usage needs,” the company explains on its site. “You do not need any special tools for this, you do not have to have worked at NASA, you just need some help to remove one module and put another on it.”
How can one car manufacturer build so many different vehicles on a single platform? Electric drive trains make it possible. While combustion engines take up a massive block of space in a car, electric vehicles hide tiny motors in each wheel, with small battery packs squeezed in wherever they can fit. Electric vehicles on the road today are still mirroring gas car aesthetics, but they don’t need to.
The eBussy’s design is feasible, and it’s easy to imagine the auto industry copying its approach. More and more, major auto brands are agreeing on shared platforms, with engines, battery technologies, and chassis used between companies in the interest of lowering costs through scaled production. In other words, auto manufacturers are already playing Lego with design, putting what we perceive as unique cars on top of nearly identical foundations.
[Image: Electric Brands] Furthermore, we’re seeing that consumers demand customization, and the auto industry is just beginning to see how one car can be sold to offer diverse experiences. The new Ford Bronco, brought out of retirement earlier this month, was heralded by many auto critics for its diverse configuration options. Instead of selling you a car, Ford is offering its Broncos as a line of experiences, dubbed names such as Badlands, Outer Banks, and Wildtrak. Each of these Broncos is tweaked for how you’ll use it. One has a waterproof, marine-grade interior that can get as soaked as you like. Another offers suspension that’s thrilled to climb through mounds of mud. Yes, inside all this adventure branding is the sort of tiered entry-to-premium pricing model we’ve come to expect from auto manufacturers, but it’s not quite as simple as good, better, best. The Bronco urges you to specialize toward specific adventures.
eBussy offers even more customization options than the Bronco, while also offering buyers the option to change their configuration on their own after purchase.
Studying the eBussy’s design options, which also offer pull-out drawers for small cargo, it seems that this EV is being designed in part for those last-mile delivery services from companies like Amazon, and in part to any mainstream consumer who wants to buy a van, car, or truck. That approach makes the eBussy’s potential addressable market more or less unlimited, in theory. While preorders are open now for buyers in the U.K., eBussy will still need to prove that it’s capable of actually building not just a great electric vehicle, but a great van, a great truck, and a great camper, too. About the author
Mark Wilson is a senior writer at Fast Company who has written about design, technology, and culture for almost 15 years. His work has appeared at Gizmodo, Kotaku, PopMech, PopSci, Esquire, American Photo and Lucky Peach
Motor Trends Car of the Year. Purchased one when I came home from Vietnam. $3600 loaded. 🇺🇸🇺🇸
Howard Hughes competitor, forget the name, actually pointed out the folly of steam cars. He got a copy of the Doble. He brought it into his factory. He hit it, hard, with a wrench. He then said, 'Great. You just cooked dad, mom, and the three kids like lobsters."
I'm also having a hard time seeing electric trucks as useful towing my 8000 lb camper. Already this year I've taken it to campgrounds 150 to 300 miles away. Some relatively level trips, some up in the mountains. Even with careful planning mother nature has her own ideas. I've seen our fuel mileage (diesel) average as high as mid to upper 20s for mpg while towing and going 65 - 70 with a tail wind. I've also slogged along at 55 fighting a quartering wind getting 7 mpg. So any range while towing you're really going to want a 2x or even 3x margin of safety. Or you're going to be trying to stuff your truck and camper/trailer into a charging station. Or having to drop the trailer in a nearby parking lot to get the truck into the charging station. For now, I think you'd have to really want to have an electric truck to justify having an electric truck.
+1
You aren’t into autocrossing?
what Kind of saw you get? I got a kobalt, and sold my three crappy gas chainsaws that had that same starting problem. It’s pretty awesome and I really like the chain tightener compared to the stihl.
I think it’s an incredible idea. Of course, the real world will approve or disapprove. Imagine what the aftermarket would do with a vehicle like this?
My scenario? Why not? You need to get out of your hidebound view of a vehicle as something you drive and think of it as a conveyance you can configure to your liking.
Just take a step a LITTLE away if this helps. Make a current day RV self driving. Once the tech is reliable remove the steering wheel and front seats.
If you do not think that is probable you are like the people in the 1960s who said people never will need nor want computers in their home (much less on their person).
>>$3600 loaded.<<
That is like $100,000 today! (/MST3K)
I don’t have to splain MST3K I hope :)
>>Great. You just cooked dad, mom, and the three kids like lobsters.”<<
I hate Cream of Familia.
I’ve been looking at Chevrolet Greenbrier vans. They seem like a similar concept from a while back.
That was GM’s answer to a question nobody asked.................
This is the one I had for a while.
https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=21312692@N00&q=cougar%20
Had to be sacrificed to solve a problem and peace at home.
I will get another one day. My wife can get as mad as she likes.
Yes, but they are retro-cool. And I like Corvairs.
Like this one:
https://www.motortrend.com/news/1964-chevrolet-corvair-greenbrier-classic-drive/
“what Kind of saw you get? I got a kobalt, and sold my three crappy gas chainsaws that had that same starting problem. It’s pretty awesome and I really like the chain tightener compared to the stihl.”
Yes, I bought the 80V Kobalt. I have about 14-15 hours on it so far. The old Stihl when I was moving around logs I would leave it running because I never knew if it would restart.
Yes, the chain tightener is great.
My boss’s brother rebuilds Corvairs and VW Things.
There is a couple of them right here were I work..............
My boss’s brother rebuilds Corvairs and VW Things.
There is a couple of them right here were I work..............
Where did I mention how the electricity is generated?
MY point was a lifetime of using gas and battery powered tools, the battery powered electric are far superior
Mine was a 390-4bbl, Inverness green. Four on the floor, with crappy Firestone 500 tires that wore out in 8000 miles. Traded it for a van.
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