There is something wonderfully excessive about taking a family-sized electric Volkswagen to 92 countries. You could prove it works with a trip to the supermarket. Rainer Zietlow chose a rather longer errand. Good. Cars need adventures as well as spreadsheets, and an electric people carrier earning a Guinness certificate is a much more cheering spectacle than another argument about whose dashboard has the biggest screen.
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has announced that Zietlow’s long-wheelbase ID. Buzz completed a journey of 99,767 kilometres, roughly 62,000 miles, across six continents. Guinness World Records recognised the number of countries visited on a continuous journey in a battery-electric vehicle, with the certificate presented at IAA Transportation in Hanover. This is a countries-visited record, so don’t mistake that mileage for a distance travelled on one charge.
My reaction is admiration, followed by a question Volkswagen probably finds less convenient: how do we make this sort of electric adventure feel accessible to people whose travel budget doesn’t come with sponsors?
The itinerary is the interesting bit
The expedition’s own diary gives the achievement texture. It records stops in places including Perth, Johannesburg and Santiago, before an arrival at IAA Hanover on 14 September. Those names make a better advertisement for possibility than any computer-generated mountain road. Here is a vehicle accumulating destinations, rather than merely promising them.
The tour website also records 16 ferry or container transfers. That matters. A journey around the world involves shipping and logistics, and the Buzz hasn’t suddenly learnt to swim. The achievement belongs to the organisation and persistence of its human crew as well as the machinery. Pretending otherwise would make a fascinating expedition sound like an implausible sales pitch.
That is precisely why I like it. An adventure with practical complications has more character than a frictionless fantasy. Routes have to be worked out. Transport has to be arranged. Progress sometimes means waiting. The car is part of the story, rather than a magic device that abolishes geography.
A plug is only useful if you can reach it
In Volkswagen’s published interview, Zietlow describes charging at national substations under supervision in Zambia and Tanzania, where he found no available charging stations. Read that detail before deciding this trip proves you can point any electric car at anywhere and simply go.
There is resourcefulness here, but a supervised substation isn’t a normal holiday charging stop. Most of us want to buy a sandwich while the battery fills, rather than negotiate access to national electrical infrastructure. The distinction doesn’t diminish his achievement. It explains how demanding it was.
The useful lesson is that capability and convenience are different things. A vehicle can be equal to the task while the journey still requires exceptional preparation. For Britain, I’d rather see manufacturers compete to make ordinary long trips pleasantly uneventful than wave expedition photographs as an answer to every charging complaint. Adventure should be a choice, not a requirement for reaching your destination.
Now bring the price back down to earth
There is a second barrier closer to home. Volkswagen’s UK website currently lists the ID. Buzz from £59,405 on the road, including VAT. That buys admission to a very appealing idea, but it is a substantial entrance fee. A world record cannot make the monthly household arithmetic more forgiving.
The UK range comes with five, six or seven seats, depending on version. That is the sort of flexibility I want electric family cars to celebrate: room for actual people, rather than a performance figure nobody needs on the school run. Volkswagen also advertises up to 300 miles of WLTP range across the line-up, depending on trim. That laboratory figure is a comparison tool, not a promise for a loaded holiday journey.
Zietlow has given the Buzz a brilliant story. Volkswagen’s next challenge is less photogenic: make the prospect of owning one easier to entertain. Keep the ambition, keep the useful seating choices, and give more families a realistic way into the adventure. The globe looks inviting. The price tag still needs a passport check.
Sources
- Auto Express: Volkswagen ID. Buzz distance-record news
- Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles: official ID. Buzz world-record announcement
- ID. Buzz World Tour: expedition diary
- Volkswagen UK: current ID. Buzz model information
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