The microbus may be struggling in the U.S., but its success in Europe reveals how electric-vehicle adoption now depends on geography, not ideology.
The Wall Street Journal recently described Volkswagen’s much-anticipated electric ID.Buzz as a commercial flop in the U.S. market. In isolation, such headlines contribute to US narratives that the electric vehicle transition itself is losing steam. My recent time in Europe, which included time in an ID.Buzz on the way to a gigawatt of wind, solar and batteries in a Dutch polder along with a lot of other VW electric microbuses on the roads, suggested that the US experience wasn’t universal.
A closer look reveals the complexity beneath these surface-level judgments. The reality is that the global EV market is thriving, yet distinctly regional in character. Understanding this regionality provides a nuanced perspective necessary to accurately interpret the ID.Buzz’s uneven performance.
