Electric rebirth of the VW microbus is powered by an ipad | Hacker News Reader

Electric rebirth of the VW microbus is powered by an ipad

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3 pointsnickler4 comments

All the car makers are looking to dig out some of their 'cult' cars and make a new version of it. Look at VW New Beetle, Mini, Fiat 500. Most of them achieve resemblance to their predecessors, but not the values.

But for me the presented VW Microbus in now way has the values of the predecessors like VW T1 to VW T3: There is no place to sleep, you have not the option for the tent-roof for 2 extra beds, even the doors are opening like in normal cars. This Microbus looks for me basically like a car for cities. Nothing about escaping the cities and be free to stop where you want in the nature.

But I guess today much is about perception.

As someone who owned a '73 and lived the lifestyle that it allowed, I couldn't agree more.

It's sad that putting this project into the hands of someone who was looking to recreate that magic could have achieved something dramatic.

It's been a long standing wish of mine to see the original microbus concept modernized well, I'm almost hopeful to find an ambitious team to start a kickstarter for it.

I would love to see a "real" modern successor for the original VW Multivans in the spirit of T1 to T3 and I hope you will find funding. In my opinion, for it to become success it must be: (a) Affordable; (b) equipped to camp in the wild, while staying very basic (do not need airbags, and sophisticated electronics, it does not need to be fast); (c) very very reliable and very easy to fix and economic in consumption (why not lightweight solar panels on the roof and around to provide energy for the battery)

Anyway I am sure it could be a wild success.

It doesn't have to be counterculture anymore, because it (and others) already remade that culture into the one we have today. It makes sense that it's right at home in the new culture that it helped shape.

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