Ninety percent of German startups fail in the first three years, but ElectricBrands, the company behind the impossibly cute XBUS EV, says it’s proud not to be one of them. And that’s despite its modular minivan, which we first wrote about in 2020, being delayed twice, and still being over a year from showrooms. Technically, the company has existed for six years, so it’s already passed that three-year threshold, but more importantly, co-CEO Max Brandt is a adamant that the tiny van will be launched to the market at the end of 2024 or early 2025 following a reveal at a dealer event this November. Brandt says the delays – it was supposed to be on sale last year – are no indication that the project is in trouble, and cites Volvo’s postponement of the EX90 as evidence that timelines shift for big OEMs, too.
ElectricBrands has made some changes to
the tiny 3,640 mm XBUS since we saw it last, some of them aimed at
increasing its modularity. You might recall that the van’s USP is its 10 modular
and interchangeable bodies that can transform it from a passenger van to a
panel van, box van, pickup, wagon pickup, convertible or miniature motorhome.
All versions are also available in
off-road specification with all-terrain tires and increased ground clearance to
go with the all-wheel drive, and if the 200 km electric range from
the stock 10 kWh battery isn’t enough, buyers will have the option of upgrading
to a 30 kWh pack that extends the range to an impressive 600 km.
Achieving those distances from such a tiny battery looks like alchemy, but is
mostly down to a curb weight of just 600 kg, which also means it
can get away with a total power output of only 75 hp from its
four hub motors. Then again, they do also deliver a whopping 1,000
Nm of torque.
The other changes ElectricBrands has
implemented are focused on cutting production costs to enable the high-rise
shoebox to launch at the originally mooted prices, or only marginally higher, despite
the delays. Back in 2021 the firm said that pricing in Germany would start from
€ 18,070 (US$ 21,431) for the cheapest LCV derivative all the way up to € 32,370
(US$ 38,392) for the off-road camper.
The XBUS and its Evetta brother, a modern
electric take on the classic BMW Isetta bubble car, will be built at VDL Nedcar
in the Netherlands, a contract manufacturing firm that currently builds
multiple models for BMW, including the X1.
