Volkswagen’s ID Excitement now has a tailor made camper construct-out that is just as clever and charming as the electric powered microbus. It’s referred to as eVentje, and it is now available for general sale in Europe.
Intended and sold by Ventje, a small but promptly expanding business primarily based in the Netherlands, the eVentje conversion is as superior as it gets till VW at last releases a California edition of the ID Buzz — which is still a handful of several years away at the very least. That extended delay due to the fact European sales started in 2022 has made room for a burgeoning aftermarket for ID Buzz camper merchandise, such as the excellent and somewhat inexpensive Ququq camping box I formerly reviewed.
I initially analyzed a Ventje camper constructed on best of a VW Transporter T5 cargo van in 2022, right before living and functioning from an ID Buzz for a couple of weeks in 2023. In 2024, I last but not least acquired to exam the union of the two for a weekend. And allow me notify you, this is absolutely a circumstance the place the whole is higher than the sum of its components. The ID Excitement has generally been a showstopper when driving earlier onlookers — now, the demonstrate carries on when the doors open to reveal that wonderfully adaptive Ventje interior.
The total design and style of the Ventje camper still depends on far more than 100 magnets to hold all those people wood surfaces aligned and locked in location. There’s continue to a kitchen obtainable from within and out, a pop-major tent, and a multipurpose inside that converts from a lounge to a bed to a magnificent outside the house household furniture established in minutes. Only now, factors have been refined throughout with a single significant addition: a folding desk and hidden stools to create an outdoors bar. Swoon.
The kitchen has viewed several advancements that give far more adaptable prep surfaces — constantly a obstacle in a compact space — and smarter use of storage. Ventje also moved to not a single but two induction cooktops many thanks to the inclusion of a 2200W inverter and 2160Wh leisure battery that costs from the VW’s driving battery, a 350-watt photo voltaic panel, and a mini shore-power outlet positioned on the decrease bottom of the van.
Ventje also can make it easier to retain all your own equipment driven with eight USB sockets (4x USB-A, 4x USB-C), a 12V car or truck jack, 3x wireless charging surfaces, and 3x 230V AC sockets for any one searching to consider advantage of their company’s hybrid place of work policy. There are also much more lighting possibilities which includes dimmable LED mild strips and a closable sunroof in the pop-major tent.
VW’s improperly made application even now frustrates the normally excellent driving knowledge, which stays rattle-totally free even with all of Ventje’s customizations. A single would count on VW to sooner or later enable a tenting method on the ID Buzz, a aspect presently uncovered on its present California sequence campers. That would make heating and cooling the ID Buzz much more intuitive when parked and allow for house owners to far more effortlessly disable the inside movement alarm when locking all the doors at night time.
The eVentje can rest 4 but is now highway authorized for only two individuals. It’s crafted about the common-wheelbase ID Buzz, not the prolonged-wheelbase product coming to Europe and the US (ultimately!) later this 12 months. Nevertheless, my spouse and I did not want for a lot more house, even with the pet dog coming along on the trip.
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The eVentje, like the ID Buzz, isn’t cheap, and quickly, in Europe, it will have to contend with VW’s new PHEV “T7” California camper going on sale in June for what is possibly about the similar value. But that model lacks the retrofuturistic attraction of the all-electric ID Buzz, and its interior is arguably considerably less versatile — and undoubtedly fewer pleasurable — than Ventje’s warm tailor made layout.
The modified eVentje ID Excitement starts off at €95,000 (about $103,000) in Europe. An buy positioned now will ship in nine months to consumers in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Ventje states that it’s also arranging to grow to the Uk and US in time.
Importantly, Ventje is doing what VW hasn’t due to the fact to start with teasing the ID Excitement all the way back again in 2017: deliver a deserving all-electric powered successor to the iconic Type 2 camper.
Images by Thomas Ricker / The Verge