I have to admit, this is one of the more difficult review/first drive things I’ve had to write, but not for the usual reasons. The usual reasons are that I’ve been flown out somewhere to drive some perfectly cromulent, mainstream, mass-market car, and it has proven to be so competent and rational and reasonable that I find myself slipping into a coma of adequacy and trying to figure out what to write about it that’s interesting is like pulling teeth from my appendix. That’s not the problem this time. This time I’ve driven a very interesting vehicle, a beautifully made vehicle, one with a rich history, a rich, vibrant history, a metric crapload of character and cachet, but it’s so wildly out of attainability for myself or most people I know that it actively feels … wrong. Maybe not wrong, because I do understand why it’s the way it is, but it still feels somehow … twisted.
That said, objectively, I really was impressed by this machine, the Kindred EV Bus. It’s really not just an EV-converted Microbus with some electric motor bolted onto the old VW transaxle. It’s a completely re-engineered vehicle, something that looks like an old Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus on the outside, but under the skin is a completely different beast. It’s like opening a package of Twinkies and cutting one in half to find that it’s full of perfectly-marbled Wagyu, like some kind of perverse Beef Wellington. Only in a good, not gross way. That analogy kind of got away from me.
Here’s the main point: Kindred has made something truly remarkable with their EV-converted Microbuses. They managed to take a design for a commercial vehicle from 1950 and make it behave and drive and perform like a modern car. It’s a hell of an achievement. It also costs a quarter of a million dollars, and it’s hard for me to wrap my head around that.
What Is It?
It’s a VW Microbus! Like you all know and love! It’s just, you know, also completely different. It’s not just completely restored, which it is, but the entire drivetrain is different. Different as in instead of an air-cooled flat-four engine puttering away under the rear floor and making 36 to 50 laid-back horsepower, there’s now an electric motor sourced from Cascadia that makes 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque.
The old torsion bar suspension is completely removed from the front, replaced with the entire front suspension from a Corvette. The Corvette also donates its power steering rack setup. The rear suspension still uses the rear torsion beam partially, but is otherwise completely re-engineered, with an entirely new rear cradle for the drivetrain, which you can see here:
There are power-assisted disc brakes all around, with discs big enough that the original VW-type wheels would no longer fit, so new ones that at least resembled the old ones had to be sourced.
It also now runs on electrons instead of dead dinosaur juice, which means there need to be batteries stored in the van, which means there’s more weight, which means the overall structure needs to be beefed up substantially. Which they do.
Every bus body is taken down to bare metal, panels are replaced with new ones, and the whole structure is reinforced. Every C-channel in the frame is made into a box section, which is substantially stronger. In order to keep the VW Bus community from forming an angry mob and surrounding the Kindred factory with torches and pitchforks, donor vans are in pretty rough shape; they also avoid original 21/23-window Kombi buses, preferring to use more common body styles and adding in all those new roof windows with modern reproduction panels. An average donor bus looks like this:
Not a pristine example. But, solid enough to start with and, as I said, anything that isn’t up to Kindred’s stringent standards gets replaced. Even these old hulks aren’t cheap, because that’s what the VW bus world is like now. I was told donor vehicles average about $30,000.
The conversion work is extensive, even before they get to battery installation and drivetrain, suspension, anything. These have to be the most rigid and solid Type 2s ever made, and likely the safest, though to be fair that’s not exactly a high bar.
The battery packs are fairly large, but they’re packaged in a clever way so they don’t really seem to eat up that much space. Dedicated luggage space isn’t compromised at all, surprisingly. The batteries are stored in an L-shaped formation that forms the base of the rear lounge-style seating, as you can see here:
See the yellow boxes under the seats, with their stylish vents? Those are full of batteries and other EV hardware. This does mean that unlike an old bus, you can’t yank out the rear benches and have a big, empty box to haul stuff around in. But people aren’t buying these to haul cargo; these are people-carriers. And mobile rooms. The layout is comfortable to ride in or just sit in.
While I was out testing the bus, some Important Autopian Situation came up that required my attention, so I pulled over somewhere, got into the back, and found that this bus made for a fantastic mobile office.
That table is removable, but in place it really does turn that interior into a nice space to exist in. Plus, unlike old buses of this vintage, the Kindred EV Bus has an effective air-conditioning system that keeps the whole interior nice and cool.
You can spin the front passenger seat around like a captain’s chair, too! All the materials feel fantastic, and when you look around you can see this is a pretty significant upgrade from its humble VW Bus origins, filled with vinyl and that strange straw/horsehair/rubberized seating filler they used to use.
I wasn’t able to get a shot of the battery layout for one of the production buses, but I did get a shot of one of the prototypes, which is similar, but the 12V battery is now in the engine bay of the production ones. Still, you can get an idea of how the batteries are packaged:
This arrangement of batteries also means that now most of the weight of the car – which is up substantially from an original bus, unsurprisingly, roughly double – is in the middle of the van, and set nice and low. The Kindred EV Bus has a real 50/50 weight distribution, which is pretty dramatically different from the old ass-heavy buses.
The cargo layout is well done; Kindred has a nice bamboo box that’s about a foot tall back there. At first I thought that was housing batteries or other EV hardware, but it’s not; it’s a big cargo box to give an area of hidden, lockable storage, which is a nice addition to the Bus:
I can’t fault the design or construction or materials on these buses at all. A lot of thought was put into how they should be reworked, packaged, and put together, and it absolutely shows.
Here’s a little walkaround tour of the bus:
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Oh, and it does have a modern head unit, backup camera, USB plugs, heated seats, and some clever instrumentation, but I want to talk about that a bit later.
One Note About The Taillights
Kindred made a stylistic choice to use the tiny, round, pre-’62 taillights, and I respect that choice as they are very charming and really sell the vintage aspect. They have LED lighting inside and are bright, but they are also tiny and low, and I think they could be a bit of a safety issue, especially when so many people drive high-hooded SUVs and trucks. I think in traffic, people simply won’t see them. Happily, I have an easy solution that won’t hurt the vintage look:
See? Just hide a strip of red LEDs behind the upper rain gutter and let it act as the third brake lamp! You wouldn’t see the LEDs themselves, just the light they throw! Nice and high so you can’t miss it! They could even put amber sections at each end for turn signals! And yes, I did tell the Kindred folks my taillight idea.
How Is It To Drive?
Honestly, it’s one of the most amusing things I’ve driven in a long time, but a lot of that is because I’ve driven original VW buses a decent amount before. The amusement comes from the familiarity with the old Bus setup – the huge, almost horizontal, city-bus-like wheel, the almost greenhouse amount of windows, the tall, narrow shape – and it all suggests a certain expectation of what it’s like to drive. Here, you can see me drive an actual old bus:
This Kindred bus triggers all of those old sensations, but then turns everything on its head: yes, you’re still sitting as you would in an old bus, everything looks the same, but nothing quite feels the same. You hit the gas – sorry, electrons – pedal and you go. Not like 40 horsepower and a lot of noise sort-of-go, I mean like you move, like you can pass modern cars while going uphill, a sensation that to pull off in an old bus would have taken a handful of pills. Which I’m sure happened plenty. But this time, it’s real.
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Kindred’s Bus can move fast, far faster than almost any original VW Bus could. And it’s quiet, because it’s an EV. And it stops! It stops very well, in fact confidently and straight, even when you really stomp the pedal. It feels much more planted on the highway, because of all that extra weight down low, and while it’s still tall and narrow and you can feel when an 18-wheeler passes you, it’s not nearly as nervy as in the featherweight original bus.
Since it’s also now weighted evenly front and rear, instead of the 40/60 rear weight bias of the old bus, it’s much more neutral when cornering, and there’s no oversteer waiting to jump-scare you.
There’s no shifting, of course, either. It’s … easy. Which sort of brings me to my next point.
Who Is This For, Really?
A $250,000 completely re-worked Microbus is, let’s be honest, a strange thing. Who is buying these, and what are they looking for? I did get to speak a good bit with Kindred’s founder and CEO, Rob Howard, who made his vision for these Buses – and the EV-converted Broncos they make, and even their gas-engined Broncos – clear to me. Really it’s pretty simple: make vintage vehicles that normal people can actually use, about as easily as they can use a modern car.
This is a pretty tall order, when you think about it. Howard wants to sell these restomodded Buses to people who want the charm and experience of an old bus, but don’t have the time or inclination to deal with all of the associated issues that come with an old car. They’re wealthy, as you likely guessed, these hypothetical EV Bus buyers, and they’re not interested in VW’s ID.Buzz, because they want something that looks and feels more authentic. But without the hassle.
So the EV Bus is supposed to be that: you get in it, and drive, and that’s it. There’s no carb to fiddle with, no long starts, no gas smells, no oil leaks. You can drive it pretty much like any modern EV – it has a range of about 200 miles, it charges from 20% to 80% in 30 minutes at a Level 3 charger, for the most part it behaves like a Kia or Tesla or Chevy EV or whatever. It just looks and feels a billion times more fun.
And that all comes at a cost, of course. It’s a cheat; you’re getting most of the charm and joy of a vintage car with almost none of the hassle or effort. There’s a lot of value to that! I guess, about $250,000 worth of value.
I don’t have anywhere near enough kidneys to ever afford this, and, besides, my peculiar brand of idiocy means I actually like the smells and noise and hassles of an old, archaic car. Maybe some sick part of me even likes getting stuck on the side of the road on a depressingly regular basis. But rational, well-adjusted humans, they’re not like this. And some of them still like the charms of an old car. And some of them have succeeded at capitalism and have a crapload of money to throw around. So why not throw it at one of these? It brings a hell of a lot more smiles to people than a Lambo or some other supercar, and you can carry a hell of a lot more friends around in it, after all.
What Could Be Better
Okay, if I had $250,000 to spend on one of these, I think I’d be pretty demanding about what I got for my money. Maybe it was that sort of attitude that got me rich in the first place! That, and my amazing idea for a chain of space-themed fast food joints that serve all the food in squeeze tubes. I call it Orbites! It’s fantastic!
Anyway, if that was the case, I’d have some high standards, and while most of what I saw on the Kindred EV Bus was impeccable, not everything was. Like the instrument cluster. See that picture above? How it’s almost black and basically illegible? That’s how the instrument cluster looked in most sunlight.
That’s especially a shame because they did a beautiful job with the instruments. They’re all in a round LCD display, made to look like the old Bus speedo. You can see your speed, what gear you’re in, odometer, any warning lights, and how much charge you have left, cleverly shown via the green hash marks. So, the above shows 85% capacity, for example. And note that unlike the original, each turn indicator gets its own green arrow, like royalty or something!
It’s all very nicely designed, but if you can’t read the damn thing, who cares? This display needs to be upgraded to one that works in sunlight. Oh, and there should be a “miles to empty” readout, too.
Also, the lower dash storage shelf should be carpeted or at least have a rubber mat. There are only two USB-C ports, and modern life demands more. And why not a magnetic wireless charger? Hell, I put one in my Citroën 2CV for like $10! Surely that’s possible.
I do appreciate the high beam switch remaining on the floor, though; I appreciate that vintage touch. And while I appreciate this other vintage touch:
How the charging port needs this old-school sardine-can key to open:
…I think many owners might find it a pain in the ass after a while. (Oh, also you can see the CCS1-type charging connector, a very common type, and can be adapted to Tesla charging standards.) Same goes for the rear hatch support stays:
I appreciate the originality, but people are going to forget to move these from their little notches and bend them. After all the other upgrades, some gas shocks to hold up the hatch seem like a worthwhile upgrade.
So What’s The Takeaway Here?
I’ll never own one of these, barring some wildly unlikely circumstances that require heavy genie/monkey’s paw involvement. I can’t ignore the deep-set absurdity of this vehicle, given the goals and ambitions of the original Volkswagen Type 2, which was to be affordable commercial and family transportation, with a focus on practicality over traditional design ideas. It has evolved into something quite different.
But cars are not rational, and I pray they never will be. I love that these exist, and I think Kindred is doing a stellar job at turning this charmingly goofy old platform into something usable and drivable in modern traffic. It’s quite an achievement, and to have a hassle-free, usable old bus like this – well, maybe that really is worth a lot of money.
I’d rather see a Skittles-colored rainbow of restomodded EV Microbuses or Broncos or whatever tooling around fancy parts of town than innumerable and ignorable black G-Wagens and Escalades and Rolls-Royce Cullinans or whatever other soulless wealthy-people transport crates that currently roll down Rodeo Drive. If you can afford it, live a little – get yourself something fun, like a Bus or Bronco or whatever. Life is for the living, right? So why drive around in a hearse?
Top graphic image: author
Even if you were able to buy one, you would have to give it up when Orbites inevitably goes into bankruptcy. The authentic space bathrooms sounded like a good idea until the authentic space urine funnels caused a nationwide STD epidemic that destroyed your paste-based empire. Maybe you can pocket the sardine key before they foreclose on Torchinsky Manor, sort of like when Steve Martin carries off a bunch of junk in The Jerk.
This thing merges absurd retro fetish with EV evangelism. In other words, cashing in on the personality-deficient AI millionaires is a pretty good business plan.
I’d like ( and maybe others would) to see what goes into doing one of these Evaluations. I’m sure you have a checklist of what to bring, and what shots you’re going to take and of what parts of the Vehicle. Love to see “how the sausage” get made.
That front subframe has reminded me that I was going to write a thing on lazy bracket design, and how infuriating I find it.
I never could understand the hype over microbi. Even without all the EV and whatnot, really nice examples command six-figure-prices now. All that for driving around in an old VW? No thanks. I just took the plunge on an MGF, and while it will need some work, fresh inspection sticker or no, the price was 4,000 Euros. That’s what I call fun money.
But this? “If you love old VWs so much that you don’t actually want to drive one, we have just the thing for you (at five times the already outrageous price).” I am happy to live in a world where this exists, but a black Phantom at least won’t kill you in a collision. I am willing to bet real money that this thing will.
No Thanks. I do like the tail lights though.
I was tired last night so I didn’t leave much of a comment. But what did pop in my head is that this thing will probably show up as a future “Shitbox Showdown” thing where we will make fun of it the same way we now make fun of all of those 90’s retromods and cars that some weird company did something to. Except it’ll be worse because you’ll have this thing with old and probably non-working electronics, a failed battery and an infotainment system that wants an OS that hasn’t been made in years and we will poke fun of it just as hard.
If it helps, I think the infotainment system is a double-din head unit you could swap out?
I think the comments I and others are making is about the overall package. To be fair you warned us with the fact this costs as much as a house. But at the end of the day its a $250,000 thing that has what looks like an awful lot of exposed hardware store looking nuts and bolts and what looks like very so-so type paint and bodywork. At $250k it’d better be damned near perfect and “look” like 250k.
Its just a plaything for rich boomers and techbros.
Eh, I’m betting something like this is far more flexible and modular than mass-produced cars. So, harder to find an exact factory replacement for the battery but much easier to just buy a bunch of cells and a BMS and charge controller and make a new pack that works.
I still think this is crazy expensive and don’t really love the concept of taking something that was once the every-person’s vehicle and turning it into something for rich people. However, I guess I kind of understand the market/demand/nostalgia has superseded reason for many vehicles this age.
And this is still a waaaaayyyy better deal than that ICON C10 that costs $500k and still has rust on the panels.
VW’s problem in a nutshell, just taken to an insane $$$ level. Why no one is buying a VW. They have willfully moved away from their purpose and the actual name of their company and produce mostly forgettable schtikdrek with prices >Toyota and quality <Kia. I’ve owned 8 different VW’s in my time. Everyone one moved me from one place to another with that lovely anti-ego charm (ok except the 84 GTI), they had style, they were inexpensive and they were fun in a hair shirt kind of way. This 250k resto in peace looks great. But how dare they and VW for that matter jump the shark.
Would be a wonderful day when lithium-ion batteries decide to perform the Thermal Runaway show…turning $250,000 bus into a worthless piece of molten steel. I despise those restomods that ditch the ICE for the electric motors and batteries because those greenwashed idiots think they are doing good for the environment, which isn’t.
By the way, this deaf dude, Mic Bergsma, spent six years restoring his Kona The Bus (1967 VW Bus), and chroniciling the process. Lot of ASMR in his videos. He chose the same rectangular OEM taillamps that is all red but used the LED bulbs that flash yellow through the red lens for turn signal indicators.
I think an electric powertrain is the easy way to get horsepower into an unusual packaging situation like this one. Even the way they mounted the batteries kind of feels like they wanted to do this the easiest way possible.
Sorry, this is just a plaything for obscenely rich people. Sort of sucks the joy out of it.
Well said. Every one destined for a “collection” in a gaudy overhauled hangar full of cars from Kindig, Foose, Ring Bros, etc, etc.
I have many fond memories of my “62 23 window that I put 35,000 miles on in 1972 but I don’t ever want another one. If these are built out of original buses your left foot is resting on the back of the headlight and would be the second casualty in a wreck right after the headlight. and if it were to last more than a couple of years the rust would get it. I had to sell mine when it started sagging in the middle.
One thing I have learned in my 75 years of life is you can’t go back because no matter how hard you try it’s just not the same. For $250,000 I will survive very nicely on the memories
Welcome to the K-shaped Economy!
So I am trying to think of who would have the money to buy such a thing, cool as it is. Steve Wozniak?, no other names or buyer profiles are jumping out to me. Wealthy Dead-Heads? are there still Dead Heads?
Yep there are. I knew from the moment I saw it this is aimed at Northern Californians, and upon looking up where they’re based I’m right on the money. The Bay Area’s fringes are teeming with restored Buses and middle-aged Deadhead parents rich off stock IPOs. Every fourth car was a Tesla here until Elon had his Nazi moment, and then it became maybe one in five (four of which sporting anti-Elon stickers). We love EV virtue signaling and we love the Bus here, and this will definitely sell.
I have to say, the midcentury aesthetic of this–part preservation, part reproduction–is fantastic. But losing the functionality of cargo hauling when needed–meh. Give me an old Volvo wagon. Which I say having never owned one, but they still trigger my functionality fetish.
Have they sold any?
Interesting. Admiriable, in terms of the effort and engineering that went into it. If I had the money would I buy one? Nope. I had an air-cooled VW Bus when I was young(er) and I suspect that quietly tooling around in this wouldn’t have the same charm, because it wouldn’t be the same experience. At all.
The noise, the smell, the (lack of) speed: those are all integral to the VW Bus experience, as it is for the experience with any old air-cooled VW.
I know what we’re all thinking after that “most people I know” so I’ll say it.
Yes, Beau should buy one. No, he shouldn’t sign on to sell them.
Also – four colors? Surely at a quarter mil the entire appearance should be bespoke?
I respect the work and thought that goes into these, but the problem is I could get to about 90% of this things capabilities for a fraction of the cost. Put in a much newer fuel injected engine that’s in the 150hp range, some updates to the suspension and brakes and it will drive nearly the same as this. Then freshen up the interior a bit and you are there. Even counting on how pricy these are today, I would bet a very nice set up could cost under $50k for what I broke down. It’s just such a law of diminishing returns after that. To get from the nice 50k vehicle to the slightly better $250k vehicle is just not worth it.
The singer 911s make more sense as they are 911s to start, which were always meant to target wealthy people looking for the absolute best of everything but this and the Bronco etc restomods just don’t add up, literally.
I suppose it also just comes down to how much time and energy someone can put in, as that theoretical nice 50k Bus would take me a couple of years to complete with no other major projects. I guess I just wish people would wrench in their own stuff a bit more you know?
I say all of this having largely done similar things. I took a stock 66 Chevelle and redid the suspension, brakes, engine etc and tidied up the interior to have something that had the capabilities of a new Camaro and I did not put in new Camaro money to get there.
Let’s turn this around, how much would you charge your favorite boss/uncle/nephew/etc. that begs you to build something like that for them…
Good question. It would definitely get more expensive, probably close to 80k. So if this was a business in order to pay off the overhead of the equipment and salaries I could see how it would balloon up well over 100k to try and make a profit. But I think my real point is that I would like it if people just did these things themselves in the first place. I would be more than happy to donate a few weekends and knowledge to said favorite uncle etc. if they were doing it themselves
Seems crazy but if a non-running donor vehicle cost $30,000, then the VW van market is already completely nutters, so why the hell not.
I don’t get why this company doesn’t just fabricate the entire frame and panels themselves instead of using a donor vehicle as a base. Ship of Theseus kind of thing going on here.
I initially thought the same thing, but upon reflection, there are probably patent/copyright issues. They want to market it as a VW bus, so they would have to license the IP from VW, who may not want to, or may want to charge so much it’s not feasible. If it’s not a VW bus, they then have to comply with modern safety standards and all the other regulations that come with manufacturing a car.
Yes, probably a lot easier to register using the donor vehicle and avoid the requirements a new production vehicle would need to meet.
I’d think importing old vw bus from South of USA could maybe make sense, even replacing the front with a gen 1 Type 1
Of course that might be more hassle than what they want to deal.with
Say no more.
Eh, I get it. Old cars can be difficult to deal with on a regular basis (see the Stanley Steamer article earlier today). This brings the smiles without the trouble. The price makes it unattainable to most people, but they’re expensive to make. I don’t think that they will sell too many, but maybe they can sell enough to employ a few people.
That’s the goal!….the shop owners and their crews make a decent living doing something fun.
I guess it’s cool and all but it’s a stupid amount of money (where it seems you do get what you pay for) for a vehicle that’s cool, but mainly for nostalgia and coolness’s sake. What might be a much more profitable niche for them would be to take old city buses and give them the same treatment turning it into a vintage style RV, but as an EREV. Reading Mercedes’ articles about just how low the quality bar is on most RV’s even at over $500K, I’m sure a lot of buyers may be swayed to something like this instead if they do a very good job.
If I had the money to buy this, I would buy the best electric car on the planet.Okay it is nearly half as much again and very posh. The seats turn into a bed,for two. The most astounding car I have ever driven (it is not a small thing) The Rolls Royce Seraph II, one day I will steal one.
RR Cullan was right behind me earlier today. It looked so silly with its handlebar-esk led marker lights.
A wonderfully fun detail + it was a unique shade of green too
They are silly, it is part of the point, you can get a subtle one(not really) or go full on daft. My choice would be a Seraph11 in mica grey. It is astounding, silvery grey one second and then bits are bright pink, and rich purple and so much more, sadly the paint costs £70,0000!
I got mine for $1,000. Never did anything with it and I think my ex sold it. Having had one for over a decade, 250K is stupid money for one of these. They are very cool vans but not THAT cool. And part of the coolness is the air cooled motor, which is gone and it costs how much? Fuck that.
For once I would welcome artificial engine sounds. Chuffa-chuffa-chuffa!