This VW ID. Buzz Drove Through 92 Countries In 445 Days Without Breaking Down

• The all-electric VW ID. Buzz was charged more than 300 times during the trip.
• The electric van was driven across South America, North America, Europe, and Asia.
• It received a Guinness World Record for the most countries visited in one continuous trip for an EV.

After 445 days, 92 countries, and six continents, a VW ID. Buzz has received a Guinness World Record for the most countries visited in a continuous journey by a BEV. What’s perhaps even more impressive than the journey itself is that the car apparently didn’t experience a single breakdown.

Rainer Zietlow drove the ID. Buzz throughout the journey, covering 62,036 miles (99,767 km), leaving Hannover, Germany, on July 1, 2025, and returning on September 14. At the end of the journey, VW’s all-electric van had retained 95.75 percent of its original battery capacity.

Read: VW’s First Electric California Is An ID. Buzz With A Bed

The ID. Buzz used for the epic road trip was the Pro model, equipped with an 86-kWh battery pack that gives it up to 309 miles (497 km) of WLTP range. While this is far from class-leading in the ultra-competitive EV space, it was enough for Zietlow to cross through countries, proving just how easy it can be to live with an EV.

This isn’t to say it was always easy to charge the ID. Buzz. In Tanzania and Zambia, there’s no public charging network, so the VW had to be charged at national substations to keep the journey going. The EV was moved across countries and continents using container ships.

Zietlow was probably especially grateful he’d embarked on the ambitious adventure with an EV rather than a combustion-powered car, as gasoline prices have soared this year. In total, they made more than 300 charging stops to keep the ID. Buzz running, with Zietlow noting that China is “in a league of its own” when it comes to charging networks and broad EV adoption.

Throughout the journey, the VW was driven across the base of Australia from Sydney to Perth, shipped over to South Africa, and driven across Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya. The trip also included Asia, crossing through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and through most of Central and Western Europe, South America, and North America.