Mercedes-Benz unveils electric eSprinter van to come to market next year

Mercedes-Benz unveiled this week its latest lineup of Sprinter vans and it includes an electric version called ‘eSprinter’ to be launched next year.

It’s nothing surprising since the German automaker announced last year that it will electrify all its commercial vans and its most popular is the Sprinter.

The company didn’t unveil any detail of its powertrain, but it isn’t expected to have a long range since they specified that it is “primarily designed for inner-city operations, not only protect the environment but also offer customers tangible added value with their day-to-day suitability and flexibility.”

In that trend, the company also recently released the eVito, a mid-size van, with a 41.4 kWh battery pack for a range “around 150 km” (93 miles), according to the German automaker.

Here are new images of the Mercedes-Benz eSprinter released this week:

Strangely, Mercedes says that the operating costs are not better but “roughly the same” as diesel vans:

“In a dialogue between customers and the experts at Mercedes-Benz Vans, operator concepts are individually adapted to sector-specific needs, fleet size, operating profile or the construction measures required to create an in–house charging infrastructure on the operator’s premises, so as to create an end-to-end eco-system. Moreover, electric base vehicles can be precisely adapted to the relevant operating purpose with respect to range or payload. Finally, the new portfolio also impresses with its key financial figures, with operating costs at roughly the same level as for comparable models with a diesel engine.”

The eSprinter will be available to order next year.

Electrek’s Take

While it’s light on details and I don’t see how an electric version can’t have an operating cost advantage, I’m glad to see more electric options coming to commercial vans, which I think is an easy segment to electrify.

So far Nissan owned the market with its e-NV200 all-electric van, but now VW and Daimler are coming up with competitors in the segment.

In December, VW started deliveries of its new all-electric eCrafter van for a customer test fleet and now Daimler has the eVito and eSprinter coming.

It should start to become a more competitive space soon enough.