2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter: Main the Approach in Electrical Van Life

As I used to be threading the 2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter alongside LA’s ever-congested I-405 freeway, amongst its dozen or extra lanes in our course, passing a lot of industrial vans with tailpipes, the thought occurred to me. 

These might almost all be electrical. They usually quickly will likely be. 

Massive vans have all the time been a type of open canvas for corporations—permitting them to successfully develop into something wanted, from supply wagons to shuttles or cellular workshops. However up till now, that canvas because it applies to electrical vans has appeared overly constrained, both by limitations on the battery dimension affecting how extensively they could be used, or by packaging limitations. 

With the eSprinter, companies small and huge, and the fleet managers who oversee the autos, are going to expire of excuses. Whether or not pondering purely about working value, concerning the functionality, or when it comes to the way it drives, diesel’s residing on borrowed time for any sort of metropolis or major-metro use.

Final-mile supply has been an electric-van emphasis for a number of years; however the 2024 eSprinter, which is arriving now at dealerships within the U.S., is skipping previous that crowd. The eSprinter—significantly because it’s being offered within the U.S.—is exhibiting that it has greater aspirations, and can solely be offered right here with its largest battery pack, providing a usable vary of 113 kwh.

Whereas the eSprinter will likely be supplied in a wider vary of variations and fashions in Europe, all U.S.-bound variations of it is going to be on this long-wheelbase cargo van kind, with the excessive roof and the large pack. 

It quantities to a car that’s 280 inches lengthy, using on a 170-inch wheelbase, and amounting to an total peak 107.1 inches. That’s simply above 8-foot-11 if you happen to’re watching out for these peak indicators in parking buildings. 

On this configuration, the eSprinter can maintain 488.1 cubic toes of cargo, in keeping with Mercedes, with a most payload of two,624 kilos and gross car weight as much as 9,370 kilos. It’s additionally good to tow 4,200 kilos. 

The largest selection for these constructing an eSprinter, as of but, is energy. Base variations of the eSprinter begin at $74,181 for the 100-kw model, whereas the 150-kw model begins at $77,611—each together with a $2,295 vacation spot payment. That equates to 134 hp or 201 hp, though Mercedes says that both model will ship 295 lb-ft of torque for a minimum of 30 seconds. 

Working by way of the numbers, it’s a lot better effectivity than I noticed in a fast drive overview of the Ford E-Transit over a 12 months in the past. The eSprinter’s seats and journey high quality are additionally higher than that of the E-Transit. And the eSprinter goes farther, on much less power, than the Rivian EDV700. Though Rivian claimed a 201-mile EPA vary from earlier variations, its change to an LFP pack seems to have yielded a 153-mile vary.

At current, the E-Transit begins at $51,890, whereas the Rivian vans begin at $83,000. Ram hasn’t but priced its ProMaster Electrical Van household, which seems to be prefer it slots extra towards that last-mile focus and the E-Transit. 

Effectivity and vary is what sells it

That out of the way in which, what the eSprinter sells higher to America than some other electrical van I’ve pushed is an abundance of driving vary—enabled by what seems to be higher effectivity than any comparable car. 

However first, I wished to see if that effectivity would maintain when pushed like we so typically see cargo vans pushed in major-metro areas—briskly and, at instances, up towards their limits. So over a 62-mile drive from LAX to Newport Seashore, stopping on the Port of Lengthy Seashore, we drove largely like a supply driver in a rush, utilizing largely the eSprinter’s Consolation mode that makes full energy simpler to faucet into. 

Mercedes put a 440-pound load within the check eSprinters—partly to button down the journey, which is usually a bit choppier in empty vans, but additionally to underscore its affect for effectivity, braking, dealing with, and extra. 

On that extra exuberant journey—together with a route that included a spread of congested roads, a minimum of one full-throttle begin plus some foot-to-floor driving on the 405 and a quick time pegged on the 75-mph limiter, we averaged 1.9 miles per kwh in keeping with the journey pc. That’s sufficient to go 215 miles on a full cost, with out making any concessions to effectivity. 

We used only a small sliver of vary, with battery capability dropping from about 85% at our begin to 66% on the vacation spot. 

On a simulation of the WLTP cycle that’s sometimes solely consultant of hypermiling and excessive ways, the eSprinter achieves 273 miles on a cost. 

Later, on an almost 35-mile loop together with a mixture of slower-moving coastal visitors plus faster-moving driving on some very hilly suburban roads—plus a stint on an expressway, reaching about 65 mph—I averaged 2.4 mi/kwh. 

Multiplied out with the battery pack’s 113 kwh usable, that’s primarily matching that WLTP vary. I’ve by no means come near WLTP rankings in a car with out driving so slowly I’m a street hazard—and right here I used to be shifting kind of with the velocity of visitors. 

And sure, the thought occurred to me that regardless of having roughly double the frontal space of some compact crossover EVs, this large van was going simply as far per kwh. 

I did three issues on that run. I turned off the local weather management solely, dialed again the regenerative braking to coast and glide extra, and engaged the Most Vary mode. 

Consolation mode permits all 150 kw from the propulsion system; Eco permits 100 kw, and Max Vary simply 80 kw. Local weather operation can also be lowered considerably in Eco and extra considerably in Max Vary. 

The eSprinter’s steering-wheel paddles deliver you a lot of selections—5 in all—for brake regeneration, or recuperation. It spans from D–, which is the strongest, though nonetheless not fairly a one-pedal mode and permitting ahead creep, all the way in which to D++, which coasts and has no recuperation in any respect. D+ in all probability extra carefully parallels what driving a gasoline or diesel van is like. A protracted press on the proper paddle brings D Auto, taking inputs from the radar sensors, hills, and different mapping info, however it doesn’t take into impact driving fashion.

Prepared for zero-emissions work of all types

Mercedes has made clear that with the eSprinter it’s aiming to deal with the supply market. 

That mentioned, it’s clear that Mercedes has designed the eSprinter to probably be kitted out for greater than supply. The permanent-magnet motor weighs simply 286 kilos, and with all the opposite propulsion-related elements positioned below the hood, it mounts in a method in order to not get in the way in which of the flat flooring vital for chassis fashions or upfits—each potential, Mercedes says, within the type of fashions like airport shuttle buses, ambulances, and even flatbed tools haulers. 

It’s all a part of a technique with this eSprinter to conceptualize the electrical van as three modules: the entrance one with high-voltage elements, the center one with the built-in flat battery weighing simply over 1,000 kilos, and the rear with the motor system. 

As delivered in U.S. kind, the eSprinter might be fitted with shelving, workbenches, or heavy-duty wooden flooring to help heavy hundreds or flip it right into a cellular workshop. 

The eSprinter might be optioned with a model of Mercedes’ MBUX infotainment system that permits cloud-based providers along with navigation, leisure, and detailed shows concerning the propulsion system. It gives a ten.3-inch touchscreen show, voice activation, and steering-wheel controls with a mixture of haptic and bodily inputs—primarily the identical as you’d encounter in Mercedes passenger fashions. I appreciated the quantity of knowledge on faucet by way of the middle display screen, whereas Mercedes opted to maintain the gauge cluster show itself easy.

Additional choices on the eSprinter embrace a heated windshield, a heated steering wheel, power-folding mirrors, automated local weather management, and an alarm system. 

One different additional, the digital rearview mirror, we’d think about a should if ordering both a single one or a fleet of those. I’m typically not a fan of digital rearview mirrors and the impact they’ve on discipline of focus, however right here it was a welcome software, because it expands the sphere of view large and offers you a a lot better concept how shut you’re to the again of a parking spot. And let’s be sincere, it is a car that’s going to be simply barely becoming into spots. 

LFP battery pack is a great strategy to observe diesel

The battery pack incorporates a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry that’s freed from cobalt and nickel—in prismatic cells from CATL. Mercedes has pointed to the cells as being ideally suited for industrial use and permitting much less degradation per driving cycle, particularly in fleet use which may embrace common charging to 100%. 

The U.S. eSprinter comes with a 9.6 kw onboard charger, permitting a full cost in a single day with a 240-volt wallbox for many enterprise makes use of. It additionally has CCS DC quick charging—50 kw commonplace, however with its optionally available 115-kw peak it permits a 10-80% cost in about 42 minutes. 

Mercedes is protecting the battery for 70% of its authentic capability for 8 years or 100,000 miles. In what looks like an assuring nod towards energy customers accustomed to diesels, an “optionally available battery certificates” can lengthen that to eight years or 185,000 miles—because it assumes a median of 445 miles every week year-round. 

The eSprinter does include each battery warming and preconditioning that may enable each the cabin and battery pack to be warmed—both for charging, or for setting out on very chilly mornings. It’s a vital element for the LFP cells, which might be extra sluggish in cold-weather extremes. 

Officers wouldn’t say precisely when NACS would possibly present up in these electrical vans, however it gained’t be within the first 12 months or two. 

Previewing electrical passenger vans, RVs, and extra

The eSprinter is being constructed at three world places—in Germany, at Ludwigsfelde and Düsseldorf, and within the U.S. at North Charleston, South Carolina. U.S.-market eSprinters are all resulting from be U.S.-built. 

This eSprinter is in impact a stopgap, albeit an essential one. Subsequent-generation electrical vans constructed on the Van.EA structure will begin to debut in 2026, providing a wider vary of drive configurations—together with all-wheel drive. Not like this era, they’ll  be meant to finally totally substitute combustion-engine vans. 

These are essential steps on the way in which to Mercedes’ targets for 20% of its van gross sales to be electrical by 2026 and 50% by 2030. With Van.EA, Mercedes has already mentioned that it plans to supply “all-electric midsize luxurious vans” within the U.S. and China, plus “a brand new mannequin line of electrical RVs.”

Because it has finished with its passenger EVs, together with the EQE and EQS, Mercedes-Benz seems to be underpromising on vary in its claimed numbers—and that’s a great factor. 

The eSprinter is launching with some very favorable numbers, and an American-sized method in all respects. After driving it, it’s clear that the electrical vanlife is close to. 

For numerous small companies and supply functions across the nation, this suits the invoice proper now. And shortly, the enjoyable will observe.