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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 route, passing numerous business vans with tailpipes, the thought occurred to me.
These may almost all be electrical. And so they quickly will probably be.
Giant vans have all the time been a form of open canvas for firms—permitting them to successfully change 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 may be used, or by packaging limitations.
With the eSprinter, companies small and enormous, and the fleet managers who oversee the automobiles, 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 form of metropolis or major-metro use.
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
Final-mile supply has been an electric-van emphasis for a couple of years; however the 2024 eSprinter, which is arriving now at dealerships within the U.S., is skipping previous that crowd. The eSprinter—notably 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 probably be supplied in a wider vary of variations and fashions in Europe, all U.S.-bound variations of it will likely be on this long-wheelbase cargo van kind, with the excessive roof and the massive pack.
It quantities to a automobile 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 in case you’re watching out for these peak indicators in parking buildings.
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
On this configuration, the eSprinter can maintain 488.1 cubic ft of cargo, in response to Mercedes, with a most payload of two,624 kilos and gross automobile weight as much as 9,370 kilos. It’s additionally good to tow 4,200 kilos.
The most important 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 charge. That equates to 134 hp or 201 hp, though Mercedes says that both model will ship 295 lb-ft of torque for at the least 30 seconds.
Working by way of the numbers, it’s a lot better effectivity than I noticed in a fast drive evaluation of the Ford E-Transit over a yr 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 vitality, than the Rivian EDV700. Though Rivian claimed a 201-mile EPA vary from earlier variations, its swap 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 appears to be like prefer it slots extra towards that last-mile focus and the E-Transit.
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
Effectivity and vary is what sells it
That out of the best way, what the eSprinter sells higher to America than every other electrical van I’ve pushed is an abundance of driving vary—enabled by what seems to be higher effectivity than any comparable automobile.
However first, I needed 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 Seaside, stopping on the Port of Lengthy Seaside, we drove principally like a supply driver in a rush, utilizing principally 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 in addition to underscore its influence for effectivity, braking, dealing with, and extra.
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
On that extra exuberant journey—together with a route that included a spread of congested roads, at the least one full-throttle begin plus some foot-to-floor driving on the 405 and a short time pegged on the 75-mph limiter, we averaged 1.9 miles per kwh in response to 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 a virtually 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.
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
Multiplied out with the battery pack’s 113 kwh usable, that’s basically matching that WLTP vary. I’ve by no means come near WLTP rankings in a automobile with out driving so slowly I’m a highway hazard—and right here I used to be transferring roughly 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 big van was going simply as far per kwh.
I did three issues on that run. I turned off the local weather management fully, dialed again the regenerative braking to coast and glide extra, and engaged the Most Vary mode.
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter – EV interface
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 numerous 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 best way 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. An extended press on the precise paddle brings D Auto, taking inputs from the radar sensors, hills, and different mapping data, but it surely doesn’t take into impact driving model.
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
Prepared for zero-emissions work of every kind
Mercedes has made clear that with the eSprinter it’s aiming to give attention to the supply market.
That stated, 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 parts situated underneath the hood, it mounts in a method in order to not get in the best way of the flat flooring crucial for chassis fashions or upfits—each doable, Mercedes says, within the type of fashions like airport shuttle buses, ambulances, and even flatbed tools haulers.
It’s all a part of a method with this eSprinter to conceptualize the electrical van as three modules: the entrance one with high-voltage parts, the center one with the built-in flat battery weighing simply over 1,000 kilos, and the rear with the motor system.
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
As delivered in U.S. kind, the eSprinter might be fitted with shelving, workbenches, or heavy-duty wooden floors to help heavy masses 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 companies along with navigation, leisure, and detailed shows concerning the propulsion system. It affords a ten.3-inch touchscreen show, voice activation, and steering-wheel controls with a mixture of haptic and bodily inputs—basically the identical as you’ll encounter in Mercedes passenger fashions. I preferred the quantity of data on faucet by way of the middle display screen, whereas Mercedes opted to maintain the gauge cluster show itself easy.
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter – EV interface
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
Additional choices on the eSprinter embody a heated windshield, a heated steering wheel, power-folding mirrors, computerized local weather management, and an alarm system.
One different further, the digital rearview mirror, we’d contemplate 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 sector of view broad and provides you a a lot better thought how shut you might be to the again of a parking spot. And let’s be trustworthy, it is a automobile that’s going to be simply barely becoming into spots.
LFP battery pack is a brilliant option to comply with 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 superb for business use and permitting much less degradation per driving cycle, particularly in fleet use that may embody common charging to 100%.
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
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 customary, however with its non-compulsory 115-kw peak it permits a 10-80% cost in about 42 minutes.
Mercedes is masking 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 “non-compulsory battery certificates” can prolong 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 crucial 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, but it surely received’t be within the first yr or two.
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
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 as a consequence of 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 supposed to finally totally exchange combustion-engine vans.
These are essential steps on the best way 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 stated 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.”
2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter
Because it has completed 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 factor.
The eSprinter is launching with some very favorable numbers, and an American-sized strategy 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 comply with.
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