The Mercedes eSprinter has been on the market in Europe for a while, albeit with a range of just about 100 miles. That is far too short for most people and businesses.
However, the next-generation eSprinter van recently traveled from the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart to the Munich airport. The journey was made on public highways with some hilly areas. When it returned to Stuttgart, it had traveled 295 miles (475 kilometers) and had around 12 miles (19 kilometers) of range remaining.
That’s a fairly outstanding score for a large cargo van with numerous amenities but poor aerodynamic efficiency. Production is set to begin in two German plants in February 2023.
Mercedes hasn’t revealed any technical information, but it has revealed that the long-wheelbase, high-roof eSprinter prototype (shown above) consumed 21.9 kilowatt-hours every 62 miles (100 km), or 2.8 miles (4.5 km) per kWh.
It was also mentioned that the van was outfitted with the largest of three battery packs that would be available at launch, which will be placed in eSprinter vehicles made for the American market.
While a 295-mile range isn’t particularly outstanding in a category dominated by long-range diesel-powered models, it’s a very excellent statistic for an electric van and a significant advance over the 93-mile (150-kilometer) range of the first eSprinter.
It’s difficult to imagine that Mercedes eSprinter will be costing less than $60K when ICE models currently cost that much, but we believe that operating expenses will rapidly make up for the difference, not to mention substantially less maintenance. Would be an excellent basis for an EV camper van! 🙂
Reference- Mercedes website, Autoblog, Clean Technica, EV Obsession