Mercedes-Benz has been in the van business since 1896, just a few years after the first gas car was born. The company bills itself as the creator of the “world's first work van,” and for nearly 130 years, people have used those vans to haul products, people and their entire lives. Now, for the first time, Mercedes’ van arm has a fully electric option: the eSprinter.
I drove the eSprinter recently. I had a 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat loaner before it, and I drove the Hellcat to a video shoot with a huge production crew I was meeting for the first time. Once I unloaded the Hellcat, the fleet that switches out my review cars pulled up in a massive, tan Mercedes eSprinter. The Hellcat’s earth-shaking engine rumble had been replaced by a silent electric van the size of a house. Everyone was deeply confused.
Thus began my week with the eSprinter, a van that starts at about $60,000 in America. I got the “cargo van” version, meaning it has two seats up front and an empty rear compartment for hauling. When I opened the back of the eSprinter, I saw a giant wooden crate and freaked out a little, thinking someone forgot an important item. I pried it open with tools, hoping the contents would be legal and safe, and found that it was just a box of rocks.
Mercedes (or someone) put the rocks in the eSprinter so it handled appropriately—not like it was empty—while I drove it. No one warned me. I laughed out loud.
The eSprinter has “standard output” and “high output” versions, with the standard one offering 134 horsepower and the high output offering 201. The van has 295 pound-feet of torque, and the power goes to the rear wheels.
I drove the car hundreds of miles in my time with it, and my two main takeaways were: Public charging is too expensive for how constricted the range is (I paid $64 for a 90 percent charge and 172 miles of range), but for people who work in the city and can charge the van privately, it’s almost perfect. It has all the functions of a regular work van with all the benefits of an electric one, like regenerative braking and the ability to sit in the air conditioning (or heat) without spitting exhaust fumes in the air. The only big issues are that visibility isn’t great, and even with regenerative braking, I couldn’t get the car to engage in true one-pedal driving.
The Mercedes-Benz eSprinter shows how efficient and convenient electric work vans can be in the city. If you want to learn more about the van and take it on a drive with me, check out the video at the top of this story.
