2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter is a Large and Charged Up Electric Van
You may never buy a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, but the people that deliver your packages and fix your plumbing depend on them. With nearly 500,000 diesel versions sold in the US, it’s time to clear the air with a new electric powertrain. The eSprinter comes standard with a 113kWh lithium ferro-phosphate battery pack and a rated range of 273 miles. You may never get the chance to hike yourself up behind the wheel of an eSprinter, so Tom Voelk travels to Los Angeles, CA to drive it from LAX to Newport Beach to tell you what it’s like. Surprisingly comfortable and docile, you may want to start a delivery service.
ADDITION- I wasn't clear when it came to the motors. Both the 100 and 150kW units make 295 lb-ft / 400Nm peak power for 30 seconds
Tom attended a manufacturer’s event for the chance to assess the eSprinter.
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Mercedes-Benz eSprinter, Mercedes-Benz eSprinter review, Mercedes-Benz eSprinter price, Mercedes-Benz eSprinter battery, Mercedes-Benz eSprinter charge speed, Mercedes-Benz eSprinter size, Tom Voelk, Tom Volk, Tom Voelk reviews, Tom Volk car reviews, electric vans, bright Drop Zevo 600, Rivian delivery van, electric vehicles
About Tom: Tom Voelk is an award-winning automotive contributor to The New York Times. His podcast was the first to win an Emmy Award (and he's won for photography, editing, producing and reporting). But really, all you need to know is in the videos.
00:00 All-Electric 2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter Review
00:45 Press Conference
1:20 Pricing
1:45 Powertrain
4:07 Configurable Van
4:45 Driving And Comfort
9:00 Lots Of Water
9:53 Interior And Cargo
10:50 Summary
11:41 Before I Go
An interesting, and plausible use case for this, that many people don't readily consider, is ambulances. A huge percent of ambulances in the US are Mercedes Sprinters and Ford Transits. I worked on a Sprinter ambulance in a city with 3 million people and we never drove more than 50 miles per trip and the ambulance was always parked for at least 30 minutes between rides. If hospitals, health facilities, fire departments and ambulance companies installed chargers, I can imagine these being a practical investment for services that do not drive long rural distances and operate mostly urban regions.
Patient would appreciate the lack of smell from ICE fumes. MB Sprinter got very ergonomic seats in passenger version - I got a backpain, but after 3 hours I didn't feel much worse - unlike for most passenger cars seats.
This is all true
Sounds very heavy; curious… How many miles would one day of transporting patients would an ambulance drive per day?
@@sacralove11 Sprinter ambulances come in at about 8500 pounds, but it differs by manufacturer and what customized options the customer specifies to the builder. I can't answer how many miles per day they drive because it is variable, based on so many factors: how big the company is, how many ambulances/crews they have, how busy their schedules are, how spread out their region is, etc. But like I said in my first comment: it doesn't really matter how many miles per day it drives if there is a charger at each destination because 99% of ambulance transports in urban areas are less than 30 miles.
@@user-nu1vn3yy9s there is no smell on modern ICE whatsoever unless they are having a serious issue lol!!! ive been around those big diesel semi trucks hauling 3x the load of a tesla semi and no smell at all.
I can't wait to buy a slightly used one and make an RV conversion of it! Awesome!
Driving 150 miles and then clogging up a charging station for a couple of hours and then driving another 150 miles and repeating sounds like lots of fun! Oh, and you can't stray off a main highway since there are no charging stations (that actually work) in the boonies. There are only a few applications for this van, RVing is not one of them.
@@jamesvelvet3612 I agree with you James HOWEVER these will be bought and turned into RV's. Many folks don't mind 150 miles of range. Plus charging stations are not being clogged up and EVERY decent sized RV park is a charging station itself with large capacity amperage that large Class A and C RV's hookup to. Plus many people will be fine spending a day or 2 or more at an RV park and slowly charging up. Did you know? Did you know that NOW there are MORE charging stations than gas stations? Yep, the future is here. And yes, gasoline is NOT going away either (nor diesel).
Me too!!
Needs bigger battery, awd and faster DC charging to be useable as a RV conversion for me. Hopefully one day
Tom, you would have to clear out all of the t.p. at your Costco to fill the cargo area, if not more than one location 😄
Pretty sure that's true
You're right, Tom. I don't need a delivery vehicle, but I'm happy to support the channel!
Thanks! And hopefully I didn’t bore you.
Thanks, Tom! I am so encouraged by the expansion of EV options for the typically diesel, frequently idling commercial vehicles on our streets.
Tom, You finally got a vehicle with generous headroom. 🥳 Oddly, I blame Mercedes and their original CLS for starting the war on headroom in sedans. 🤨
I like the idea of electricians and solar installers driving this. Sort of a confidence booster.
Interesting for the VanLife folks
I was surprised that the MP rep I talked to actively downplayed VanLife applications. They said the next gen was better suited to those kind of conversions.
Seen quite a few eTransits in my city. Cool to see the eSprinter coming to the USA.
@slgrund: RIGHT. I was fantasizing about how well the interior would function for van living.
Sprinter is the most versatile van and considered best in class in Europe. It´s not the cheapest but reliable and are most popular base for an ambulance vehicle. Ford Transit or the Stellantis Peugeot Boxer (Ram Van in the US) is less used. I´ve driven the same long wheel base diesel van and it has more legroom, headroom than others. It can be specced almost like a regular car with stuff that other vans don´t have. Also for any delivery service or a courier solution it certainly works fine as an electric van because many don´t rack up many miles in a day. Many companies have promised to move to CO2-neutral transport so there is already kind of "mandatory" market there.
Great to have a delivery vehicle without noisy diesel motor, and fumes. Only think - please, check the weight of the battery - c.1000 pounds seems to be too little for over 100 kWh.
Right? I also thought that weight was wrong. However, confirmed by the MB folks on hand. Copied and pasted from the Mercedes press kit- High-voltage battery with 113 kWh of usable capacity o Cell chemistry: LFP (lithium ferro-phosphate) o Weight: ~ 1,007 lbs. o Dimensions: ~ 38 in. x 32 in. x 11 in.
@@DrivenCarReviews Mercedes must have made a mistake. Perhaps they forgot to convert their kg number into pounds. 113,000 Wh / 1007 lb. works out to specific energy of 247 Wh/kg. That is a good number for NMC or NCA cells. The best LFP cells are about 200 Wh/kg by themselves. The complete LFP pack will be lower, 100-150 Wh/kg.
AND Mercedes has already begun building a MB sponsored charging network. Many are at existing refueling plaza’s, like Buc-ee’s. If they start putting out windowed versions, this could become an OK starting point for short-trip Class B camper.
Great review. This new generation e-Sprinter is a home run by Mercedes, IMO.
I was glad to hear that Mercedes batteries do not use rare metals b
Tom - awesome perfect for my next RV to be built on.
I wish the US had smaller electric van options (like USPS truck-sized rather than UPS truck-sized).
I'd love to see this as a conversion van. I for one am 100% done with ICE vehicles, and would enjoy one as a retirement travel small RV. Range if close to the claims here make it a reasonable travel EV. I'd want a bit faster charging tho as I've become spoiled with the charging performance of my Ioniq 5. Thank you for reviewing this. It would be interesting to see a far more in depth review if/when it becomes possible to get hold of one for more than a quick drive.
Great review!!
You need to get one of these Kyle
Interesting, Tom!
An electric Sprinter review... something you'll on see on Driven... (Nice work Tom...)
This isnt only a very interesting tool for delivery or transfer firms this is a very interesting tool for campers as well and specially for those who are a lot on the road!
If they buy this they will NOT be on the road a lot. They will be sitting in charging stations for hours and hours to travel 500 miles. 177 mile range = about 145-155 in real world. This van is a joke.
How many packs of the 2-ply?
More than a dozen I'm pretty sure
I see this in many applications. Airports seems obvious.
Now you must review the Rivian EDV
I've been trying
Different reviews. Like it!!
Once in a while I drive the Sprinter the company I work for has. I refer to it as my Mercedes 2 seater
I'll wait for the AWD version. When will it come?
Probably next generation architecture
"Large and Charged" would have been so catchy, but you had to go ruining it with "up"
A thousand pound battery...so the battery alone weighs almost as much as your Miata or my 1989 944t. 😮 I'm now waiting for your video comparing with the Rivian e-van, next.
about time pretty sure this was possible 15 years ago
Good luck with repair bills if it anything like my sprinters it will cost a fortune to keep on the road.
They should make these with a walk-through door and no sliders or rear doors, but instead with an insulated hold for people that want to convert it to a camper or living space.
Only ghosts can walk thorough doors.
This is cool.
Range doesnt matter for delivery drivers the guy says at start of test drive. Most delivery drivers are delivering multiple paxkages for an entire shift of 8 hours, if not more.
Hope you dropped that shipment of plutonium off at the right place Tom!😯
I'm not really sure. It was dark. And everyone was wearing hats and dark glasses.
BUT ITS MONDAY 😱 .. LOVE THE CHANNEL ✌️
More tomorrow...
what about towing capacity and range? i have mine and i town and i have 1ton in tools 400lb in that load is nothing
can two captains chairs be added to the cargo area as a day cruiser??
I don't believe so. This is intended to be for cargo, not passengers. Check the configurator.
I don't like the look of the current Sprinter with a prominent hood. I believe MB could make the EV look sleeker like older Sprinters, after all there is not much to service under the hood.
Are they planning to release passenger versions of these? Or as the US calls them “cutaways”?
I got the impression they are not. There’s a new generation coming out with an all new architecture and Mercedes seems to be focused on that.
@@DrivenCarReviews Understood. Thank you for taking the time to reply Tom! Great video as always.
0:51 You should always invite a German presenter of this type if you do not want to sell any of them.
Those 273 miles are with full cargo?
Didn't say. I would hope that it was with some sort of load like the 450 lbs we had on board. And I just didn't feel comfortable making a kind of prediction considering the short time with it.
Most companies, i.e., UPS, FedEx, USPS, Military etc would save millions by using EVs. These companies/government services would also be able to charge the vehicles overnight so they'd be ready to roll the next day. Of course if the routs covered included distances of over 200 miles, then the EV delivery vans would not work.
5:56 I didn't get it and I don't think I will ever gets it 😂 , I feel so stupid .
8:07 Trust me , more basic, easier life . I'm getting the basic one for sure .
You'd think a MB big wig would be able to give a presentation without reading off cards
He's got more important things to do I think. Also, he speaks multiple languages.
It’s Tuesday?
More tomorrow
If it ain’t a Ford E van I ain’t going. Since when did we start using puny eurovans
Puny?
Hopefully Ford updates theirs, just so little range on theirs.
Many delivery companies don't need more than 50 miles of range (and don't want to pay for the large battery they won't really use). Mercedes is considering a smaller pack in the future.
When it comes to these types of EV people movers like the EV9 or Sprinter work van, the manufacturers range claim is questionable. I like to see an honest real world tests on these EVs, not just one person driving it until the battery is dead or just throwing out numbers that the rep gave them. The EV9 is a family EV, I doubt any single person is buying that EV, so with a typical family car, the average family is 4, and families, like mine, take road trips, to grandma, 6 hours to Disneyland, 4 hours up to the Oregon coast. the Sprinter van, that's a work van, it can be used as a shuttle, or delivery, a contractor will load lots of equipment and tools. My point is, I doubt if the EV9 or the Sprinter EV will get the advertised range when you load up all these weight inside of them, and even worst, EV loses range once over 70mph on the freeway, there goes the trip to see grandma.
Good luck! But contractors like trucks...
There are loads of contractors in Seattle that use Sprinter vans (which are trucks really). I peeked in on one guy's setup that was a full on mobile workshop. Smart.
@@DrivenCarReviewsI hired a guy to replace my lost car proximity key and he had a fully stocked locksmith shop in his van. Tradespeople like vans to keep all their tools and supplies secure and organized.
You guys have clearly never been to a construction site before. Not one single van. The vast majority of tradesmen use pickup trucks. Maybe in the rare instances of urban tradesmen, sure, but for everywhere else, it’s a pickup.
@@TomCook1993 Yeah it may be a rural vs. urban thing but when I had my home remodeled all the plumbers, electricians and carpenters had vans with racks full of supplies and tools inside. My neighbor has an electrical business and maintains a fleet of vans for his team to take to jobs.
@@TomCook1993 I see plenty of vans (Sprinter, Ram, Transit) on construction sites, plumbers and electricians often use them. Pick ups might be more popular but generally, the guys I see on sites are using them more like cars. I'd go for the van. Keeps things dry and secure.
So you included clips of that guy to brag about how your suffer for these vids?
stupid idea, most sensible person will buy a diesel,oil changes are nothing compare to the extra tires wear and the electricity rates are so high in CA, don't even talk about outside of CA, without the taxpayers subsidize, no chance these are going to sell
Even with CA's expensive electricity, it's still more expensive to fuel with petroleum, especially diesel. According to MB, these are already seeing demand.
because the subsidies we are all paying for
@@theHoolser A drop in the bucket considering how much the petroleum industry has received over the years. Trillions of dollars.
@@DrivenCarReviews many industries received subsidies, but EV is not one of those good anymore, ICEs are very reliable since the 2000s, climate change has very little to do with human activity, climate always changing , not because human being burning petroleum for 2-3 hundreds years
@@DrivenCarReviews and diesel engines easily last for half a million miles, please tell me how long these batteries are going to last.
Electric car garbage
Stop. This has SO many advantages over a diesel delivery truck. For owners, for drivers, for anyone around them that needs to hear or smell them.
@goodworld8688, Why?