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.
@@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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Trying to buy one of these now. Very difficult dealing with the sale people. I own two sprinter now and my 2012 diesel has been a nightmare for repairs. Spent over 60 thousand which is insane. I swore I’d never get another one but they are the only ones with this kind of mileage per charge.
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.
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.
I see a fair amount of interest in eSprinter van conversions but so far I don't know of anyone who has tried it. I think the range reduction due to the extra weight of the camper conversion is a major reason why. I've driven my EV from California to Brazil and along the way I learned to maximize range, generally getting 25% more than the rated range. I'd like to try my hand at this in an eSprinter that has been loaded with with extra weight as.some reviewers have done. If I can get acceptable range with a loaded eSprinter it might encourage people to go ahead and build out eSprinters as campers. Tom did you test drive a weighted vehicle? If so, who can I contact at Mercedes who can set me up with a weighted van for a test drive.
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.
For 18,000 over the diesel you will never recoup that, I’ve been driving multiple sorinters over the years on my 2019 sprinter I spent almost $15,000 in fuel since I bought it and that got me just over 110k miles
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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
Say what you will about EVs in general, this has SO many advantages over a diesel truck. For owners, for drivers, for anyone around them that needs to hear or smell them.
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. 🤨
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.
Seen quite a few eTransits in my city. Cool to see the eSprinter coming to the USA.
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.
I like the idea of electricians and solar installers driving this. Sort of a confidence booster.
@slgrund: RIGHT. I was fantasizing about how well the interior would function for van living.
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
Great review!!
You need to get one of these Kyle
How many packs of the 2-ply?
More than a dozen I'm pretty sure
Trying to buy one of these now. Very difficult dealing with the sale people. I own two sprinter now and my 2012 diesel has been a nightmare for repairs. Spent over 60 thousand which is insane. I swore I’d never get another one but they are the only ones with this kind of mileage per charge.
Tom - awesome perfect for my next RV to be built on.
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.
I wish the US had smaller electric van options (like USPS truck-sized rather than UPS truck-sized).
Now you must review the Rivian EDV
I've been trying
I see this in many applications. Airports seems obvious.
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.
I see a fair amount of interest in eSprinter van conversions but so far I don't know of anyone who has tried it. I think the range reduction due to the extra weight of the camper conversion is a major reason why. I've driven my EV from California to Brazil and along the way I learned to maximize range, generally getting 25% more than the rated range. I'd like to try my hand at this in an eSprinter that has been loaded with with extra weight as.some reviewers have done. If I can get acceptable range with a loaded eSprinter it might encourage people to go ahead and build out eSprinters as campers. Tom did you test drive a weighted vehicle? If so, who can I contact at Mercedes who can set me up with a weighted van for a test drive.
I'll wait for the AWD version. When will it come?
Probably next generation architecture
Interesting, Tom!
"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.
Once in a while I drive the Sprinter the company I work for has. I refer to it as my Mercedes 2 seater
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.
about time pretty sure this was possible 15 years ago
Different reviews. Like it!!
For 18,000 over the diesel you will never recoup that, I’ve been driving multiple sorinters over the years on my 2019 sprinter I spent almost $15,000 in fuel since I bought it and that got me just over 110k miles
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.
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.
Good luck with repair bills if it anything like my sprinters it will cost a fortune to keep on the road.
what about towing capacity and range?
i have mine and i town and i have 1ton in tools
400lb in that load is nothing
5:56 I didn't get it and I don't think I will ever gets it 😂 , I feel so stupid .
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.
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.
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.
BUT ITS MONDAY 😱 .. LOVE THE CHANNEL ✌️
More tomorrow...
8:07 Trust me , more basic, easier life . I'm getting the basic one for sure .
0:51 You should always invite a German presenter of this type if you do not want to sell any of them.
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.
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.
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.
This is cool.
It’s Tuesday?
More tomorrow
La versión diesel X4_mejor
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.
If it ain’t a Ford E van I ain’t going. Since when did we start using puny eurovans
Puny?
So you included clips of that guy to brag about how your suffer for these vids?
sad i have to ask charge time. poor presentation
2:00
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.
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.
These electric vehicles are ridiculous. Stick with the diesel powertrain 😊
Say what you will about EVs in general, this has SO many advantages over a diesel truck. For owners, for drivers, for anyone around them that needs to hear or smell them.
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?