Mercedes-Benz’s electric eSprinter van debuts, US sales later this year
Enlarge / Mercedes-Benz Vans eSprinter will go on sale in the US in the second half of 2023, then Europe before the end of the year. (credit: Mercedes-Benz)
On Tuesday, Mercedes-Benz debuted its latest electric vehicle, and this time it's not a sedan or an SUV. It's the eSprinter, an electrified version of Mercedes-Benz Vans' workhorse, and it goes on sale in North America later this year, with European sales set to follow sometime before the end of 2023.
American consumers have mostly given up on the van, but on the commercial side of things, the shed-on-wheels appears to be gaining in popularity, especially since European imports like the Ford Transit and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter started strutting their stuff on US roads.
The eSprinter's high-voltage electronics live under the hood. (credit: Mercedes-Benz)
Ford was the first to electrify its commercial van; we drove the E-Transit at the beginning of 2022. Now it will have competition for emissions-free vantime, at least once the eSprinter goes on sale in the second half of this year. Production is scheduled to start in Dusseldorf, Germany, and then eSprinters will also be built in Ludwigsfelde, Germany, and Charleston, South Carolina, in time.