Mercedes brings electric eSprinter van to Australia, five years late but with bigger battery

For over 25 years the Mercedes Sprinter has been a stalwart of the Australian light commercial vehicle market. Now, with the 2024 upgrade to the Sprinter range, Mercedes Benz have added the electric eSprinter van.

Whilst the eSprinter has been available in Europe since 2019, to keep it within the price range of businesses it came with the quite short driving range options of either 115 or 168 km WLTP (depending on battery choice). Whilst those driving ranges were practical for the European market, it is hardly surprising that Mercedes held off from bringing it here.

This has changed considerably with the fall in battery prices allowing for bigger batteries with longer ranges and Mercedes have finally seen fit to finally introduce the eSprinter here.

Offered in two variants, there will be a mid-wheelbase (MWB) van with an 81 kWh battery and up to 440 km of WLTP range, and a ticket price of $104,313 before on roads but including GST, and a long-wheelbase (LWB) van with a 113 kWh battery and up to 530 km WLTP and a ticket price of $121,041 before on roads.

The drive system of the eSprinter comes with the usual three drive modes of Comfort, Economic and Maximum Range. In this case, Economic mode limits engine power for increased range, whilst Maximum Range mode further reduces engine output along with limiting the use of features such as climate control in order to optimise range.

Regenerative braking is also available in four manually selectable levels as well as a ‘D Auto’ mode that allows the vehicle to automatically define the energy recovery rate based on the traffic situation.

There is also an optional ‘Navigation with Electric Intelligence’ feature that can calculate an optimised route including charging stops in real-time. (Depending on the traffic situation and topography of the route).

This feature also calculates the best possible charging strategy to either get to the destination as quickly as possible, or to have a particular desired state of charge remaining upon arrival.

Charging:

Charging is up 11kW AC and 115 kW DC. Mercedes quote a 10% to 80% DC charge time of 42 minutes for the larger (113 kW) battery.

Interior:

There is a new 10.25-inch touchscreen which can be optionally upgraded to add navigation and seven years of map updates, as well as offering voice control via a ‘Hey Mercedes’ command. Wireless connection for both Android Auto™ and Apple CarPlay™ are now included, plus DAB Digital Radio is also now a standard fitment.

Safety:

For the first time, the Sprinter range includes thorax-protecting airbags as standard, supplementing existing frontal and side head-protecting airbags for both driver and passenger.

Active safety is extended with Active Lane Keeping Assist system (which can gently guide the vehicle back into its lane) and Traffic Sign Assist (which monitors real-world speed signs and displays the current speed limit on the digital dashboard).

The electronic stability program now includes Hill-Start Assist, Acceleration Skid Control, anti-lock brakes, Crosswind Assist, Electronic Brake Force Distribution, Enhanced Understeer Control, Load Adaptive Control, Roll-Over Mitigation, and trailer stabilisation.

There is also a new ‘Moving Off Information Assist’ which utilises a camera mounted in the front grille, plus six ultrasonic sensors, to monitor an area 3.7 metres in front of the steered direction of the vehicle and 0.5 metres to the side. This is automatically activated at startup, and remains active up to 10 km/h.

Pricing:               

• Mercedes-Benz eSprinter 81 kWh (MWB): $104,313 (plus on-road-costs, but including GST).
• Mercedes-Benz eSprinter 113 kWh (LWB): $121,041 (plus on-road-costs, but including GST).

Ordering:

Orders are now open for all models. Australian customer deliveries will commence from August 2024.