Germany Awards Daimler 9 Million Euros to Develop Mercedes-Benz Electric Delivery Vans

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van









Mercedes-Benz's Van unit will utilize 9 million Euros ($13.46 million dollars) to produce 50 all-electric Sprinter vans that are to be deployed as delivery vehicles. Some quick mathematics shows that the company can spend more than $2 million dollars per van. That is more than a fuel cell car or even SUV (Equinox). These should be special vans indeed.

Urban delivery vans are ideal and well suited for all-electric applications. Instead of sitting and idling while the delivery is made, the van be completely turned off. With a range of 50 to 80 miles, there is plenty of range as well. Here at Alt Energy Autos, we also believe that the USPS could benefit tremendously from the deployment of electric fleet vehicles. UPS and FedEx are already working on electric versions of their respective fleet trucks and they can be a major force in moving the world's fleet away from oil fired drive trains.

From edmunds.com:

Anticipating a payoff in cleaner city air and a lowering of national CO2 emissions, the German environmental ministry is awarding automaker Daimler a grant of up to 9 million euros ($13.46 million) to subsidize development of an all-electric version of its Sprinter commercial van.

Up to 50 of the electric vans will be produced by the Mercedes-Benz Van unit and delivered to customers in environmentally sensitive inner city areas for real-world testing.

Because they travel relatively short distances and spend a lot of time idling while cargo is being unloaded and delivered, commercial vans are an ideal platform for electrification.

They benefit from electric drive systems' powerful torque; don't suffer from the need to be recharged after 50-80 miles of driving and improve both air and environmental noise quality with their zero emissions, near-silent motors.

In the U.S., Ford Motor Co. has said it will begin selling an all-electric version of its Transit Connect small van next year, and Chrysler has promised an electric version of controlling shareholder Fiat's Doblo small van in 2011 - to be sold under the Ram brand.

There also are a number of independent electric van and truck companies and converters in the U.S., including Smith Electric Vehicles U.S., EVI and Azure Dynamics.

Mercedes said the grant will help develop the drive and energy management systems and the vans' regenerative braking energy recapture capabilities and perfect thermal control of the vans' lithium-ion battery packs.

The automaker intends to begin delivering the test vans next year and said it hopes to be able to migrate the electric drive system to other van models in its lineup.