Mercedes eVito - silent delivery
Although the final product is not ready yet, Mercedes can show off its electric van months before the premiere. Is it ready for the market battle and can its purchase be profitable for entrepreneurs?
While there is no certainty that the future belongs to electric vehicles. It's not the only source of energy alternative to fossil fuels that is being taken seriously. But despite its significant limitations, it should not be underestimated - even today, when the cost of batteries is so high that it makes it much more expensive to manufacture an electric car. Manufacturers are doing their best to “tame” the biggest drawbacks of this drive and offer buyers so-called zero-emission cars, as politicians will, but in an acceptable form.
Mercedes-Benz Vans has been romanizing electric since at least 1993, when the first MB100 electric vans were built, mainly for testing and learning. Small-scale production started in 2010, when an electric version of the E-Cell was built on the basis of the previous generation Vito after the facelift. At first there was a delivery version, later a passenger version was also introduced. This was supposed to help sluggish sales, but it didn't make much of a difference and E-Cell soon disappeared from the offering. In total, about 230 units of this machine were built, which is a tenth of what was originally planned.
Vito E-Cell was created due to strong interest from potential customers, but sales did not reflect the initial enthusiasm. What failed in the previous generation? Possibly a short range - according to NEDC, it should have traveled 130 km on a single charge using 32 kWh batteries, but in practice it was rarely possible to travel more than 80 km. Then the car had to be put on charge for about 6 hours when we had a charger from Mercedes, or for 12 hours with only a 230V outlet. The top speed was also limited and quite significantly, to 80 km/h. As a result, customers received a delivery vehicle whose convenience was limited to cities and small suburban areas. The load capacity of 900 kg definitely did not let us down.
eVito bridge E-Cell
Two decades earlier, after such a defeat, the electric van design would have been abandoned for years and the company would have focused on internal combustion engines. However, we are approaching the end of the second decade of the century, when the vision of the end of crude oil is no longer a theoretical issue, but is increasingly reflected in our wallets through more expensive fuel at the pump. Combined with the problem of smog and the desire to free our cities from exhaust fumes, this significantly changes the situation. So engineers could not abandon “non-predictive” developments, but had to do everything possible to make them meaningful and profitable.
First, the assumptions have changed. The new car should be profitable for the company to buy. The issue of maintaining all parameters at the level offered by internal combustion engines has faded into the background, since not all companies use them to the fullest. What are the results of these activities? Pretty promising on paper.
Improving key performance has become a priority. At first, batteries with a capacity of 41,4 kWh were used, which made it possible to increase the actual range to 150 km. Mercedes deliberately abandoned the NEDC range, realizing that such statements are not related to reality. But that still means the new eVito will cover almost twice the distance on a single charge than the E-Cell. In addition, the company from Stuttgart does not hide the fact that the batteries "do not like" the cold and their performance drops, especially in arctic conditions. Tests carried out in the north of Sweden have shown that the minimum range, a value not specified by (almost) any electric vehicle manufacturer, is 100 km. The tests were carried out in winter at frosts above 20 degrees, in addition, ice chambers were used that reduce the ambient temperature to -35 degrees C.
Due to the load capacity of up to 1 kg (depending on the body version), the decision was made to limit the top speed to 073 km/h this time as well. This allows you to move freely in urban areas and join the convoy of heavy vehicles on highways. This solution does not suit all customers, so Mercedes provides for the possibility of moving the speed limiter up to 80 km/h. Achieving such high speeds under full load will of course result in a significant reduction in real range.
The offer will include options with two wheelbases: long and extra long. The Mercedes eVito is 5,14 and 5,37 meters long respectively and offers up to 6,6 m3 of cargo space. The batteries are located under the floor of the cargo area, so the space is the same as in Vito combustion engine models. The new eVito will also be available in a passenger version.
Stability on the track
Serial production will begin in June, testing is still ongoing. Nevertheless, Mercedes-Benz Vans organized the first races of prototype cars on the small ADAC test track in Berlin. When you open the cargo bay door, you see gauges, and there's a big red button at the top of the dashboard. This is standard concept car equipment that disables all circuits in case of unforeseen circumstances.
The interior does not stand out, only when we carefully look at the instrument cluster, we see that instead of a tachometer we have an energy consumption (and recuperation) indicator, and the battery charge status and theoretical range are displayed on the central display. The keys start the car, which means that the clock wakes up. Selecting mode D, we can go. The reaction to the gas is not overwhelming, but it is about saving energy. Torque is a whopping 300 Nm, available right from the start. They work when you press hard on the gas pedal.
The largest mass is concentrated very low. Four batteries are installed on the bottom under the floor of the cargo compartment. Thanks to this, the eVito behaves very well even on tight bends, which not only increases safety, but also makes it possible to forget about the greater own weight. It is worth mentioning another very important feature. In the eVito, after starting off, the range indicator does not “go crazy”, first decreasing the setpoint before starting to “correct” its panicky behavior after a few kilometers. Even if this phenomenon occurs here, it is not as annoying as in most electric vehicles. The ride, aside from the lack of rattling under the hood, is no different from what we already know.
Cheap electricity, expensive eVito
Finally, costs. Mercedes said prices for the eVito in Germany would start at €39 nett. With the same power of 990 hp. (114 kW), but with less torque of 84 Nm, the Mercedes Vito 270 CDI in the long-body version costs from 111 euros net. Thus, the difference is more than 28 thousand. euro without tax, and it cannot be denied that it is big. So where is the return on purchase?
Mercedes experts calculated the exact TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), i.e. the total cost of ownership, and found it very close to the TCO for the classic Vito. How is this possible? Buying a Mercedes eVito is more expensive, but low energy and maintenance costs greatly reduce the initial difference. In addition, two other factors were taken into account: German tax incentives for electric vehicles and the high residual value of electric vehicles after several years of operation.
In Poland, you should forget about tax incentives and high resale value. The starting price may also become a problem, which in our country will certainly be higher than in Germany. To this, you need to add the purchase of a wall charger so that the batteries have time to recharge overnight. Mercedes wants to "add" them for free, but only for the first thousand cars.
mysterious future
Electric vehicles are fun to drive, and the eVito is no exception. The cabin is quiet, the right leg has powerful torque, and the car emits no exhaust fumes. The Mercedes electric van also offers more payload capacity and the same cargo space as the classic versions. Unfortunately, electric vehicles still have serious drawbacks, such as price, charging time, range drop in winter, fear of battery drain or still insufficient network of charging stations. So it's no wonder that despite the commitment of engineers and the millions invested in developing electric vehicles, customers still don't want to buy them. This is happening not only in Poland. Also in rich countries, where there is already a basic network of charging stations and a number of tax incentives, interest is not high. This can lead to a rather cruel conclusion. The success of electric vehicles, including Mercedes vans, is only possible if there is a significant technical breakthrough in battery design or when politicians ban the sale of fossil fuel vehicles. Unfortunately, the latter scenario is far more likely.
