Manufacturers are beginning to develop more and more vehicles that run sustainable fuels, including many of today’s popular fleet vehicles. Mercedes-Benz is the latest to follow this trend, announcing that they will begin to develop vans and trucks with battery-electric technology and autonomous features. The German luxury auto maker plans on rolling out such vehicles by the end of the decade.

 

Mercedes is not alone; however, as Tesla founder Elon Musk announced in July that his company would begin to enter the truck market with a battery-powered vehicle. 

 

Ulf Zillig, Head of "Project VS30" for Mercedes, which is currently developing the next generation of the full-sized Sprinter van, said that the updated Sprinter will maintain the same dimensions, but will be easier to drive. It will also be designed to better meet the needs of upfitters who will be able to customize the van for a variety of uses.

 

Mercedes also introduced the Metris mid-sized van to North America towards the end of 2015 for the 2016 model year. The Metris, available in Europe as the Vito, has been available overseas with an optional electric powertrain since 2012.

According to the luxury car maker, the next-gen Sprinter is due out for the 2018 model year and, should the market support it, Zillig said that it could be offered with electric powertrains and autonomous features. 

 

In addition to the Vito, Mercedes’ Daimler Trucks division recently unveiled their fully-electric, heavy-duty urban e-Truck chassis. This beast is capable of hauling up to 26 tons with zero emissions. Zillig stated that because Mercedes can share technology across the company’s different divisions, it will make the Mercedes-Benz Van team’s task of developing an electric Sprinter that much easier.

 

There has already been interest in such vehicles from courier groups like FedEx and UPS. Mercedes is currently evaluating the landscape and studying if there is enough demand to justify producing electric vans.