Mercedes-Benz on Monday introduced that its upcoming electrical van idea shall be referred to as the Imaginative and prescient V.
We’re nonetheless distant from the debut of this idea, which is predicted to be revealed later this spring, however Mercedes has already teased that the Imaginative and prescient V will preview its Van.EA modular structure for future electrical vans.
The primary vans based mostly on this structure are scheduled to enter manufacturing in 2026, and Mercedes confirmed final October that prototypes had been out testing. The automaker goals to supply these vans in various configurations, together with a U.S.-bound electrical luxurious van and a possible RV, alongside fundamental passenger and cargo vans.
In contrast to the present Mercedes-Benz eSprinter, which homes an electrical powertrain in a reasonably customary van shell, Van.EA was designed from the begin to accommodate EVs—with excessive ranges of modularity. Mercedes has mentioned the platform is cut up into three principal blocks, with entrance and rear blocks that may every home electrical motors for single-motor or dual-motor configurations. Van.EA fashions are anticipated to be front-wheel drive in single-motor kind.
Mercedes beforehand indicated that each one of future vans can be based mostly on the Van.EA structure, however final month it reversed course, saying a “second variant of the structure” referred to as Van.CA for internal-combustion fashions.
Van.CA and Van.EA fashions will share 70% of elements, and shall be constructed on the identical meeting strains, Mercedes mentioned on the time. So whereas the stability of energy might have shifted to EVs, with the combustion-engine structure now derived from the electrical structure, as an alternative of the opposite approach round, it seems Mercedes is planning for extra tailpipes than beforehand thought.