The entry-level Citan panel van and high-roof estate and the more comfortable T-Class van variant will soon roll out as electric cars, Mercedes has announced.
The fully electric vans are set to be the cheapest electric vehicles from Mercedes when they go on sale in the second half of the year as the e-Citan and EQT, respectively, project manager Dirk Hipp said during final test drives at the start of April.
Hipp did not yet say how high the price premium would be compared to petrol and diesel vans, which costs at least €26,500 (RM123,000). But since the EQA, the cheapest electric Mercedes to date, costs upwards of a steep €47,000 (RM218,000), Mercedes' electric prices can only improve.
Technically, the vehicles are based on the Renault Kangoo, which Mercedes has partly re-dressed and re-equipped. The electric motor also comes from the French manufacturer and currently offers only one configuration: the engine has 90 kW/122 hp and the battery a capacity of 45 kW/h.
According to Hipp, this should enable speeds of up to 130 kph and a range of 300km. Charging is done with up to 80 kW, so that the battery reaches 80 per cent after 40 minutes.
