Mercedes, Rivian pause plan for electric van JV in Europe

The VAN.EA platform will be used for full-electric medium and large commercial vans, Mercedes has said. By 2025, all newly introduced Mercedes van models will be only electric. 

In addition to Jawor, full-electric vans will be built at Duesseldorf, Germany; Ludwigsfelde, Germany; and Vitoria, Spain. 

The Duessdeldorf factory already builds the current generation full-electric Sprinter large panel van; a new generation will start production there in the second half of next year, Mercedes said. Open-sided electric Sprinters will be built at Ludwigsfelde starting in 2024.

Vitoria will continue to build medium full-electric vans, the EQV and (e)Vito, with the models moving to the VAN.EA architecture in the mid-2020s.

Small full-electric vans (Citan, T-Class) will continue to built by Renault in its Maubeuge, France, factory, on Renault-Nissan Alliance architecture.

Europe’s major van makers are offering more and more full-electric models. Stellantis already offers electric versions of its entire lineup for Citroen, Peugeot and Opel, as well as most Fiat models and vans it builds for Toyota. Renault will soon offer three full-electric van sizes, and Ford is also converting its range.

Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report