If you are in the market for an EV cargo van or EV delivery truck, you may be surprised at the longer mileage ranges now available since Electrical Wholesaling last gathered information on EV-powered delivery vehicles in Oct. 2021, and at the availability of several electrically powered box trucks.
Most of the EV cargo vans on the market have a range of up to 150 miles, and at least one, the Mercedez-Benz e-Sprinter, has a driving range of up to 300 miles before needing to be recharged, depending on the size of their battery. The 150-mile range should be plenty for most distributors and will allow them to charge the vehicles at night with their own EV charging stations at their branch locations. With this sort of range, there's less need to worry about drivers spending time recharging their vans at public charging stations while out making deliveries.
While the EV delivery vans built by Ford, General Motors, Mercedez-Benz and Rivian (exclusively for Amazon) have been around for a while, you may be unfamiliar with some of the other manufacturers, like Green Power Motor Co., Canoo and Arrival. WalMart signed a contract with Canoo to build 4,500 lighter-duty vans, and UPS plans to buy 10,000 EV vans from Arrival.
Because of all the new players and new technology in this part of the EV market, EW's editors plan to make this review of EV-powered delivery vehicles an annual digital feature. Things get a little confusing when collecting specification data on some of the newer companies, because their websites can be heavy on renderings of concept vehicles and instructions on how to put down a deposit on a vehicle when it eventually rolls off the production line, and a little light on actual performance metrics. Hopefully, these EW articles will help you clear a path through this thicket.
