VITO'S BATTERY BONUS (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Mercedes has updated its all-electric Vito. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 92

Mercedes likes to set a trend and this model, the eVito, certainly did. It was the brand's first EV commercial vehicle - and our market's first mid-sized electric van of any kind. Competitors quickly caught up though, so the 2023 model year upgrade that brought us the improved, bigger-battery eVito model we're going to try here was much needed. There still isn't quite the range you'd get from some rivals, but operators should like this model's traditional Mercedes virtues - high quality, strong residuals and impressive standards of safety and media connectivity.

Backgroundword count: 200

What might a fully-electric Mercedes van be like, we wondered, as we entered this century's third decade. The 2020 announcement that the third generation version of the brand's mid-sized Vito model would also feature a full-EV variant prompted great expectations, bolstered by the introduction at much the same time of a people carrying MPV version of the same design, badged the EQV and featuring a 100kWh battery and a 213 mile driving range. As it turned out, the earliest eVito model was some way off that kind of capability, offering only a battery only 41kWh in size and a subsequently modest driving range of just 92 miles between charging sessions. This wasn't a particularly high bar for competitors to aim at and, sure enough, the eVito was quickly overtaken in EV technology by a wide number of freshly introduced full-electric commercial competitors in the mid-sized segment. The next generation electric Vito van will properly address this competition, but Mercedes couldn't wait for it given the rapidly developing market, so for the 2023 model year, the eVito was given a much larger 66kWh battery, which nearly doubled its operating range to 162 miles: which is the model we'll be testing here.

Driving Experienceword count: 222

On the move, you'd expect it to be uber-refined and of course it is. Acceleration is quite eager, thanks to a 116hp electric motor with up to 360Nm of torque. But you might also expect this Mercedes to go further on a single charge than it actually does. The 66kWh battery manages up to 162 miles. Those who take the plunge into eVito ownershp will quickly need to assume mastery over the various provided drive settings if they're to maximise the range possible. There are three eVito drive programs, accessed via a little 'Dynamic'-badged button on the centre stack - 'E' (for 'Economy'), which is the default setting, plus 'C' (for 'Comfort') if you want a little more accelerating punch. That's probably unlikely (the top speed is limited to 75mph anyway); you might prefer to extend range capability, for which you'll need the final setting, 'E+' ('Economy Plus'). At the same time, you'll be using the provided steering wheel paddles to cycle through four brake recuperation levels, which are badged 'D-', 'D', 'D+' and 'D++'. With 'D-' (the default setting), you get so much braking resistance when you come off the throttle (1.5-metres per second) that you hardly ever have to use your left foot. At the other extreme, in 'D++', the eVito will coast with virtually no off-throttle resistance at all.

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