Mercedes will now sell you an electric van

This, excited Internet onlookers, is the Mercedes eVito – and as of this week it is the first medium-sized electric van to go on sale in the UK. Hurrah we hear you cry, or maybe not…

Granted, it may not be the most thrilling news, but electric vans do make a huge amount of sense for so-called last mile delivery companies, especially with cities around the UK enforcing stricter emissions regs.

So, the eVito gets an electric motor with 114bhp and 221lb ft of torque driving the front wheels and is available with the Vito’s long or extra-long body styles.

Now, we don’t do many vans here on TG, but even we understand that power and performance figures probably don’t matter too much. Here then, are some more useful numbers.

The eVito has an average range of 92-miles and takes six hours to fully recharge. Prices start at £39,895 for the small-big version, which offers six cubic meters of cargo volume and a payload of 923kg. The big-big one starts at £40,415, has a load space that’s 6.6m3, and can carry 898kg of next-day-delivery tat.

Those prices, though, are before the government grant has been taken into account. That’ll take a hefty £8,000 off the list price for each.

So, there we are. A very worthy thing the eVito is. Tell us, van lovers, can you see sense in the 92-mile range? Or would your working life be filled with range anxiety?