Mercedes has chosen the Polish city of Jawor, where it has been producing internal combustion engines since 2019 and batteries since 2021, to build a plant to produce commercial vehicles based on the new VAN.EA platform starting in 2025.
The Mercedes Vans plant in Jawor, Poland, will complete the network of production plants for Mercedes commercial vehicles in Europe. Here, Mercedes will build the first factory dedicated exclusively to producing electric commercial vehicles based on the new VAN.EA platform. At the same time, Mercedes announced that due to Rivian’s problems, the project of a large-class electric van had been stopped for the time being.
The Jawor plant joins those in Düsseldorf, Ludwigsfelde, Germany; Vitoria, Spain, and Maubeuge, France, where Mercedes produces the Citan, eCitan, T-Class, and EQT in cooperation with Renault.
The Dusseldorf plant already produces the current generation Sprinter and eSprinter (closed model/panel van). Mercedes will produce here the new generation of eSprinter in the second half of 2023. From 2025, the open model designations (platform for body manufacturers or platform vehicles) of Sprinter based on the VAN.EA platform will also be produced here.
The new eSprinter will also be produced at the Ludwigsfelde plant in the spring of 2024. This factory will also be used as a competence center for eVan customization. The world premiere of the new Mercedes eSprinter will take place at the beginning of February 2023.
A pre-production Mercedes eSprinter managed to cover the Munich-Stuttgart round-trip distance of 475 km on a single charge, with a consumption of 21.9 kWh/100 km, similar to that of a VW ID.3.
At the plant in Vitoria, Spain, Mercedes produces mid-size vans, including the V-Class, EQV, eVito, and eVito Tourer. From 2025, the next generation EQV and eVito based on the VAN.EA platform will be produced here.
From 2025 on, all Mercedes commercial vehicles will be built on a single common architecture, named VAN.EA, which will be used for both mid-size and large segment.
