Mercedes-Benz Unveils All-Electric Camper Van With Solar Roof

Not a full week into 2022, Mercedes-Benz continues swinging for the fences on automotive electrification.

Photo Insert: The Mercedes-Benz EQV Camper

The cutting-edge Vision EQXX concept foreshadows how the brand plans to take a lead on the electric passenger car side, and now Mercedes becomes one of the first auto brands to introduce an all-electric camper van, C. C. Weiss reported for New Atlas.

Based on the 225-mile EQV electric passenger van, the new four-sleeper e-camper features a tailgate kitchen, fold-out bed, and solarized pop-up roof. Over the past few years, Mercedes has been increasing its motorhome market presence, steadily growing its own global camper van portfolio with products like its European Marco Polo vans and American Metris Weekender/Getaway, while also adding market-leading motorhome-ready features to its van lineup and exploring the future with concept RVs.

With the EQV camper van, it looks to extend its RV leadership to a zero-emissions electric motorhome market in its infancy.

Ever since Mercedes first introduced the EQV in August 2019, we've been waiting for someone to develop a camper van version. With between 514 and 537 cm (202 and 211 in) of length, the EQV is a mid-size van, much like the iconic Volkswagen Transporter and larger than the small Nissan e-NV200 that has served as the base for earlier electric camper van conversions.

The EQV's range looks paltry compared to the 644- and 805-km (400- and 500-mile) marks coming from the latest electric cars and pickups, but the 326- to 363-km (203 to 225-mile) WLTP range from its 90-kWh battery pack option handily beats out the e-NV200's 200- to 300-km (124- to 187-mile) spread.

Mercedes didn't include pricing in today's announcement, but the EQV's base price in Germany ranges between €67,818 (approximately $76,725) for the regular length 60-kWh 250 to €72,281 ($81,775) for the extra-long 90-kWh 300.

The Sortimo Multifunction Box kitchen/folding bed kit cost roughly €4,625 ($5,225) when we looked at it in November. Sortimo doesn't list pricing for the pop-up roof, but it uses SCA roofs in its work, and SCA lists the V-Class-sized 152 pop-up sleeper roof at €5,750 ($6,500). Since the EQV shares its dimensions with the V-Class, components built for the latter should presumably fit the former without too much redesign or fuss.

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