The first 15 eSprinters were handed over to Marco Schlüter, Chief Operations Officer of Hermes Germany, at the logistics center in Hamburg, which opened in 2019. With immediate effect, they will expand the battery-powered Hermes fleet at the site. This means that the parcel service provider in the Hanseatic city is on the road electrically on almost every fifth trip. The eSprinters are visible on the streets of Hamburg as part of the strategic partnership between Mercedes-Benz Vans and Hermes, which has been in place since 2017.

The collaboration goes beyond the development and operation of battery-powered vehicles. It also included the joint development of a concept for an efficient charging infrastructure in Hermes' logistics centers and IT services for the optimal management of the electric fleet and its integration into daily operations. There are currently 42 charging stations installed at the Hamburg logistics center. Extensive test drives were necessary to set up this ecosystem around the electric vans. The knowledge gained from this was then incorporated into the further expansion of the electric delivery network.

Benjamin Kaehler, Head of eDrive@VANs at Mercedes-Benz Vans, where he is responsible for the development of electric vehicles: "Our partnership with Hermes is an excellent example of what we mean by the term 'customer co-creation': Developing new, innovative and industry-specific solutions together with our customers. I am therefore delighted that we are able to hand over the first eSprinters from series production today, which incorporate many of the findings from our previous collaboration."

Marco Schlüter, Chief Operations Officer of Hermes Germany: "We are proud to expand our fleet of e-vehicles in
e-vehicles in Hamburg with the first eSprinters from series production and are now actively using them for deliveries. The new models combine sustainability and efficiency in equal measure. In 2020, we will also be putting more electrically powered vans on the roads in other regions of Germany."

The vehicles are leased via Mercedes-Benz Bank for a period of 36 months including a ServiceCare complete service package. This covers all repairs and maintenance, including wear parts and preventive maintenance, and enables round-the-clock service with the Mercedes-Benz sales and service network.