Mercedes-Benz has developed a new purpose-built modular and scalable architecture dubbed Van Electric Architecture (VAN.EA), upon which all its newly developed vans will be based starting from 2026.

The company is planning to reduce its portfolio of van variants by more than 50% compared to its current offering with internal combustion engines while covering the same use cases for customers.

The platform consists of three separate modules: front, center and rear. The front module consists of the electric powertrain and the front axle, and is the same in all VAN.EA variants, as part of an optimized common parts strategy. The center module scales the vehicle length. This is also where the standardized battery case is placed. High-voltage batteries with different capacities are installed within the case. The rear module will be available in two versions: with an electric motor for the all-wheel-drive variants of VAN.EA and without one for the front-wheel drive variants.

”VAN.EA enables us to consolidate our mid-size and large vans down to only one architecture and significantly reduce the complexity of our product portfolio,” said Mathias Geisen, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans.

Source: Mercedes-Benz