Mercedes-Benz Evito vs LDV ET60

What's the difference?

Numerous commercial van manufacturers are adding battery-electric vehicle (BEV) variants to their model line-ups.

Anecdotal evidence suggests these vehicles are best suited to city and suburban fleet duties, in which they cover short-loop daily driving distances that are comfortably within a manufacturer’s claimed battery range and return to depots each day to be recharged.

However, given that it’s still relatively early days for electric vans, potential buyers are faced with numerous potential deal-breakers compared to conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) equivalents.

These include higher purchase prices, limited driving ranges, longer 'refuelling' times, heavier kerb weights (due to their large batteries) and resulting smaller payload ratings. And they are usually not rated to tow.

However, they can also offer lower operating costs. And they produce zero tailpipe emissions, which according to Mercedes-Benz "creates a powerful marketing tool (for buyers) to demonstrate their commitment to operating sustainably".

We recently trialled M-B’s Vito-based contender in this pioneering LCV market segment, to see how it measures up in Australia’s highly competitive medium-sized (2.5-3.5-tonne GVM) van market.

This is it: Australia’s first fully electric ute.

It is telling of the times that the eT60, a dual-cab, no less, doesn’t come from a traditional titan of Australia’s car market like Ford, Nissan or Toyota.

Instead, it comes from Chinese upstart, LDV. The brand has already made a name for itself importing affordable alternatives to these mainstream rivals.

The combustion version of the T60 is chipping away at the market share of established names, commanding nearly six per cent of the light commercial market, placed fifth behind Mitsubishi.

Can the brand be more than a cut-price option, though? Does it have what it takes to be a first-mover with its all-electric dual-cab? We drove a pre-production example at its Australian launch to find out.