It has become a typical delivery week when our Sprinter Van (1-ton dually) is used to deliver over five pallets of bottled water (with multiple loading trips to our storage units). The van has a great design from the driver’s seat back, but the Mercedes engine and its computer systems are needy and require ongoing mechanical care. We are fortunate that CEO Rob Gourley is also a master mechanic so AquaNew can continue to offer free door-to-door deliveries to stores and other customers.
Mercedes recently showcased its new Vision Van (shown above), projected to be on the market in 2018. These commercial vehicles are anticipated to have zero emissions with a range of 165 miles (we average more daily miles), easier loading and retrieval of lighter-weight products (a pallet of bottled water would likely tip over the new exterior loading system), and algorithms for ideal loading sequencing and delivery routes that may enable an increase in productivity by 50% for delivery services.
Thank you, Gary S. of Sarasota, FL., for sending this to us. We will likely keep the “Current Gen” Sprinter van for a while longer … it may, however, have a different retrofit engine in it someday.