New York | Elon Musk has floated the idea of working with a familiar ally on electric work vans after being guilt-tripped on Twitter for using fuel-burning vehicles to service Tesla models.

The Tesla chief executive officer vowed to inquire with Daimler about working together on an electric Sprinter van.

He was tweeting on Monday in response to a follower who wrote to him that Tesla needed an electric service vehicle rather than vans in use now that "burn fuel like crazy".

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van.

Daimler already has an electric van called the eVito, which offers a driving range of 150 kilometres (94 miles) and began selling in the second half of this year.

An electric version of the larger Mercedes Sprinter is slated for 2019, the company has said.