BrightDrop, GM’s last-mile commercial and freight delivery service, continues to move at a fast rate to market. BrightDrop announced on Tuesday that it would add a second delivery vehicle to its fleet, with Verizon as the first customer.
GM also announced that the first production builds of their flagship EV600 van had been completed. Before the end of the year, FedEx will start getting its vehicles (it ordered 500). According to GM, it is currently the fastest vehicle program to market in the company’s history.
Merchants Fleet, which announced in February that it would buy 12,600 EV600s, is the automaker’s second EV600 customer. Verizon’s field maintenance and servicing fleet will include the new medium-sized EV410 truck. The order’s amount and other parameters were not disclosed by the two companies.
The new van will have a load capacity of more than 400 cubic feet and will be slightly less than 20 feet long overall. The vehicle, according to GM, is suitable for moving in congested regions such as cities, especially in the online grocery delivery and telecom maintenance markets.
When compared to internal combustion engine vehicles, the company claims that fleet managers will save $7,000 per year by employing EV600s.
The two vehicles, which use the automaker’s Ultium battery technology, have a combined range of 250 miles and weigh less than 10,000 pounds. The EV410 will be built at GM’s CAMI Assembly factory in Ingersoll, Ontario, alongside the EV600. As the CAMI factory undergoes adaptations to ramp-up production of the EV600 commencing in November 2022, GM said it is working with a U.S. supplier in Michigan for an initial low-volume manufacturing.
BrightDrop was introduced at the start of this year, indicating GM’s strong desire to broaden its market potential as it strives to lock-in the last-mile commercial and delivery segments. To get there, GM stated it would spend roughly $1 billion CAD ($788 million) to turn the CAMI plant into Canada’s first electric delivery van factory.
For GM and other manufacturers, the electric cargo and delivery industry is unquestionably a major opportunity. Verizon is one of several firms, including FedEx and UPS, who have announced plans to reduce or eliminate net emissions from their operations.
