A BrightDrop EV600 is a commercial vehicle.
BrightDrop.
The new battery-powered models unveiled by General GM at the Consumer Electronics Show include electric versions of the Silverado pickup and the Equinox and Blazer SUVs that will roll out over the next year, but the BrightDrop commercial truck unit is already showing progress with orders for thousands of delivery vehicles.
FedEx reserved an additional 2,000 vehicles for its delivery fleet after ordering 500 BrightDrop vans. The company is testing the new vehicles in 10 more markets after an initial pilot in New York City. BrightDrop said Walmart has signed on as a new customer and reserved 5,000 EV600 and smaller EV410 electric vans.
Tom Ward, a Walmart senior vice president, said during a video press conference that it was important to create a more sustainable last mile delivery fleet that avoided emissions. The ability of the GM unit to get its new electric delivery van to market makes them a great partner to support our growing InHome delivery service, to support the retail giant's growing last mile delivery network and goal of operating a zero-emissions logistics fleet by 2040.
As global auto giants prepare to roll out more consumer-oriented electric cars and trucks, several of them also see lucrative opportunities to help major fleet operators replace gasoline- and diesel-powered commercial vehicles with non-polluting electrics. BrightDrop is counting on GM's engineering and production support, as well as its ability to provide comprehensive vehicle maintenance and charging support, to make it more compelling to business fleet owners than electric startups such as Rivian, Arrival and XOS Trucks.
Rivian appears to be the leader in total orders for commercial delivery vans with Amazon ordering 100,000 units.
The president and CEO of BrightDrop said that the company was focused on decarbonizing the world's deliveries. Theholistic solution set gives us powerful advantages that uniquely position us to support the world's largest delivery companies, like Walmart and FedEx.
The shares of GM fell in New York.
