General engines teased many new electric vehicles in the digital Consumer Electronics Show keynote, including Cadillac’s flagship Celestiq and a pair of Corvette-esque crossovers that are apparently Buicks. There was also a Chevy truck there. Many EVs indeed.
Given all those fresh faces, it’s easy to miss one of GM’s more grounded, fleshed-out announcements of the day. That would be BrightDrop, a new company within GM that will build commercial electric vehicles for delivery companies – as well as software solutions to connect them and help customers manage their fleets.
At the moment, BrightDrop represents two products that GM says will ship this year. The EV600, BrightDrop’s first van, powered by the same Ultium battery platform as GM’s consumer electrical electronics, will be released in December 2021.
The EV600 has an estimated range of 250 miles on a charge, and it should be able to provide 170 miles of range after an hour of being plugged in, thanks to 120 kilowatts fast load. Inside, the EV600 offers more than 600 cubic feet of cargo space. FedEx will receive the first 500 EV600s BrightDrop builds.
G / O Media can receive a commission
The EV600 is, as my colleague Justin put it, “a good looking van”. However, it appears to play a more supportive role in BrightDrop’s plans.
More interesting is the EP1, an electric pallet with a built-in motor to support movement. GM says the EP1 will reach customers starting this month. The EP1 is designed to be easy to transport in tight spaces, easy to load and unload in vans, and multiple can be chained together for larger deliveries.
As it turns out, FedEx has tested the EP1 and seen encouraging early results. According to FedEx Regional President for America, Richard Smith:
BrightDrop products help FedEx Express meet unprecedented demand, improve safety, security and timeliness of deliveries, reduce our impact on the environment and protect the wellbeing of our couriers.
In an initial pilot we conducted with the BrightDrop EP1, our FedEx Express couriers were able to effectively and safely handle 25 percent more parcels per day. Feedback from our team members has been excellent. The EP1s were easy to maneuver and helped reduce physical strain. We are so pleased to have scheduled a second EP1 pilot this quarter and we expect the results to be even more effective.
Pam Fletcher, GM’s vice president of global innovation, hinted at the Detroit Free Press that BrightDrop has made deals with customers outside of FedEx:
“You’ll get a sense of how we are handling this opportunity – making it a standalone company, a great team and a new leader – that we think the opportunities with this are very impressive,” said Fletcher. “The contribution it will make is well worth the effort.”
Fletcher added that the “contribution to the bottom line will start very soon” because BrightDrop already has letters of intent from customers outside of FedEx, but she declined to mention them.
One thing that was missing from BrightDrop’s reveal was any discussion of pricing for the EV600 or EP1. Ford promised it next E-transit would start under $ 45,000 when it unveiled that electric van in November. However, the E-Transit appears to be targeting both consumer and commercial sales BrightDrop is currently only looking for commercial customers.
The E-Transit is also expected to provide half of the EV600’s range: 126 miles, versus 250. That may seem like a glaring shortcoming on Ford’s part, but remember, vans make a lot of short journeys.
In fact, much of Ford’s language around the E-Transit seems to prioritize low cost of ownership and reduced need for expensive maintenance compared to vans powered by internal combustion engines. That is very different from how GM presented the EV600, as keeping the van frugal, especially for small businesses, was not mentioned in the keynote. (For what it’s worth, the official EV600 page projects “more than $ 7,000 in annual savings on operating costs versus [a] diesel alternative. ”)
On the other hand, as GM throws BrightDrop, the van portion almost seems like an afterthought. GM views BrightDrop as “a delivery ecosystem” for large companies that need that sort of thing – not just a commercial electric vehicle manufacturer. And the future of BrightDrop clearly revolves around the EP1, not the EV600.
In the keynote, Fletcher talked about the company exploring several vehicle concepts, including a ‘medium haul solution that transports multiple EP1’, and a ‘fast cargo delivery concept’ that can open a side panel and put a few EP1s on it. one sidewalk at a time. GM is clearly taken aback with this idea of an electric pallet.
Commercial vehicles offer a great opportunity for electrification to bring about positive change. This is especially true for vans, which idle for a long time and produce disproportionately high emissions for the short distances they travel. I hope BrightDrop can do something good here; I also wouldn’t mind if an army of EP1s make my bids.