General Motors caused many new electric vehicles at their Consumer Electronics Show digital conference, including Celestiq, Cadillac’s flagship and a pair of Corvette-looking crossovers that are apparently Buicks. There was also a Chevy truck. Many electric vehicles, in fact.
Given all these cool faces, it’s easy to miss one of GM’s most grounded and concrete ads of the day. This would be BrightDrop, a new GM company that will build commercial electric vehicles for delivery companies, as well as software solutions to connect them and help customers manage their fleets.
Right now, BrightDrop represents two products that GM says will begin making deliveries this year. In December 2021, the EV600, BrightDrop’s first van, running on the same Ultium battery platform as GM’s electric consumer vehicles will be unveiled.
The EV600 has an estimated load range of 250 miles and should be able to offer a 170 mile ride after one hour plugged in, thanks to the 120 kilowatt speed loading. Inside, the EV600 will offer more than 600 cubic feet of storage. FedEx will receive the first 500 BrightDrop versions of EV600.
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The EV600 is, as my colleague Justin said, “a good-looking van.” However, it seems to have a more supporting role in BrightDrop’s plans.
More interesting is the EP1, an electric pallet that has a built-in motor to facilitate movement. GM says EP1 will start reaching customers as soon as this month. The EP1 was designed to be easy to move in tight spaces, easy to load and unload from delivery vehicles and several can be chained for larger shipments.
Turns out, FedEx has been testing EP1 and has seen some encouraging first results. According to FedEx Regional President for the Americas Richard Smith:
BrightDrop products will help FedEx Express meet unprecedented demand, improve security, speed and punctuality of deliveries, reduce our environmental impact and protect the well-being of our couriers.
In a first pilot we ran with the BrightDrop EP1, our FedEx Express messengers were able to efficiently and safely handle 25% more packages per day. The feedback from our team members has been excellent. EP1s were easy to maneuver and helped reduce physical stress. We are very pleased to have a second EP1 driver scheduled for this quarter and hope that the results will be even more impressive.
Pam Fletcher, GM’s vice president of global innovation, hinted that Free Detroit Press that BrightDrop has negotiated deals with customers beyond FedEx:
“You’ll have an idea of how we treat this opportunity (turning it into an independent business, a fantastic team and a new leader) that we believe the possibilities with this are very impressive,” Fletcher said. “The contribution he will make is worth more than the commitment.”
Fletcher added that the “contribution to the bottom line will begin very quickly,” as BrightDrop already has customer intent letters beyond FedEx, but declined to call them.
Something absent from BrightDrop’s revelation was any discussion related to the prices of the EV600 or EP1. Ford promised the next one E-Transit would start below $ 45,000 when he revealed the electric van in November. However, it seems that E-Transit is geared towards both commercial and consumer sales BrightDrop is only courting commercial customers at the moment.
The E-Transit is also expected to offer half the range of the EV600: 126 miles, compared to 250. It might seem like a blatant deficiency on the part of Ford, but remember: delivery vans make a lot of short trips.
In fact, much of Ford’s language surrounding E-Transit seems to prioritize low cost of ownership and a reduction in the need for costly maintenance compared to vans powered by internal combustion engines. This is very different from how GM introduced the EV600, as keeping the van economical, especially for small businesses, was not mentioned in the main note. (For what it’s worth, the official page EV600 projects ”more than $ 7,000 in annual savings in operating expenses versus [a] diesel alternative. “)
Again, the way GM launches BrightDrop, the van part almost seems like a later thought. GM sees BrightDrop as a “delivery ecosystem” for large companies that need this kind of thing, not just a commercial electric vehicle manufacturer. And BrightDrop’s future clearly revolves around the EP1, not the EV600.
At the main conference, Fletcher spoke about exploring various concepts of the company’s vehicles, including a “medium-distance solution that carries multiple EP1s,” as well as a “fast-charge delivery concept” van that can open a side panel and place some EP1 one sidewalk at a time. GM is obviously affected by this idea of electric pallet.
Commercial vehicles offer an important opportunity for electrification to bring about positive change. This is especially true for delivery vans, which spend a lot of time idling and produce disproportionately high emissions due to the short distances they travel. I hope BrightDrop can do a good job here; I also wouldn’t mind an EP1 army making my proposal.