GM unveils 250-kilometer electric delivery van as part of new spin-off venture

General Motors announced on Tuesday that it will expand a new delivery and logistics business called BrightDrop, the first products of which will be an electrified pallet and delivery van. Both vehicles, powered by GM’s Ultium battery platform, will be released this year.

The announcement of the new logistics venture comes as GM undergoes a major $ 27 billion hub for the design and manufacture of electric vehicles. The company, which is the largest carmaker in North America, for example, just unveiled a new logo as part of an overall redesign of brands. GM has hampered the heels of Tesla and other EV manufacturers as it tries to convince its investors that it fully understands the future of electrically powered transport.

BrightDrop will be an important part of the hub, in which hundreds of thousands of electric delivery vehicles are expected to hit the road in the coming years. GM plans to create a new one-stop shop, a complete ecosystem for delivery with electric power, including vehicles, software and other services, said Pamela Fletcher, VP of GM’s global EV program.

The first vehicle to be rolled out with the BrightDrop brand is a delivery pallet called EP1. The pallet, which can be used to transport packages from a delivery vehicle to a customer’s front door, has an electric propulsion powered by Ultium, which enables a top speed of 3 km / h. Packages can be secured inside the EP1 pallet, with adjustable shelves and lockable cabinet doors. In addition, EP1 can carry up to 23 cubic feet of cargo and have a loading capacity of 200 pounds.

Fletcher says the EP1 is intended to address the problem seen today with parcel delivery, in which ‘parcels are often strewn on city roads’, haphazard and unsafe. “We saw it as a solution to create a whole different environment for delivery,” Fletcher continued, “really to pack touch points, reduce mistakes, reduce physical stress on those who deliver the goods, help to optimize the rant time and help reduce the overall operation costs for businesses. ”

GM partnered with FedEx Express last year on a pilot to test the EP1. Using the electric pallet, FedEx workers were able to handle 25 percent more packages per day, Fletcher said.

The EP1 will be in production in early 2021, Fletcher said. This is followed by the EV600, a 250-mile delivery van with 600 cubic feet of cargo space and a total weight of 10,000 pounds. It will charge a peak of up to 170 miles per hour when connected to a 120kW DC high-speed charger. The vehicle will be in production by the end of 2021, and the first vehicles will be delivered by the end of the year.

The BrightDrop EV600 includes a safety system with motion sensors to keep the cargo area safe. Other features include sliding doors at the front, wide walkways in the cabin and a large door that opens automatically. The commercial vehicles have a number of advanced driver assistance functions, including blind spot detection, lane keeping assistance and front and rear parking assistance. A fairly large 13.4-inch digital infotainment screen is certainly the centerpiece of the interior.

FedEx was interested in buying an unspecified number of EV600 delivery vans, says Fletcher, who also refers to several other unnamed interested customers. “We’ve signed letters of intent from a number of other customers, and we want to talk to you about those in the not too distant future,” she said. Fletcher did not want to disclose the suggested retail price for the EP1 and EV600.

BrightDrop also offers a range of software to customers buying new commercial vehicles. This will enable customers to track the location of each EP1 palette, remotely lock and unlock each palette, and monitor battery status. EV600 also gets battery status and location monitoring features, as well as driver safety coaching and incident recording, remote diagnosis, safety alerts and predictive maintenance information and updates on the air.

Rumors of a GM-manufactured electric delivery van, nicknamed “BV1”, surfaced for the first time last year after the company unveiled its Ultium EV platform, along with plans to launch two dozen new electric vehicles over the next few years to knit.

GM has been successful with its Chevrolet Express and, to a lesser extent, GMC Savana trucks. But it is by no means the only company working on an electric van. Mercedes-Benz is making an electric version of its popular Sprinter van, while Ford recently unveiled the E-Transit with a distance of 126 miles and a price of $ 45,000. Amazon is working on a fully electric delivery vehicle alongside EV startup Rivian. Two other start-ups recently unveiled electric vans: Bollinger with its Deliver-E and Canoo with its scalable vehicle, both available in 2022.