BrightDrop, the electric delivery van subsidiary of General Motors, has made its first delivery outside the United States. The company delivered 50 BrightDrop Zevo 600 electric vans to FedEx Express Canada on Wednesday, part of a larger order for 2,500 Zevo electric vehicles.
BrightDrop’s introduction of vans is in line with FedEx’s goal of transitioning its entire fleet to all-electric vehicles by 2040. BrightDrop’s Zevo 600 model is designed for last-mile deliveries and has an estimated range of 250 miles. FedEx has already received about 400 Zevos which are currently in service in Southern California.
According to FedEx, FedEx Canada’s first fleet of BrightDrop vehicles will deliver packages to the streets of Toronto, Montreal and Surrey. The company said it is working to install charging infrastructure at its Canadian facilities.
The vehicles were assembled at GM’s CAMI assembly plant in Ontario, which began production in December 2022. GM has invested approximately $750 million (C$1 billion) in the plant, which is expected to produce 50,000 Zevo vans per year by 2025. Besides the Zevo 600, GM also builds a smaller version, called the Zevo 400.
FedEx is one of BrightDrop’s few major trading partners. The company has received approximately 30,000 reservations and letters of intent from customers such as Walmart, Hertz, Verizon and most recently Ryder.
Rivian, one of BrightDrop’s e-delivery van competitors, began rolling out its vans in the summer of 2022 and has delivered about 3,000 units to Amazon, according to the e-commerce giant. Blog. Amazon hopes to have 100,000 Rivian pickup trucks on the road by 2030. In its first quarter earnings report, Rivian reaffirmed its goal of producing 50,000 units this year, which includes the R1S pickup truck and the R1T SUV.
