Ford and GM both announced commercial electric vehicle news this week as the delivery space races to electrify.
BrightDrop
Ford has pursued the commercial EV space through Ford Pro, while GM has tackled it with BrightDrop.
Both companies announced big commercial EV news this week.
It’s a sign that packages are getting closer to being delivered in electric vans.
Ford and GM both announced commercial electric vehicle news this week as the delivery space races to electrify even amid growing industry-wide challenges.
This week’s news mirrors the past several years of the two automakers one-upping each other with major EV investments. It’s also crucial given the momentum commercial EVs have as major corporations seek to make good on sustainability targets and race to electrify their fleets.
The commercial EV space has long been hindered by cost, a lack of viable products, and infrastructure questions. Now, however, the pros largely outweigh the cons, and experts expect this space to electrify much faster than the passenger car market.
Now, the segment’s on track to surpass $370 billion in annual revenue by 2030, per Guidehouse Insights.
GM’s commercial EV subsidiary, BrightDrop is focused on first- and last-mile delivery and fulfillment. Monday, it announced it would produce its delivery vans at its factory in Canada and named DHL Express Canada as its first international customer.
BrightDrop has been a success story for GM. It has booked 25,000 orders in less than two years of operation, including an order for 2,500 delivery vans for FedEx, 5,000 for Walmart, and 18,000 for fleet-management firm Merchants Fleet. The unit expects to hit $5 billion in revenue by 2025.
Ford Pro, the automaker’s electric last-mile delivery unit, meanwhile, announced an order for 2,000 E-Transit vans from DHL this week.
The Detroit rivals aren’t the only players trying to cater to logistics and e-commerce players. Rivian snagged a deal with Amazon early on, while Canoo made a deal with Walmart this summer.
FedEx, UPS (which has an agreement with startup Arrival), and DHL are also major target customers and have been increasingly signing deals.
But firms like these have such large fleets they’ll need multiple vehicle suppliers.
DHL is particularly noteworthy for both GM and Ford as the firm already has 27,000 EVs in its global fleet already, per a release.