General Motors’ (GM) commercial EV brand BrightDrop has entered its first international market, Canada, adding DHL Express Canada to its customer portfolio, and revealed that production of the Zevo 600 electric delivery vans has begun at GM’s CAMI assembly plant in Ontario, making the facility Canada’s first large-scale EV factory.
The company also revealed that it plans to “share additional customers in the coming months.”
BrightDrop, which last month reported that it was on course to reach US$1 billion in revenue by 2023 and up to US$10 billion in revenue by the end of the decade, launched in 2021 and today offers a suite of products targeting last mile delivery and fulfillment, including the BrightDrop Zevo (previously the EV600) lineup of electric delivery vans, the BrightDrop Trace eCart, and the BrightDrop Core software suite.
DHL Express Canada plans to add its first BrightDrop Zevo electric delivery vans to its fleet early next year. The firm is also currently piloting BrightDrop’s Trace eCarts and software platform in Toronto, with additional regions to follow.
DHL sustainability commitment
Adding BrightDrop’s commercial solutions to its operations is part of DHL’s €7 billion commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. As part of this commitment, earlier this week, DHL also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ford Pro to accelerate the deployment of electrified vans used for logistics operations worldwide. The MoU will see Ford Pro equip DHL with more than 2,000 electric delivery vans globally by the end of 2023.
Speaking about the BrightDrop partnership, Andrew Williams, CEO for DHL Express Canada, said: “DHL made a commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, and as we continue to invest in our electric ground fleet worldwide, which now includes 27,000 electric vehicles, relationships such as the one we’re launching with BrightDrop in Canada helps bring us closer to our sustainability goals while also supporting our customers with their own climate goals.”
CAMI assembly plant
BrightDrop launched in 2021 with a nearly US$800 million investment from its parent company GM to convert the CAMI assembly plant to BrightDrop’s high-volume EV production facility. GM began retooling CAMI for electric vehicle production on May 1, 2022. In just seven months, the team has installed entirely new production equipment covering 2 million sq ft.
To help meet strong customer demand, CAMI expects to produce 50,000 Zevo vans annually by 2025. Scaled production is expected to begin with Zevo 600 models in January 2023 and Zevo 400 models in late 2023. After a record-setting commercialization for GM, BrightDrop has already delivered 150 vehicles to its US launch customer, FedEx, marking one of the largest deployments of commercial electric delivery vans to date.
“Bringing BrightDrop to Canada and starting production at CAMI is a major step to providing EVs at scale, while delivering real results to the world’s biggest brands,” added Travis Katz, BrightDrop President and CEO. “Our international expansion is proof that we can deliver exactly what our customers need where they need it. Having DHL Express Canada come onboard as a new customer shows the confidence legacy brands have in our ability to deliver.”
BrightDrop’s expansion into Canada builds on its demand in the US, with more than 30 customers including names such as FedEx, Walmart, Hertz and Verizon. These companies and others have contributed to more than 25,000 production reservations and expressions of interest for BrightDrop electric delivery vans.
