Brightdrop Starts Electric Van Production In Canada, Adds DHL As Customer

Less than two years after General Motors publicly announced the creation of its new electric commercial vehicle business, Brightdrop, production of its first product has begun at a retooled factory in Canada. Brightdrop has also added the first Canadian customer for its Zevo 600 delivery van, DHL Express with the first deliveries expected in early 2023.

The first several hundred Brightdrop vans were assembled at a smaller facility in the metro Detroit area over the past year while GM’s CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario was being retooled. CAMI originally opened in 1989 as a joint venture between GM and Suzuki to build the Geo Tracker and Suzuki Sidekick. Now entirely owned by GM, the plant has built the Chevrolet Equinox crossover and Pontiac and GMC derivatives since 2004. Production of those vehicles has been moved elsewhere in the GM network to make way for Brightdrop.

The launch customer for the Zevo 600 was Fedex with additional orders coming from more than 30 other customers including Walmart, Verizon and Hertz. This is the first large scale electric vehicle assembly plant in Canada. Initial production of the Zevo 600 has already kicked off and will ramp up in the early part of 2023. By the end of 2023, CAMI will also add production of the shorter Zevo 400 model. By 2025, CAMI is targeting production of 50,000 electric vans per year.

Both of these vans are based on the same Ultium electric vehicle architecture and systems used for the GMC Hummer, Cadillac Lyriq and GM’s other upcoming electric vehicles.

The deal with DHL Express is the second for the German-owned logistics company in the same day. Earlier in the day, Deutsche Post, DHL’s parent company, announced it would add 2,000 Ford e-Transits to its fleets by the end of 2023. DHL and Brightdrop have not revealed how many Zevo vans it plans to acquire.

In addition to the Zevo vans, DHL is already running a pilot with Brightdrop’s Trace electric carts and the company’s fleet management software in Toronto.