BrightDrop is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

business created by the American manufacturer

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

in 2021. The business offers a system of connected products targeting first- and last-mile delivery customers, including light commercial electric vehicles, ePallets, and cloud-based software. Its first products, the

BrightDrop Zevo The BrightDrop Zevo is a battery electric delivery van produced by General Motors for its electric commercial vehicle marque BrightDrop. It was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show on 12 January 2021. There are two models, the larger Zevo 6 ...

delivery van and Trace electric cart, were unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

on 12 January 2021. General Motors announced in 2021 it would invest $800 million to produce the Zevo 600 in the

CAMI Automotive CAMI Assembly (formerly CAMI Automotive) is an assembly plant wholly owned by General Motors Canada. The plant occupies and has of floor space of which was added in 2016 as part of a $560 million investment. CAMI uses the CAMI Production System ...

manufacturing facility in Ingersoll, Canada. In 2022, CEO

Travis Katz Travis Katz (born 1971) is an American technology entrepreneur and investor. He is currently the President and CEO of electric vehicle maker BrightDrop. Katz co-founded Fox Interactive Media, led international expansion for social networking si ...

announced the company was on track to generate $1 billion in revenue in 2023, making BrightDrop one of the fastest companies in history to achieve this milestone.

History

BrightDrop, is one of the first successful businesses started in GM's Global Innovation

incubator An incubator is anything that performs or facilitates various forms of incubation, and may refer to: Biology and medicine * Incubator (culture), a device used to grow and maintain microbiological cultures or cell cultures * Incubator (egg), a de ...

, headed at the time by engineer Pam Fletcher. Study of potential concepts for urban delivery began in September 2019 under the code name Smart Cargo. By February 2020, the Smart Cargo concept had evolved to include a potential electric delivery van and an electrically propelled container for delivery businesses. Later that year, GM announced the appointment of technology entrepreneur and investor Travis Katz to become president and CEO of BrightDrop. Previously, Katz had held executive roles at

Redpoint Ventures Redpoint Ventures is an American venture capital firm focused on investments in seed, early and growth-stage companies. History The firm was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with offices in San Francisco, Los Ange ...

Skyscanner Skyscanner is a metasearch engine and travel agency based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The site is available in over 30 languages and is used by 100 million people per month. The company lets people research and book travel options for their trips ...

, and MySpace; he was also CEO and co-founder of Trip.com. GM CEO

Mary Barra Mary Teresa Barra (née Makela; born December 24, 1961) is an American businesswoman who has been the chair and chief executive officer (CEO) of General Motors since January 15, 2014. She is the first female CEO of a 'Big Three' automaker. In D ...

introduced the BrightDrop brand as part of her address at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2021. After the announcement, GM's stock reached its highest price since its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

in 2010. BrightDrop changed the names of its entire lineup of products in April 2022. The EV600 was renamed to Zevo inclusive of two variants, the Zevo 600 and Zevo 400 (previously known as EV600 and EV410 respectively) and the BrightDrop Trace (previously known as EP1.)

Products

BrightDrop's first two products are the Zevo 600 electric van and Trace electric pallet. The Zevo 600 is powered by GM's

Ultium Ultium is an electric vehicle battery and motor architecture developed by General Motors. It is planned to be deployed for battery electric vehicles from General Motors portfolio brands along with vehicles from Honda and Acura. Ultium is ch ...

battery platform and is purpose-built for the delivery of goods and services over long distances. It has a built-in security system and a range of 250 miles per charge. Its name is a play on its 600 cubic feet of cargo space. The BrightDrop Trace can carry up to 23 cubic feet and 200 pounds. It has a built-in electric motor to move at a speed of up to 3 miles per hour, adjusting to the walking speed of its operator. It helps delivery workers move goods over short distances, like from a van to a customer's front door. It has adjustable shelves and doors that can be remotely locked and unlocked. In a pilot program with FedEx, couriers were able to handle 25% more packages per day with the Trace and experienced less physical strain. The company also has a cloud-based software platform accessible by web or mobile app. Its software can monitor vehicle locations and battery charges, manage vehicles remotely, predict maintenance needs, and optimize routes. A smaller version of BrightDrop's van, to be called the Zevo 400, will be built at the CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Canada from 2023, with the first models going to the fleet of Verizon.

Operations

BrightDrop is developing electric vans, related hardware, support services and software for use by commercial delivery firms. It is part of a larger initiative at GM to have an all-electric lineup of vehicles by 2035. BrightDrop's first customer is FedEx, which placed an initial order for 500 Zevo 600 vehicles. Merchants Fleet, a fleet management company, is slated to purchase an additional 12,600 Zevo 600s starting in 2023. GM's CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, will manufacture the Zevo 600, making it Canada's first large-scale auto plant converted to produce electric delivery vehicles. GM stated that it invested $2B converting the plant to a state of the art EV manufacturing facility. Canadian Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

and Ontario Premier

Doug Ford Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario since June 2018 and leader of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party since March 2018. He ...

attended the opening of the plant in December, 2022.

References

External links

* {{General Motors Battery electric vehicle manufacturers Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United States General Motors marques General Motors subsidiaries