This summer, General Motors moved its BrightDrop electric van company to Chevy to boost sales and better compete with Ford, Rivian, and others in the electric van space. And now the Chevy-branded version of the van has a new deal in place with Walmart.
After testing 400 BrightDrop vans for customer deliveries, Walmart is now officially adding them to its fleet. Back in 2022, BrightDrop made a deal with Walmart to store 5,000 of its vans, including 600 larger models (the number refers to the estimated square footage of cargo space). But this time, Walmart is choosing 400 smaller versions of the electric van, and the sales executive did not specify how many vans it will use this year.
But to get an idea of the scope of the deal, Walmart announced that its home delivery program is expanding to reach 62 million homes nationwide. The program will launch Chevy BrightDrop vans in Austin, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, northwest Arkansas, Orlando, and the San Francisco Bay Area by the end of the year.
The electric vans run on GM's Ultium battery platform, with the latest versions of both the 600 and 400 capable of 272 miles of city and highway driving on a single charge, according to GM.
“With a focus on people leadership and technological prowess, we are always looking for ways to improve our knowledge and provide the best service to our customers. That's why we're so excited about the addition of the BrightDrop 400 to our InHome delivery fleet,” said vice president of Dedicated Delivery, Warren Moore in a statement. “During testing, we listened closely to the feedback of our InHome participants and were impressed with the performance of the vans in real-world conditions.”
BrightDrop launched in January 2021 as an independent brand focused on commercial EVs. Last year, the company merged with GM Evolve, its shipping business, with companies such as FedEx, Ryder, and DHL already on its customer list.
BrightDrop was expected to bring in $1 billion in revenue by 2022, but sales were slower than predicted, and BrightDrop CEO Travis Katz left the company after GM's restructuring. But now under Chevy, the company has access to its dealer network to sell not only the van but also its “Core” software. In 2023, BrightDrop sold just 500 vans, according to CNBC, and GM reports selling 746 vans in the first six months of 2024.
Photos: Courtesy of General Motors
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