FedEx Corp. announced Friday the delivery of the first five of 500 EV600 light electric commercial vehicles from BrightDrop, the new electric delivery and logistics business from General Motors.
It’s a landmark moment for both companies, according to a FedEx Corp. media release. FedEx is the first customer to receive the EV600, and this BrightDrop EV is the fastest-built vehicle delivered, from concept to market, in all of GM’s history.
“The delivery of the first BrightDrop EV600s is a historic moment, born out of a spirit of collaboration between two leading American companies,” said Mitch Jackson, chief sustainability officer at FedEx. “At FedEx, transforming our pickup-and-delivery fleet to electric vehicles is integral to achieving our ambitious sustainability goals announced earlier this year. This collaborative effort shows how businesses can take action to help usher in a lower-emissions future for all.”
FedEx has set a goal to operate an all-electric, zero-emission global pickup-and-delivery (PUD) fleet by 2040. As part of that effort, FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx, plans for 50% of its global PUD vehicle purchases to be electric by 2025, rising to 100% by 2030. The collaboration with BrightDrop has created an avenue to help achieve these goals, according to the Dec. 17 FedEx release.
FedEx BrightDrop announcement joins Merchants Fleet news
The announcement was the second recent major announcement involving BrightDrop. Merchants Fleet last month reserved 5,400 of another BrightDrop electric delivery vehicle, the EV410, a midsize EV built for the delivery of goods and services over longer ranges as well as for other applications.
“As ecommerce continues to grow, BrightDrop is thrilled to partner with FedEx in our mission to dramatically reduce vehicle emissions from delivery and deliver a brighter future for all of us,” said Travis Katz, BrightDrop’s president and CEO. “FedEx has ambitious sustainability goals, and the speed with which we brought the first BrightDrop electric vehicles to market shows how the private sector can innovate and help bring solutions for some of our biggest climate- and emissions-related challenges.”
“The EV600 combines the best attributes of a traditional and a step-in van into one vehicle, keeping driver safety, comfort, and convenience top of mind,” Katz added.
The EV600s ordered by FedEx are lighter than the EV410 and are intended for smaller, more frequent deliveries, according to BrightDrop, such as grocery delivery and telecom installation applications. Both the EV600 and EV410 can go up to 250 miles on a full charge.
The first five of FedEx’s EV600s were delivered to a FedEx Express facility in Inglewood, California, where they will be housed and from which they will be operated, according to the release. They will begin delivering packages in the Los Angeles area in early 2022.
FedEx said it is building charging infrastructure across its network of facilities, including the 500 charging stations the company has already installed across California. FedEx also is working with utility companies to help evaluate and determine the capacity needed for electrical grids to support such charging infrastructure.