• GM is launching production of the Brightdrop electric van at its Canadian plant in Ingersoll, Ontario.
• For the auto industry and workers in the province, this is great news.
• By 2025, GM wants the plant producing 50,000 vehicles a year by 2025.
Just under two years ago, General Motors (GM) announced the creation of a new electric vehicle business unit, Brightdrop. This week, production of the first model began at GM's Ingersoll, Ontario plant. That plant, where the Chevrolet Equinox and others were previously built, has been retooled to be able to produce the new electric commercial Production of the Equinox has been moved elsewhere in the GM network.
In addition, the Brightdrop division announced this week that DHL Express will be the first customer to receive the Canadian-built Zevo 600. Deliveries are set to begin in early 2023.
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Note that the first Brightdrop vans were assembled at a small facility in the Detroit metropolitan area over the past year, while GM's CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll was being refitted and updated. CAMI opened in 1989 as part of a partnership between GM and Suzuki to build Geo Trackers and Suzuki Sidekicks. When the Geo brand disappeared, the Tracker became part of the Chevrolet family.
The first major customer for the Zevo 600 was Fedex, but since then, additional orders have been placed by more than 30 other companies, including Walmart, Verizon and Hertz. The new mandate of the CAMI plant makes it the first large-scale electric-vehicle assembly facility in Canada. Initial production of the Zevo 600 has begun and will ramp up in early 2023.
By the end of next year, manufacturing of the smaller Zevo 400 will also begin at the CAMI plant. By 2025, CAMI aims to be producing 50,000 electric vans per year.
Not surprisingly, the vehicles are based on the Ultium architecture used in many of General Motors’ other electric offerings, including the GMC Hummer and Cadillac Lyriq. The company's future battery-powered models will be making ample use of this architecture, we can be sure.
DHL did not reveal how many Zevo vans it is acquiring from Brightdrop.
We'll be watching for its arrival on our roads, though. If there's one area where electrification should be a priority, it's in the world of small package delivery.